PAWS Chicago
PAWS Chicago is a local animal shelter that aims to achieve Three main goals:
1. Build a no-kill community.
2. End the overpopulation of homeless animals.
3. Transform animal welfare. They use their website as a major asset in helping them spread awareness and achieve these goals.
Challenge
The PAWS Chicago website serves as a central hub for adoptions, fostering, volunteering, and donations. With the assistance of PAWS' VP of Marketing, we have discovered through Google Analytics that all four of these crucial functions are being abandoned by users before they can complete their tasks. How might we enhance the PAWS website to ensure that our users can have their questions and concerns addressed, elevate their overall website experience, and connect them with reliable, long-term care for their animals?
Role
UX Researcher & UI Designer
Tools Used
Figma, FigJam, Illustrator, Photoshop
Brief
Worked on a team of four UX/UI students alongside the VP of Marketing at PAWS Chicago to make a website redesign to drive more donations and adoptions.
Opportunities for Improvement
-
Navigation design & Structure
-
Information hierarchy/organization
-
Outdated visual design
Timeline
3 Weeks
Research
RESEARCH
Objective 1
Why users chose PAWS over other shelters/breeders
RESEARCH
Objective 2
How users used PAWS website to find information or services
RESEARCH
Objective 3
How users felt after interacting with the PAWS website
Proto-Personas
The Adopter
First-time pet parent who wants to utilize PAWS adoption
services
The Doner
Lifelong animal lover looking to give back in her retirement
The Volunteer
Animal Studies major who needs volunteer hours for a class credit
Affinity Diagram
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User Interview
“If I could have found an email box to contact or just gotten a response from somebody…”
User Interview
“It wasn't really, like, the shelter, it was the dog…she looked like she needed the most love.”
User Interview
“[The staff] were pretty good, in regards of [my dog’s reactiveness], they bring you in so that pets are not interacting”
User Interview
“I think it's good that [the breeder] keeps dogs longer. It seems easier on the dogs and they are more medically stable by that point.”
The Problem
-
Outdated or missing information on the PAWS website
-
Lack of communication between the shelter and potential adopter
-
Users feel lost and unsupported during the adoption process
I like...
I Wish...
What If...
Stakeholder Input
Priorities for PAWS site:
-
Increase Donations
-
Traffic to adoption page
-
Easier navigation
"People trying to find out about the organization can't find resources or information."
74%
Of overall traffic goes to "Our Work"
90%
of that traffic is for Adoption
18%
adoption traffic that requests to adopt
Storyboard
To better clarify the value our proposed solution benefits and features, we created a storyboard narrative of our user person, Anna, and how PAWScan help her with the adoption process
1. Anna is looking to adopt another dog from PAWS Chicago but she is not super excited to go back on the website.
2. She logs online and notices that the website has more up to date information on the dogs available for adoption including a new chat feature.
3. She asks about a dog she in interested, asks about its current health, its behavior and the chat mod is able to answer her questions.
4. Anna then picks up her new dog and is able to use the website to easy find support from the shelter for medical care for the dog.
5. She and her dogs are happy and healthy together.
Our Solution
Chat Feature
Itemized donations
Compatibility Quiz
Low-Fi Prototype
User Testing
Task 1:
75%
Success Rate
Task 2
80.50%
Success Rate
Task 3:
98.25%
Success Rate
Program and Event Calendar
Style Guide
Learnings
High-Fi Prototype
Mobile
Desktop
High-Fi User Testing
Task 1:
99.24%
Success Rate
Finding animals that are available for adoption or foster
Task 2:
100%
Success Rate
Donating dog food to the shelters. Through itemized menu.
Task 3:
97.78%
Success Rate
Volunteer for an event through upcoming events calender