HCDE Masters Capstone
Save all the Animals
Research Phase
Surveys and Interviews
We began with research into pain points of organizations. We gathered information by gathering contact information from Petfinder.com. We then sent out a Google Forms survey, to which we received over 600 responses. We followed up with some survey respondents and were able to interview several people.
The major responses were lack of funding, and lack of available foster homes. We decided to delve into why there were not enough foster homes, and saw that many fosters were overwhelmed by the process.
Diary Study & Journey Maps
Following interviews, we were able to get 4 fosters to fully complete a 2 week diary study. Which we mapped out on Journey maps, and saw that most Fosters had around 2 pain points around the same time before leveling out and staying generally happy.
Co-Design Workshop
As the end of our research phase, we scheduled a Co-Design Workshop with our fosters. This activity occurred virtually over Zoom, we walked our users through two activities, one to further clarify their pain and gain points, and the second to start generating ideas on how to alleviate their frustrations.
As a result, we found that the Fosters:
Fosters struggled with delayed communication from organizations
organizations do not have infrastructure to properly support fosters
Community is why fosters come back, and it needs to be stronger
Design Phase
Initial Design
Based on our ideation and information architecture we created a low fidelity prototype and built out the major sections we were hoping to receive feedback on when user testing. From our research and co-design session we knew it was important to include a check-in with organization flow, community section, and an area where fosters can reach out to organizations specifically for help with behavior, medical, or other needs.
High Fidelity Prototype
Taking feedback from our initial concept test, we revisited some navigation issues, search functionality, and generally made the features clearer. We also addressed what would be incorporated in the community section, based on the fosters expressed need to “have the support of others with similar experiences.”
RITE Testing
We conducted 2 rounds of usability testing using RITE testing to ensure that our design was going in the right direction and effectively solving the problem.
We compiled and analyzed all of the data we received into a spreadsheet documenting the delighters in green and possible pain points in red. This data helped us move forward with our design iterations as we took into consideration all feedback received from the participants.