CitiPups Pet Adoption Website

Introduction

CityPups is a new startup that wants to help people living in cities find the perfect dog to adopt. They’ve brought us on board to run a 5-day design sprint to quickly test out a possible solution. The Google Ventures design sprint was born out of a need for a process that would allow companies to quickly create high fidelity prototypes so that they could determine if they wanted to go through with the designing and building of a particular product. 

Day 1

On day 1 we identified the problem from initial interviews and map out the product’s most important user flow.

Initial Interviews

• Sara

  • “I would never want to adopt a dog that needed more activity or space than I could provide. I try to find breeds that are generally less hyper, but it all really depends on the personality of the dog"“

• Anna

  • “A lot of sites tell you if the dog is ‘good around other dogs’. I think this generally means other dogs in the household - but what bout in public?'“

• Ron

  • “I usually look for smaller dogs since I don’t have a ton of too, - but, sometimes smaller breeds need the most space”

• Dan

  • “I look at the basic info - size, age, etc. Photos and ‘bios’ are so great to get an idea of the dog’s personality. Some things are harder to figure out - like how much attention the dog needs”

• Maria

  • "Photos are definitely the first thing I notice or make a connection with. From there, I think about more practical stuff, like how big the dog is, and how much indoor space they need”

Interview Findings

Most common frustration with the adoption process is feeling confident that the dog is a right fit for the owner. Age, size, and photos are the basic minimum information. However, often it’s the personality that makes people feel like it’s going to be a right fit for them. The frustration that's mentioned by several people is not learning enough about the personality of the dog on the website. More specific but important information like temperament, space needed, relationship with other animals, and whether they're good with children are often a must know for someone looking to adopt. 

Mapping

• Created a possible end-to-end experience a user might have with our product by making a map 

Day 2

We sketched ideas as a way to ideate and generate possible solutions. We conducted lightning demos to quickly research competitive websites. We then used a technique called Crazy 8s to help us come up with possible solutions. 

Lightning Demos

• Our team looked at solutions competitors have produced to solve a problem similar to the one we are trying to solve

• We also looked at products that solve a similar problem that’s focused on a different area of engagement

Day 3

After we’ve sketched our ideas, we created a storyboard for our solution sketch.

Storyboard

• Storyboard is like a lightweight, sketched wireframe that we used to build our prototype

  • Because we are under time constraints, by sketching out the storyboard, we are able to cut out low-fidelity wireframing and go straight to rapid prototyping

• 5 to 15-panel storyboard that included our solution sketch (3 panel sketch) 

Day 4

Day 4 will be dedicated to prototyping our solution. A design sprint prototype is more like a realistic facade; it’s something we can put in front of customers to gauge their reactions about our idea. We created only prototypes of the screens that are absolutely necessary for a user to interact with to complete a specific task.

Prototyping

• We only built the bare essentials that we needed to test the functionality of the design

• The idea was to work fast but still have basic functionality, and test the overall flow and layout

• We focused on having a simple process of adopting a dog but still provided the common information owners are looking for

Day 5

The last day of a design sprint is dedicated to getting feedback from users by testing. 

Testing

• We tested 5 people who lives in metropolitan areas, and have either browsed through pet adoption website or have adopted pets before

• Participants were asked to complete the task of trying to submit an inquiry for a dog 

Test Findings

• All 5 participants mentioned they appreciate the amount of preference selection

• 3 participants wanted the photos to be larger when they clicked into the bio page, and 1 would like to see videos 

• 1 participant mentioned they would like to see how far is the dog on the browse page 

Summary
The implementation of a design sprint facilitated the expeditious evaluation of a potential solution within a concise five-day timeframe. Subsequently, we have incorporated our discoveries into the resolution of the initially identified problem. This approach can be iteratively applied to assess new solutions or integrate additional features as needed.

In this time-constrained design sprint, we've focused our ability to prioritize speed and completion, emphasizing crucial elements like layouts and features over aesthetic refinement. The primary benefit of this approach lies in swiftly crafting a high-fidelity prototype for testing, focusing on creating a minimal viable product. Moving forward, our aim is to elevate the UI elements and overall aesthetic, while maintaining testing to enhance the user experience by integrating additional features and refining website details.