Pumpkin • Reimagining Pet Adoption and Adjustment.
User RESEARCH/UX DESIGN/MOBILE
Background
Pumpkin is a new pet care company with a mission to provide every pet with the essential preventive care & pet insurance they need to live a healthy life now, and fur-ever. This project identifies the issues pets and their owners face in the adjustment phase and provides an evidence-based solution to help owners understand and adapt to their pet’s unique needs.
Role
UX Researcher & Designer
Duration
August 2022 — December 2022
Team
Adviti Atluri
Prachi Chopde
Karla Gil
Yuwei Li
Tools
Figma
Google Docs
Miro
Qualtrics
THE PROBLEM
When pets are adopted or rehomed, both owners and pets must undergo an adjustment phase. Pet owners without experience might find this phase difficult and overwhelming. Also, behavioral problems in pets stem from the resulting changes in lifestyle, culture, and environment. Given the rise in interest surrounding adoption, there is an increasing concern about supporting pets through the adoption process. Over 15 weeks, our team worked with Pumpkin to design a solution that supports pets and their owners through the adoption and adjustment phase.
THE SOLUTION
Introducing Pawxy, a subscription-based service for pet owners that provides expert recommendations and pet products to address individual pet needs. With Pawxy, the owner receives a personalized care package tailored to the pet’s unique needs instead of buying pet products on a whim.
Detailed onboarding process
To effectively address a pet’s struggles and to ensure personalized recommendations of products, the questions in this questionnaire focus on the pet’s specific needs, behaviors, and quirks. In this portion of the process, pet parents can also indicate their personal budget for the subscription box.
Virtual pet journal
The virtual pet diary integrated into this application allows pet parents to document their pet’s progress during the adjustment period. Information about the pet’s progress, needs, moods, and any changes in behavior documented in this virtual diary will impact the contents of the next box. This allows pet parents to continue addressing changing needs of the pet.
Expert consultation
Pawxy connects pet parents to experts for an audio, video, or online chat consultation. This fosters an external support system for pet parents and allows them to get targeted advice from veterinarians, pet trainers, or therapists. The goal is to ensure pet parents can understand and adapt to their pet’s needs via expert knowledge and experience. Online consultation provides more flexibility by simplifying the scheduling process and reducing costs.
Resources for pet parents
Pawxy features research-based articles about training, grooming, treats, and behavior intervention toys written by animal experts and specialists available to pet parents to read in their own time. Pet parents can also browse pet products and add them to their next box.
timeline
This project was part of a semester-long core course, HCI Design Foundations, at Georgia Tech. Over the course of 15 weeks, we produced an evidence-based design that helps pet owners address their pet’s changing needs. We conducted research using several methods and applied core interaction design concepts to inform our final design.
RESEARCH process
To kick-off our research, we sought answers to initial key questions. Who is our primary user group? What are the practices and goals related to this topic? What are some existing systems that address this issue? Who are the stakeholders?
literature review
For pets, transitioning to an unknown environment may be a stressful experience that can manifest in behavioral problems…
competitive analysis
Existing solutions are not pet-centric and fail to consider each pet’s unique characteristics.
We examined existing systems, processes, and products that support pet adoption and behavior management. We looked at matching programs like Meet-Your-Match (MYM), animal behavior & training schools, behavior management pet products, and applications such as Petfinder which allows prospective pet owners to search for animal companions, and Good Pup which is a virtual training platform for puppies/dogs. However, these solutions do not cater to the idiosyncrasies of the pet which may often only be understood by shelter staff, breeders, and prior owners.
SURVEY
GOAL: Garner a high-level understanding of our users’ pain points and needs through the adoption process and adjustment phase.
We decided to start our data collection with a survey as it would allow us to reach a more extensive demographic and gather more comprehensive data about individual user experiences with pet ownership. We focused our survey questions on users’ current habits, attitudes, and behaviors around pet ownership.
survey findings
user interview
Our overall goal with user interviews was to gain a stronger sense of our users' motivations and needs by tapping into the pain points they face through adoption and supporting their pets post-adoption.
We conducted semi-structured interviews with 5 pet owners — 2 students, 1 couple, 1 working professional, and 1 veterinarian (expert interview). By interviewing pet owners of different backgrounds (e.g., students and working professionals), we aimed to gain insights from different opinions and behaviors.
synthesis
We created an affinity map to organize and understand the data collected from our user interviews and open-ended survey questions.
