Friends to the Forlorn Pitbull Rescue, Inc. is a volunteer-based 501(c)3 rescue and community outreach organization. The mission is to promote responsible pitbull ownership, provide breed education, combat pet overpopulation, fight unfair legislation, find qualified homes for sound pitbull-type dogs and other dogs in need in Georgia, and help people and animals within the community.
This project was completed over three weeks by a team of five. The goal was to identify usability issues on the Friends to the Forlorn Pitbull Rescue website by evaluating concerns and incorporating straightforward solutions to enhance user experience.
We began to formulate who is the key user for the Friends to the Forlorn Website. After reviewing the current site, we concluded that it could be someone like Quentin who love animals, is aware of the social perception of pitbulls and wants to improve their situation either by adopting or volunteering.
Since we were dealing with a developed product already, we decided to perform usability tests on the current version of the website. We engaged five users to test different functions of the website, including making a donation and finding information to adopt.
We also interviewed a stakeholder from Friends to the Forlorn and included their feedback among the usability testing results below.
We then organized the affinity diagram into an empathy map to describe each user in four categories: ‘Says,’ ‘Does,’ ‘Feels,’ and ‘Thinks.’
Quentin wants to find a better and easier way to support local pit-bulls so he can help future pit-bulls not end up at an adoption shelter and find a stabilized, happy, and healthy household.
Quentin Smith, a remote video game programmer, needs to support the injured pitbulls to consolidate the grievance he endured when he lost his first pitbull.
The user scenario describes the process Quentin goes through after his pitbull passes away and he seeks emotional support by reaching out to a pitbull rescue organization.
The storyboard illustrates Quentin's journey to discover a pitbull rescue after the death of his pitbull.
I consolidated ‘Adopt’ and ‘Foster’ into the same dropdown because they have similar functions. We created a new tab for ‘News and Media,’ which took ‘Blog’ and ‘Newsletter’ from the global navigation at the top of the page.
In order to identify which features to improve for FTTF, we noted ideas into categories of 'I Like,’ 'I Wish,' and 'What If.' We put items we wanted in the app into ‘I Wish,’ and ideas where the sky is the limit went into 'What If.'
I decided the donation process could be the most improved upon. We designed a straightforward user flow to facilitate donations to FTTF. When the user clicks on ‘Donate,’ they can select to do a one-time donation or a monthly donation. They will then choose their donation amount, payment method, and submit their donation.
We decided to have a rotating carousel of pitbulls that are available to adopt at the top of the page to empathizes with users. We also included success adoption stories as the user scrolls down the page.
We decided a hamburger menu would be best for containing the menu on mobile.
Our user testing plan included three tasks to be completed by three users. We had users download an adoption application, submit a volunteer application, and view the 'Donation' page. While most users were able to complete these tasks, we found that users believed that ‘$2 Tuesdays’ and ‘$5 Fridays’ options were subscriptions, causing confusion. Ultimately, we decided to remove those features, moving towards the high-fidelity.
In our final prototype for the project, I enhanced the design to a high-fidelity level by adding images and implementing the style guide.
In our final prototype for the project, I enhanced the design to a high-fidelity level by adding images and implementing the style guide.
Our next steps to improve the project include reconvening with stakeholders to identify any further enhancements.
