Overview
There's a problem
Less than half of sheltered animals are adopted. Why? Potential adopters start with enthusiasm but often lose interest, causing adoption rates to drop. Inadequate information on shelter websites means people must visit shelters in person.
Our solution: an AR adoption experience aimed at uncovering reasons for non-adoption and enhancing rates through a personalized perspective.
My Role: I contributed primarily to the development of the home screen, the budget analysis feature, brand identity, and conducting initial research, which helped bring validation to our project
Contribution
UI/UX Design, Research
Team
Melody Yu, Chantelle Gao, Joshua Lee
Timeline
April 2023 - June 2023 (2 months)
What Can We Do?
Final Screens
Understanding Our Users
Research Phase
Researched on a bridge. Why?
Our goal was to increase pet adoption rates by guiding individuals through a commitment-oriented process that fosters a preliminary bond with pets.
We chose a 450-foot pedestrian bridge spanning the river, leading to the Providence Animal Rescue League. This bridge symbolizes a pathway, illustrating that dedication in learning about the augmented reality animals translates to commitment in meeting real animals.
Stakeholder Interviews
After analyzing, current pet adoption process has several painpoints:
Given our project's tight timeline, I tactically employed both user interviews and surveys to maximize research efficiency. This approach offered distinct benefits: surveys for broad quantitative data and interviews for detailed insights, despite their limited scope. Uniform questions across methods helped reveal potential response correlations. Furthermore, we broadened our perspective by interviewing PARL's executive director, adding a shelter viewpoint. Our research findings are summarized in the graphs below.
This dual approach allowed us to leverage strengths, minimize limitations, and rapidly gain invaluable insights.
Service Blueprint
Mapping out app development
I developed a comprehensive service blueprint to grasp the entirety of the Pawtential process — aims to encompass both external procedures and necessary backend systems for Pawtential's development. Additionally, I integrated an emotional journey segment, recognizing the role of our AR interactive animal in establishing an emotional bond with the AR animal before shelter visits.
Research-Informed Design
People struggled with adoption and pet information
Explores essential details and delve into their personality
Helps potential adopters more efficiently find a suitable pet
People struggled with connecting with an animal
Augmented Pet Interaction
People are too busy to visit shelters
A Latent Need
During our user interviews on the bridge, I observed that individuals interested in adoption often resorted to asking for directions post-interview. Noticing this interruption as they pulled out their phones to search for the shelter's location, I developed an AR map to seamlessly integrate navigation within the AR environment to eliminate any awkward breaks.
App Feedback
Learnings
Pawtential, a pivotal third-year project, provided a unique opportunity for thorough primary research and real user testing, shaping our approach and emphasizing target audience needs while enhancing our project's development through informed decisions.
Collaboration is key
Each team member took responsibility for designing different user groups, but we maintained close communication, reviewing progress three times a week to ensure a cohesive product.
Continuously seeking feedback
We had three valuable sessions with our mentor from Meta, guiding us in the right direction. By constantly soliciting feedback, we gained a holistic perspective on the problem we were addressing.
Learned new techniques for product development
Utilizing Unity for prototypes, delving into 3D cameras, VR headsets, Blender, and application coding expanded our skill set. Eventually, we settled on using the IOS camera, but the process allowed us to explore and acquire proficiency in various new tools.