The process of collaboratively immersing ourselves in the data makes affinity modeling a strong tool to build design ideas off of each other and understand overarching themes in our data. With the 4 user interviews we conducted, we transcribed audio recordings and utilized notes to generate 150 interpretation notes.
key findings
DESIGN REQUIREMENTS
We studied the findings from our literature review, survey, and interviews and established functional and non-functional design requirements.
ideation
We brainstormed ten crazy ideas that address our functional and non-functional design requirements.
Following our research analysis, we conducted a brainstorming session based on IDEO ideation strategies to produce design ideas. In building our affinity map and categorizing data, we identified key user issues and gaps in the problem space for design opportunities. To brainstorm, we had a 20-minute session where we each put all our design ideas on a Miro board. These ranged from feasible solutions to impractical, out-of-the-box ideas. Following IDEO’s strategy of “One conversation at a time,” we each elaborated on the ideas we had written down at the end of the session. With the ideas on the Miro board, we combined different design ideas or expanded upon existing ones to produce creative ideas that addressed our user requirements.
top 2 design ideas
Idea #1: Meet My Pet
“Meet My Pet” is an application that will allow pet owners to connect with experienced pet owners in close proximity. The key feature of this application is that pet owners seeking help can create a profile for their pets to provide details about their pets such as age, breed, personality, quirks, behaviors, etc. This information connects pet owners seeking help to an experienced pet owner or “mentor” who has a pet with similar personality/traits. Based on the issues an owner is facing with their pet, they can select the category for which they are seeking mentorship. Once a match with a suitable mentor in close proximity is made, the two pet owners can decide when and where to meet. This way pet owners in need can benefit from the knowledge and support of mentors and it also allows both pets to socialize.
Solution Strengths
Reduces time and effort spent searching for and scanning through multiple resources on the web.
Takes into account the pet’s unique behavior and personality.
Meeting other experienced pet owners that went through the same situation, gives users a sense of support and understanding.
Introducing your pet to other like-minded pets can help make the transition into a new home easier for your pet.
Solution Weakness
As is the case with most behavioral interventions, there are no guarantees.
The advice provided by the mentor may not work which can result in the user having to “trial-and-error” different methods to correct a behavior.
Users may not always find other pets with similar personalities in close proximity.
Difficult to establish the credibility of the mentors.
Idea #2: Pawxy
“Pawxy” is a subscription-based service for pet owners that provides expert recommendations and pet products to address individual pet's needs. On Pawxy, the personalized care package recommendations are based on user input provided in the initial onboarding questionnaire. Users must provide detailed information about their pets, including their known preferences and behaviors to get product recommendations. Products can be customized to fit within a user’s budget while still addressing their primary concerns. As a pet’s behaviors change during the adjustment period and owners become more familiar with their pet’s quirks, owner’s can continually update the information provided on Pawxy. They will then receive new recommendations to support their unique pet’s needs.
Solution Strengths
Provides first-time pet owners with the necessary resources, products, and support needed for quality pet care.
Supports users in understanding their pet’s unique needs and managing their pet’s overall well-being.
The presence of products and expert advice in one place reduces the burden and stress of scanning multiple resources.
The low-cost access to professional help and the ability to customize a budget for product recommendations make this service accessible to diverse users.
Solution Weakness
This solution does not help users create a community with other pet owners with like-minded pets. Since pet owners primarily rely on time and experience to understand their pet’s quirks, connections with other experienced owners can help facilitate this process.
Resources exist that provide pet owners with recommendations for pet care essentials.
Pet owners may be skeptical of seeking expert advice via online consultation.
main goals for the solution
In order to move forward with the best solution, we reevaluated both ideas and assessed how well each one satisfied our functional and non-functional design requirements and user goals. While assessing the feasibility of both designs, we realized Meet My Pet does not strongly address all design requirements. Several key questions arose:
What would be the incentive for the mentors? Why would they invest time mentoring and guiding new and troubled pet parents?
Why would this platform appeal more to troubled pet parents than just searching on the internet?
How can the “credibility” of a mentor be determined?
Does the solution focus on the pet's or owner's needs?
From a security perspective, would pet parents/mentors be willing to meet someone in person for the mentorship session? How would users be vetted?
After making similar considerations for Pawxy, we realized this idea has great potential. The design fulfilled most of our functional requirements and emerged as the most effective solution. Additionally, we wanted our product to be “proactive,” meaning we wanted pet parents to be able to monitor their pet's behavior and progress continually and provide suggestions for care accordingly. Hence, we moved forward with Pawxy. With Pawxy, a virtual diary would help with continual monitoring of the pet's needs and identify the type of care that the pet needs. The Pawxy box, combined with the pet journal, met the design requirements that we had identified.
design
Login and Basic Information
These are the first four screens that help users either log into their existing account or get started with Pawxy for the first time. The screens illustrate the basic information collected from the user before they proceed to a detailed onboarding.
