Project type: End-to-end app/course design, independent study
Role: UX/UI designer, Learning Experience designer
Tools: Figma, FigJam
Timeline: 12 weeks
Provide dog rescue clients with the essential knowledge, tools, and resources needed to train their newly adopted pets, strengthening their bond and preventing common behavioral issues from occurring.
Successful course completion leads to confident pets and pet owners, improved pet-owner relationships, decreased behavioral issues, and a lower rate of dogs being returned to shelters.
Many people who adopt dogs from rescues lack the necessary knowledge and resources to train their new pets properly. As a result, these dogs frequently develop problematic behaviors, causing frustration and dissatisfaction for adopters. How might dog rescues provide more effective support to their clients, improving the adoption experience and reducing the likelihood of returned pets?
Key findings from a competitive audit of 15 local pet rescue websites:
Many rescue websites do not provide a clear starting point for new dog owners. Their resources consist of disorganized links to external sites without any discernible hierarchy.
The links provided are text-heavy and not engaging. In addition, numerous broken external links make the information unreliable and frustrating to access.
This feature provides adopters with the necessary knowledge and resources to effectively train their newly adopted dogs, promoting a positive adoption experience and preventing problem behaviors from developing. The goal was to develop a structured and easy-to-use introduction to dog training that would help owners feel more confident and less overwhelmed after bringing home their new dog, leading to customer satisfaction post-adoption.
The dashboard is logically structured, with a simple and intuitive interface.
Learners can easily resume from where they left off and track progress, helping them stay motivated and focused on their learning goals.
Although the program is designed to be completed in a month with each course taking a week, learners can go at their own pace and schedule.
The course is broken down into lessons that are easy to follow and navigate.
Each lesson has a clear structure with defined learning objectives and instructional resources that accommodate different learning styles.
The lessons are strategically sequenced to build knowledge progressively, making this course effective, engaging, and memorable.
Celebrations at the end of each course is a way to recognize and acknowledge progress. It provides learners with a sense of accomplishment, motivating them to continue pursuing their learning goals.
Learners can opt out of courses, allowing them to customize their learning experience to better suit their needs.
A confirmation screen prevents accidental opt-outs and ensures learners are intentional about their decision to opt out.
I conducted research to answer the following questions:
I used the insights gained from the user interview to create an empathy map. It helped me put users’ feedback into a format that was easy to understand and reference during the design process.
I created user personas to create more empathetic and relevant designs that met users' specific needs. These personas represent the target audience, which helped me picture users in a more human and relatable way.
Developing a journey map helped me gain a deeper understanding of the user's experience. Mapping out the user's interactions with the rescue allowed me to pinpoint the problematic areas, identify the crucial touchpoints, and uncover areas of opportunity.
Storyboarding was a valuable tool in my project as it allowed me to gain a comprehensive overview and identify potential issues before prototyping the final product. Initially, I planned to design the product for the web since it would be an additional feature to a rescue's existing website. However, after storyboarding, I realized that most people would access the program on their mobile devices, especially when training their dogs. This realization prompted me to modify my design approach and create a mobile-friendly version of the product.
Throughout the wireframing and prototyping process, I continued to gather feedback from users and product designers, making adjustments to the design based on their feedback. This ensured that the final product was intuitive and met the needs of the target audience.
In general, users want to be able to track their progress throughout the course, even while they’re in the process of completing a lesson.
Before: Users could not track course progress while completing lessons and had no context for where in the course they were.
After: The prototype was improved to include a progress bar at the top of each lesson.
Users want want to know that opting out of a part of the training program is available to them. They want to be able to opt out easily.
Before: Users had to click the down arrow in order to find the opt-out button.
After: Opt-out appears on the minimized course card, a prominent location.
Users want to easily access and interact with course content. They want to see more consistent interactive elements.
Before: Users had no context for which course they would be getting into when clicking the ‘Next Course’ button. Users also noted that the button sizes and touch targets were small and did not meet accessibility standards.
After: The new design lets users know the specific course that is up next and prioritizes accessibility. Buttons, text, and font sizes comply with design standards for accessibility.
This program is designed to address the immediate and practical needs of dog rescue clients. Clear learning objectives, practical applications, and the use of real-world scenarios ensure that the content is relevant and meaningful, driving motivation and engagement. By understanding and catering to the unique needs of adult learners, the program successfully provides dog rescue clients with the tools and knowledge to train their pets, ultimately contributing to the well-being of both the pets and their owners.
The program is divided into bite-sized modules, each focusing on a specific aspect of dog training. This structure allows learners to progress at their own pace and revisit modules as needed, which aligns with the self-directed nature of adult learning.
The program allows learners to choose their learning paths based on their needs and prior knowledge. Learners can opt out of courses, allowing them to customize their learning experience to better suit their needs.
Real-world scenarios simulate common challenges faced by new dog owners (e.g., dealing with separation anxiety, introducing a dog to new environments) and guide learners through step-by-step solutions.
This method encourages critical thinking, problem-solving, and increases confidence in applying what they have learned. It also improves knowledge retention.
The course incorporates videos, infographics, podcasts, articles, and interactive quizzes. Multimedia elements cater to various learning styles and keep the content engaging. Videos demonstrate training techniques in real-time, while quizzes reinforce learning and assess comprehension.
Designing the online training program for dog rescue clients was an exploration of responsive design, user-centered adjustments, and iterative improvements. This experience reinforced the importance of targeted enhancements to solve usability challenges, significantly improving user experience without a full redesign.
Leveraging my teaching background, I structured the course to simplify complex dog training concepts into accessible formats like short videos, checklists, and podcasts. By focusing on clarity and engagement, I aimed to motivate users to apply the training effectively.
Balancing content to be accessible and valuable for both novice and experienced dog owners was challenging. To address this, the program included customizable learning paths and a variety of content formats (text, video, interactive elements) to cater to different preferences.
Striking the right balance between in-depth educational content and a user-friendly interface was complex. Iterative testing and user feedback were crucial in refining the interface to ensure it was intuitive without compromising on the richness of the content.
I needed to build a design system that could be quickly customized to meet the unique needs of each dog rescue, while still retaining the core framework, key features, and essential interactions. Thorough testing was critical to verify that the system was robust enough to handle various design systems and user flows.
