Forever Home

A simple, personal way to rehome your pet or find an adoptable pet

Forever Home was inspired by a little lost cat named Marlowe, who showed up scratched and ravenously hungry at my door, without an ID tag. The person whose contact information was linked to Marlowe’s microchip was no longer her guardian; that person had surrendered her to a neighbor, who I eventually located.

For many reasons – whether due to changes in living accommodations, financial hardship, illness, etc., dogs, cats and other animals sometimes need to find new homes even when their current guardian is deeply attached to them.

Others in a similar situation may seek out friends, neighbors, and post on social media in an attempt to find a new guardian for their pet – someone they can trust.

Project inspiration: identifying a need

WHY: Unlike a typical pet adoption from an animal shelter, Forever Home creates a very personal interaction between the new adopter of the pet and the person surrendering his or her pet, while overburdened animal shelters are removed from the pet adoption equation. Additionally, stress on the animal is greatly reduced by bypassing a stay at a shelter.

WHAT: Forever Home is an iPhone app that facilitates pet adoption by directly connecting those who need to rehome their pets with those looking to adopt.

crowded animal shelter

ForeverHome

WHO: A person needing to rehome his or her pet can take comfort in choosing that pet’s new “Forever Home,” while the new pet adopter finds value in knowing the pet’s history.

Forever Home

• WHO WILL PAY FOR THIS?

Forever Home partners with Petfinder.com, leveraging the resources of a well-respected organization with a broad national reach, while bridging a gap in Petfinder’s current services. Apply for a grant from Maddie’s Fund

• HOW DO YOU GET THE WORD OUT?

Local organizations, such as San Francisco’s P.A.W.S. (Pets Are Wonderful Support) – volunteers may create profiles for animals on behalf of those who need assistance or do not have smartphones

Promotional materials at the SPCA and other shelters

Public service announcement (as in the case of the Lost Petz app)

Billboards

• HOW WILL REVENUE BE GENERATED SO THAT THE APP AND WEBSITE CAN BE MAINTAINED?

There is a fee for posting a profile on Forever Home (amount TBD). There might also be a fee paid by the adopter after creating an account and beginning the process of contacting current pet guardians.

Business Model Canvas

• RELATED EXISTING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

There are no direct competitors of Forever Home, so I investigated related products in searching for shelter pets, such as Petfinder, and identifying lost pets and returning them home, such as Lost Petz.

The user interfaces of these apps are cluttered, sometimes confusing, and generally not very visually appealing. Lost Petz has the visual style of a children’s book, while a majority of their users are most likely adults. Petfinder features only shelter animals and is a bit dated, visually.

Competitive Analysis

Beverly• Age: 83• Lives alone in San Francisco with her beloved cat • Her daughter lives 2 hours away and visits about once a

month• Retired, living on a fixed income• No cell phone, land line only• Has a no-frills Dell desktop computer with internet

access• For the past 2 years, a volunteer from P.A.W.S. (Pets Are

Wonderful Support) has been coming to Beverly’s home once a week to assist Beverly with Beatrice’s care and veterinarian visits.

“I don’t know what I’ll do without my Beatrice. She’s my constant companion.”

Beatrice aka “Purr Bucket”• Age: 9• Adopted by Beverly 7 years ago from the SPCA

for daily companionship• Sweet and affectionate, but takes time to feel

comfortable around strangers• Lap cat• FIV positive. Indoor-only cat.

Personas

CameronLifestyle

• Age: 35• Single• Lives in a one bedroom apartment in Berkeley• Has a small circle of local friends, but finds

socializing a bit more challenging with his current work schedule.

“My job is often really mentally and physically stressful. When I come home, I just want to mellow out with some quiet company... and the apartment is feeling really empty since my girlfriend and I broke up.”

Pets• Hasn’t had a pet since his dog died 3 years

ago, but thinks he’s ready for a pet again. Would like a dog, but his landlord only allows cats.

Personas

Task Flows

Participatory design using card-sorting with 7 people, all current or former pet owners, and some open-ended questions

Interviewing users: findings

• I used card-sorting as a method for assessing which pieces of profile information about a pet they valued most while 1) creating a profile, and 2) searching profiles for an adoptable pet. People were asked to sort traits in three categories: essential, nice-to-have, and unnecessary.

• The trend in most valued information was type, age, sex, and medical conditions/special needs. To my surprise, most did not select breed as a top priority.

• A majority of people interviewed expressed an interest in stating special needs/medical issues up front in a pet profile, so that the prospective adopter is prepared, not surprised.

• Privacy: interviewees preferred an anonymous messaging system (like Craigslist) rather than posting their contact info publicly.

• In asking what people expect to see on the home screen, I got an resounding request for a clear separation between the two major use cases upon first launch – 1) Rehome a pet, and 2) Search for an adoptable pet.

• Those interviewed were not overly concerned with the cost for posting a profile, as long as it was “reasonable,” with answers ranging from $5 to $20. Finding a good home for their pet was much more important than the exact fee for posting a profile.

Wireframes: (very) rough sketches

First iteration – key screens

Profile creation screen above center is even more cluttered than the Petfinder search screen at left, and no more visually inspired.

Home Screen Create Pet Profile>>

Usability testing: findings

First iterationFunctional prototype on device using POP app

• Touch targets are too small, resulting in the “fat finger” effect

• Text is too small• In the profile creation flow, many screens

are too cluttered. Items can be spaced out over a few screens in succession rather than crammed into one.

Other issues:

• While the flows were easily understood, the screens were visually uninspired.

Above: Touch target areas corrected in the second iteration to prevent the “fat finger” effect.

Home Screen Flow 1. Create Pet Profile

Home Screen Flow 2. Search For Adoptable Pet & Contact Pet Guardian>>

>>

Compare again to Petfinder.com search screen

Second iteration – key screens Functional prototype in Axurewith animations and transitions

Second iterationFunctional prototype created in Axure

• Touch targets sizes are increased, correcting the “fat finger” effect

• Text is larger and easier to read• In the profile creation flow, features on cluttered single screens

are spread out over multiple screens. The sequence is longer in creating a profile, but you only need to go through this flow once.

Third iteration• Many minor tweaks in animations and transitions, making the call

to action on some screens more obvious• At left: In the second iteration, the functionality of the orange

forward and back buttons was not consistent with the other screens. Those buttons were used to switch from cat to dog or rabbit/other, and the magnifying glass at center became the search call to action button. This confused just about everyone who tested the app and was corrected in the third iteration.

Usability testing: findings

http://share.axure.com/ESN7FO

v 2.0• Pet adopter profile• Temporary/limited term care in addition to permanent rehoming• More playful and imaginative way to specify age and size in

profile creation wizard• Refine animations and transitions

Next steps

Thank you

karabressie.com