Detailed Onboarding
During the onboarding process, detailed information is collected from users about their pets needs. The goal here is to capture the unique traits of pets, address the issues a pet struggles with, and enable pet owners to find solutions. We wanted to collect information about the length of time the pet and owners have been together, any allergies the pet might have, areas that the pet needs help with, specific details about the issues, pet personalities, lifestyle, and artifacts that the owner is interested in trying.
Purchasing a Pawxy Box
Users can indicate their personal budget for the Pawxy box. Based on the owner’s input for their pet and themselves, their pet’s profile is generated, marking the end of the onboarding process. After all data is collected, two different-level of packages with specific items, including food, toys, medicine, and consultation are generated. First-time users receive a free 30-minute consultation with the purchase of a basic subscription, while premium users receive unlimited expert consultations.
Resources
To enhance pet ownership skills, Pawxy features research-based articles written by animal experts and specialists available to pet owners to read independently. Since Pawxy curates the box filled with goodies for Bagel, the pet owner might be interested in exploring products that also help address their behavioral issues. Users can also find grooming tips and pet treat suggestions.
To document their pet’s progress during the adjustment period, users are encouraged to keep a log of their pet’s current mood in their diary. The diary is a means to a solution that allows pet owners to document their pet’s mood and behavior upon their arrival to a new environment with new people and pets. Keeping up with a diary can measure how the relationship between the pet owner and the pet has changed over time. The diary can help pet owners record new quirks their pet is exhibiting, identify areas causing their pet to display stress or anxiety, and better understand their pet.
Expert Consultation
On Pawxy, pet owners can connect with experts for online consultation. When users need advice or guidance for a specific situation, they could choose the vet or training consult and select a more detailed category, including accident, illness, or other situations. They also could contact the expert directly via message, audio, and video. The design goal of these screens is to provide professional support for new pet owners by allowing them to learn more through expert knowledge and experiences.
evaluation
We conducted user testing of the proposed design solution with two users and two product designers to focus on improving features that the users will actually use most and getting a heuristic evaluation from designers to ensure there are no usability issues. To evaluate the intuitiveness and engagement of the system, we wanted to focus on the three main aspects of the system – onboarding survey, pet diary/journal, and expert consultation. We combined the think-aloud method with benchmark tasks to get feedback on the prototype from users.
DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS
Design Requirement #1: The eventual design should support pet owners in understanding and adapting to their pet’s unique needs.
With the current design, users felt they could not detect how journal entries would affect box recommendations.
Participants felt that most pet owners might not take journaling seriously without an incentive. Participants recommended introducing some incentives to ensure pet owners take the time to use this feature.
Participants liked the idea of the expert consultation on the application, and recommendations were made to incorporate a section that displays some background about each expert.
Design Requirement #2: The eventual system should be engaging and intuitive for the end user.
Participants felt overwhelmed by the amount of information displayed on the page that displays different levels of Pawxy boxes and made recommendations for reorganizing the page.
For the consultation page design, two participants felt strongly about streamlining the flow of booking an appointment.
DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS
Redesigning the user flow for “Scheduling a consult.”
Rearranged items on the main consult landing page to ensure scheduling options are on top.
Moved the “New Appointment” button to the bottom adhering to Jakob’s law.
On the “Schedule Audio Consultation” screen, added the option to schedule consultation type and a text box to include any additional information.
Incorporate information about the different experts.
On the main consult landing page, included a section to display expert ratings. Here, users can also mark an expert as their favorite.
Users can see more information about the expert and reviews by pet owners by clicking on the expert’s name.
Design additional screens to depict journal functionality
Designed additional screens to depict how users can click on a prompt to make journal entries.
FINAL PROTOTYPE
Link to the full Figma prototype is here.
REFLECTION
This project was challenging because the solution had to be pet-centric and cater to each unique pet. It taught us the value of empathy, the importance of user research, and the skill of connecting with users to understand their frustrations.
We learned the importance of framing our problem space in a reasonable scope to avoid overwhelming ourselves and trying to solve multiple issues. While initially we researched both the adoption and adjustment phases, we eventually chose to re-scope our problem space to prioritize the post-adoption adjustment phase. This ensured we're uplifting the pets’ voices and unique traits during this stressful phase of their lives.
In addition, we learned the value of defining a research plan and consulting with the team to decide which research methods will best solve the problem of alleviating the stress of pets and their owners during the adjustment period post-adoption.