Hello, I am Veri Lejeune
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I love to solve complex problems and think beyond aesthetics. Design & Planning are my passions and I believe the role of design is to turn a complex problem into a simple and great solution that works for the user.
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Overview
Student project for UX/UI Bootcamp.
A responsive webpage for a fictitious animal shelter in Cedar Park, Texas.
Prompt: Create a pet adoption flow.
Team
Individual
Role
UX Researcher
UI Designer
Tools
Timeline
Adobe XD
Trello
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April 2022- May 2022
Problem
Most of the shelter's websites display overwhelming and unclear user flow when it comes to adopting a pet, which ends up frustrating users throughout the whole pet-adoption experience.
Challenges
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Design a user interface that would provide that feeling of affection and maintain the user experience enjoyable throughout the process, with positive interactions associated with it.
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Ethical points: dogs & cats are not like products, and therefore I have to show them as unique and communicate with empathy for the user.
Solutions
User-Friendly Home Page
Creating a friendly and easy-to-navigate homepage adds positively to the user experience of adopting a pet. The amount of content is easy to read to avoid overloading the user.
Teach users how to adopt a pet
A transparent and step-by-step process about how to adopt before moving forward with the application and fees: the users know what to expect and why, and when to fill out the application.
Friendly Adoption Inquiry Application
An application form that provides a user-friendly language and shows users which step they are at.
Understanding the problem...
Storytelling my assumption
I first come up with an assumption that later on was validated through user research studies.
" Users get frustrated with the adoption process because the process is long and not transparent."
Is my assumption right?
Let me look into some shelter's websites ...
I started by familiarizing myself with the pet adoption process and its requirements on various shelter websites. Each shelter has its own approach to initiating the process, with some being more straightforward than others. My goal was to analyze the pet adoption user flow to identify both weaknesses and strengths. I explored multiple web pages to evaluate their information architecture, focusing specifically on:
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Adopt a pet call-to-action visible on the Homepage
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Adoption Steps (Where were adoption steps or guides located ? Was the adoption guideline laid out on the adopt a pet flow or in a different flow? Was it easy to read and understand?)
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Adoption Application ( was it too long? was easy to complete? )
By taking a peek into a pet shelter's web pages,
I could experience why people would get frustrated,
but let me talk to users to understand their pain points...
Interviewing Users
I conducted an online interview with 5 adopters ages ranging from 30-45 years old to understand their pain points during the adoption process.
The interviews confirmed my assumption that users get frustrated with the adoption process because of the overwhelming information on the web pages and the long application process.
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"My goal is to adopt a pet from a local shelter that I can visit beforehand. But I come across some shelter's web pages that are either confusing or do I have to dig to find the requirements and fees. It would be great to find a local shelter that outlines upfront their steps, has a filter for pets' features, and is easy to navigate"
Profile:
Fiona, 34 years old, works from home.
She is married with no kids and is looking for adopting a dog
How might we ...
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Mitigate people's frustration with the pet adoption process.
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Improve the application form experience.
Brainstorming
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Sketching solutions
Consolidating the insights from research, users insights, and competitive analysis, I brainstormed ways in which pain points could be alleviated through the user experience and design. The main ideas evolved around: not having overloaded information on the main page, being transparent about the adoption process, teaching clients the steps about adopting, and having an easy and friendly application form.
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Usability Tests
When I ran the 1st Usability test, users did not have problems with the adoption flow. They actually appeared confused about not seeing real pictures and therefore they have little to say about the UI and UX itself. Nevertheless, I was interested in which path they would take to adopt a pet, clicks, and comments on the overall experience. The overall experience of the users was good with few negative comments. That puzzled me because I was not sure if the prompt was too easy to complete.
Running a second usability test with a hi-fi prototype gave the users a more real experience. I was able to catch their facial expression and feelings. This time, I received more feedback, which was adjusted to provide a more pleasant user experience.
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Users requested:
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Option to share the webpage of the chosen pet via email​.
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Too much scrolling on the main page.
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Participants also mentioned that they would like to know timeframes about how long each adoption step would take.
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One participant also pointed out that having a confirmation number or email sent to email would be great for records.
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Final Product
What I learned
For this project, I stuck with a deadline of one month to present an MVP for a dog adoption flow.
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It is crucial to know when to move on.
Although I love to read and be curious about new subjects, I had to put a stop to the indirect research. I dug into deep research about how people chose their pets, and why some pets' traits tend to be more adopted than others. Nevertheless, I had to filter how that would help me develop this website and focus on what my goal was based on the prompt given to me.
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Design for emotion
I learned the challenge of designing sites and apps that touch people's feelings. After all, there is a feeling of affection attached to adopting a pet and it was challenging to pass this message to my user in a friendly and not overwhelming way.
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If I had more time:
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I would perform an A/B test on the application form, particularly on the mobile version. I think there is a way to improve the user experience on this form and although I was pretty satisfied with the final result, I think there is always room for improvement.
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Spend time on the behavior of pages when scrolling up or down
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Get more usability tests and feedback, especially from a local shelter.
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Fun Fact: Samba found a great family!
We adopted him about 6 years ago and he is our best friend!