
CityPups
A responsive website design for a matchmaking process to find the most suitable furry friend.
City Pups is a platform which helps customers find a dog to adopt which is a perfect fit. In this modified GV Design sprint, I chose to match a customer with a dog, keeping in mind the customer needs and the dog’s personality. Looking for a dog was simplified by matching personality profiles to get related updates on a new furry love! As a UX Designer, I explored the design problem, proposed a solution, developed a quick prototype and tested it.
Goal
To match a customer's requirements with a dog's personality profile to ensure a smooth user experience while looking for a dog to adopt.
Role
UX Research and Design, Content Strategy, UI Design
Duration
1 week Modified GV Design Sprint
Tools
Adobe XD, InVision, Illustrator
Day 1- Research
Understanding of the problem- Map It!
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A customer feels confident when they know the dog is real, and its energy levels and affection needs match the customer preferences. Picture of the dog makes the first connection with customer, and a video representing the dog's personality and behavior makes the customer confident to take the next steps in adopting a dog. The map below represents the Players (Customer and Dog) on the left, with a series of steps the customer takes while searching for a dog and Goal (To find a perfect match) on the right.

Map to understand the problem space with the players and their goal.
Design Thinking- Explore!
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Through user interviews, it was clear that the most important feature the customer looks for is the owner- dog compatibility check through a simple search process.
Validate: Customers require sufficient information about the dog’s personality to feel confident enough to take the next steps in adoption. They do not like to spend much time searching for a dog that is a correct fit but need assurance that the dog is real would match their requirements. Meeting the dog before adopting and knowing the adoption agency was close by is a plus.

HMW questions and prioritization user concerns from interviews
Day 2- Sketching
Lightening Demo's
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To know more about dog adoption and dog profiles, I explored dog adoption websites like hillspet.com, adoptapet.com and petfinder.com. I was curious to know how people profiles are matched on dating websites, and considering matching a person to their dog, I explored dating websites as well.
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Sketching- Crazy 8!
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I began sketching ideas and as advised in Design Sprint by Jake Knapp, I began sketching from a few steps before i.e from the google search screen to the dog profile screens. I felt a dog quiz would be an interactive way to create a customer profile and educate a first time dog owner with the basics of dog adoption.
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Validate: I wished to educate customers about dogs breeds, dog needs and adoption process which can help them decide the dog they wish to adopt. The dog profile provides all vital dog information and videos which help make a connection and establish comfort with the dog. By signing in, a customer can create a profile with their requirements which would be matched to the dog characteristics. Rather than constantly spending time searching for dogs, the user receives notifications about new dog matches which eases the search process. If the requirements change before the dog is adopted, the user can update the profile can be updated.

Idea Sketching for CityPups
Day 3- Decide
Storyboarding
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To determine the flow of the website, a user journey was represented as a storyboard. After Google search of CityPups, the home page informs about dog breeds, adoption processes and more. The dog quiz gathers customer needs, and when signed in, this information is saved to their profile. Thus, the customer is matched with dogs daily and he can make an informed decision by reviewing extraordinarily little information.

Storyboard for CityPups website
Day 4- Prototype
Get Digital!
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I created quick screens of an attractive ‘façade’ with a clickable prototype in Adobe XD. I used images wherever possible and though a complete website seemed necessary for a holistic user experience, I reminded myself that I was testing just one feature (matching customer with potential dog), and I had to evaluate whether that idea was useful to participants. I spent my break times trying animations which created a realistic experience and was useful to keep the participants focused during testing.
Video of Prototype
Day 5- User Testing
Target audience
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User Testing in a design sprint was particularly exciting as I finally got to see if the “customer- dog matching” idea was useful to customers. I tested CityPups with 5 participants who were dog owners and dog lovers who were considering to adopt a dog in the future.
Feedback
Participants were sure or unsure the dog wanted to adopt and were unaware about the adoption process but all the participants enjoyed the process of looking for a dog. The intuitive quiz was helpful and effortless to express the customer requirements, set up a profile and to set filters. Notifications about new matches was not repetitive and matched customer expectations. A longer quiz to input more information about customer was acceptable.
Outcomes
Design Sprint
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A design problem that was modified into an interactive quiz to collect information and provide results of matchmaking, through an effortless process for a better user experience.
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I conducted a 1 week design sprint, which involved a quick and thorough research, prototype design and user testing of the idea solutions.
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An almost realistic prototype with animations that kept the participants focused and involved in the user testing leading to a thorough and genuine feedback.
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Next Steps
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To take this project a step further towards launch, I would add the information suggested by participants of user testing and test it out with my target audience to understand the workability of the website.
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Lessons Learnt
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Sketching is extremely helpful to express ideas and concepts. I used Fresco to draw as I was out of paper during this Covid time. Digital Sketching was easy and saved time.
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It is essential to work quickly with out recreating the product. Images were a great medium to express the concept and expedited the prototype design process .
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5 min breaks contributed the project and boosted my energy. I tried XD animations during my 5-minute breaks which made the prototype intuitive.
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Ideas for a design sprint can be a win or lose situation and one should not be disheartened if ideas don’t work. Atleast a lot of time and resources were not spent developing a product.
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​Photos, videos, and description of the dog made the participants feel the dog was genuine and they could observe similar behavior as the video when they met the dog. The information provided was quite comforting to take the next steps in adoption and it was easy to save the dog profile by clicking the heart icon.
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I was worried that too may questions in the dog quiz could the frustrate the participant, but it seems the concept was so appealing that 10 more questions didn't feel tedious considering the outcomes of providing information.
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