The product:
A mobile app that lists and rates cat shelters and colonies of outdoor cats and encourages the collection and delivery of food and adoptions.
Purrfect friends - mobile app
Project duration:
March 2023 to June 2023.
The problem:
In Italy, most of the cat shelters and outdoor cat colonies are run by volunteers who do not have many resources and are unable to give visibility to their activities. Citizens who want to give their active contribution do not know these realities and do not know how to get in touch. This app is used to connect volunteers and citizens who can contribute in different ways to the health of their cat friends.
The Goal:
Design a mobile app that allows users to easily find and rate cat shelters to let them give their help.
My role:
UX designer designing a mobile app from conception to delivery, including branding.
Responsibilities:
Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, branding, mockups, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, and iterating on designs.
User research: summary
I conducted user interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users I was designing for and their needs. A primary user group identifies adults who want to find cat shelters in order to spend some time volunteering or just bring some food for help.
User research: pain points
Search and choice
Users are afraid not to find a cat shelter that really needs help. They also need to know if the shelter has adoption options.
Accessibility
In order to go to the shelter and give help, users need to know if the shelters have access facilities for people with disabilities.
Poor eyesight
The site should be accessible to people with color blindness problems.
Persona: Andrea
Andrea is a software engineer who needs to find cat shelters near his house because he wants to help out and bring food to the cat shelters.
User journey map
Mapping Andra’s user journey revealed how helpful it would be for users to have the possibility to navigate to the selected shelter.
Digital wireframes
I choose to put menu buttons in the nav bar at the bottom. This allows users to quickly access all the main pages of the app.
The map screen is a very important part of the app. It allows users to localize the shelters and to navigate to them.
Low-fidelity prototype
Using the completed set of digital wireframes, I created a low-fidelity prototype.
Usability study: findings
I conducted a usability study and I organized my insights in an affinity map. Findings from this study helped guide the designs from wireframes to mockups.
Users think that the Search on map button is not very well visible
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Try to shape it in a way that it looks like a button
The Help button is confusing for the users
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Change the label to the button and create a page reachable from it
The filters are a pain point for the users
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Develop a filter system both for the cat shelters list and the cats list
Design system
I create a design system to be used in all mockups to keep consistency.
Sticker sheet
I made a sticker sheet containing all the reusable components in order to speed up work and future changes.
Mockups
I made the Search button more recognizable.
I improved the search criteria and filter section.
Other mockups.
High-fidelity prototype
The final high-fidelity prototype presents the entire user flow from login to booking calendar, including all the navigation.
Accessibility considerations
Provided access to users who are vision impaired by adding alt text to images for screen readers.
Created useful icons to help make navigation easier.
Checked font and colors against accessibility service sites.
Takeaways
Impact:
The app allows users to easily find a cat shelter in order to help out or adopt a cat.
One feedback:
“Finally I can find the best place where to help out my cat friends.”
“Finally I can find the best place where to help out my cat friends.”
What I learned:
While designing the Purrfect Friends app, I learned that the first ideas for the app are only the beginning of the process. Usability studies and peer feedback influenced each iteration of the app’s designs.
Next steps
Conduct a new research study to verify the potential of new functionality: the possibility for shelter owners to easily update information about their cats.
Thanks for reading!
If you have any feedback or would like to get in touch, please feel free to contact me!
