https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/7SSl_2fuJ9oEG3OPj5lxZn1nxWdekE33DS_50oU7zGcKEsHS3Lt6wPcbueOaejgQrM0lgJI_-nXXJpglkYdDvl1Vp0XNsqDfC3AvR1OEotWKUQeYwYl9Om-bbP7xNbelASLNlTLy
Of the approximately 7.6 million companion animals entering animal shelters nationwide every year, approximately 2.7 million are euthanized. The number of euthanized animals could be reduced dramatically if more people adopted pets instead of buying them. With these issues in mind, I set out to create a solution.
This project took me roughly 25 hours to finish.
I decided to focus on dogs and one specific shelter, but all designs and flows could scale for other pet species and multiple shelters.
I began the project with online research to learn more about the topic and gather more information for my initial thoughts. I was particularly interested in first-hand experiences and the pain points of the pet adoption process. Along the way, my research helped me uncover additional issues.
Why do people surrender animals?
What is the process of adopting a pet?
What kinds of animals do shelters have?
Who tends to adopt pets the most?
Why do people prefer to shop vs adopt a pet? What kind of hesitations do people have?
After I found answers to all the above questions, I looked at some pet adoption apps, such as Petfinder, We Rescue, coMpanion, Pet Adopter, etc. I was particularly interested in learning how existing app products are tackling the adoption process.
None of the analyzed apps are efficient or pleasant to use. They provide only a basic database with a few sparse details about the pets featured. The rest of the process is labor-intensive and forces potential adopters to wade through the research, digital forms, emails, and phone calls on their own.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/vlbtc6CkHeKyFqSN4iMeA1RDlfP8Fo2aigK1vY59byWX_lPaBCbeN8LCHZx5jNPYrDEF7lp-CYfEvfmsZssYy2TqSwpx6eVsKQLmEqfOSAgDYqdCs6EsHVtaworyLVOp5cHTAjta