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Leni Tjahjadi

Friends Forever App, a Personal Project




Hi Youu!

I have an exciting news to share with you guys!

I had completed my personal project which I truly love and passionate about, while at the same time, solving a problem.


Behold..


What is this app about?


So this app is a free to use pet adoption platform that connects shelter/rescuer/giver with adopters.


Why am I making this app?


Because stray animals are real issues in Jakarta, at least this report from 2018 says that city vets has to go out and catch stray cats 2-3times a week. And let's just say, stray animal catchers really need to catch both dogs and cats as their population is too much here in Jakarta, according to BBC Indonesia,2019. At least in 2018, there are 100 reports in Jakarta complaining about the presence of stray dogs and cats, hence the government planned to massively catch them, yet, this solution is deemed inappropriate and inhumane, so it was cancelled.


Being an animal lover, I agree that this solution is a really bad solution as it did not consider the fact that animals are living being as well and have feelings, just like us.

However, let's not forget complaints that are reported and the not reported one. I seen it myself how people treat stray animals and many of them are not good.

So, even when the complaints go unreported, the stray animals get an unfair treatment anyway.


Therefore, I think of a solution that can accommodate all parties. The animal lover, the dis-likers, the government, as well as the animals!


How does it work?


It is just as easy and simple to adopt! Just go to the app, search or browse the pets you like and chat with the current owner! No sign up required to browse, but you have to sign up/login to chat.


The Process 1 : Skeleton


Before jumping into any research, I started off with a quick analysis just so that I know what I should be covering in this project. This way, I don't miss out on any detail.


As always, I refer to this UX Checklist to get myself started.






As you can see, in this paper, I also have analysed the competitors or any existing similar app/platform out there.


The Process 2 : User Persona


To define user persona, I base this by observing people. I joined the Royal Canin Dog Run 2019 as well as Indonesia International Pet Expo 2019 to see how they mostly look like, gauge their habit from their activity in the event, and also talk to some of them.




The next day after I am done with the user persona, I decided to remove one user persona that I feel would be a less typical user and replace with one that I think would be much more typical user or mine.


Therefore, you won't be seeing the third user persona. (Just to feed your curiosity, the third one is a mother of a family, this assumption based on my observation that there are many mothers and fathers that are an animal lover and they fully participate the event with the kids as well)

In user persona, I usually define their character, their habit, and their daily life as detailed as possible. Back when I joined the 500 Startups Digital Marketing workshop, I learn that you have to be so detail, you might have to figure out what kind of car brand they like, or which apartment they live at. The point is, to be as detailed as possible.


The Process 2 : User Interview


In this interview, the questions are as follows :



Now, there is a reason why I Chose to ask this questions. And I believe, in order to get a good answer I have to ask good questions.


The Question number and their reason :


1. To define the consideration people mostly have when it comes to pet adoption, this helps to build the search or sort or filter function in the app and to know what information is crucial to most people and what information is not really related.


2. To narrow down the pets people most likely to adopt so that my app can actually be relevant and not redundant.


3. This is to test the awareness and to know if I have to educate the potential users about the the fact that animals adopted are your life-long commitment.


4. This is to analyse the competitor that performs the best.


5. This is to know how many from the sample size are avid adopters or potential avid adopters.


6 and 7. This is to know the potential problem that may comes in the process of adopting


8 . This is to know their experience adopting manually.


9 and 10. This is to know their experience adopting manually.


11. This is to identify where most people get to know their adopted pet and learn what makes that successful.


The answers










The conclusion from these answers are :

1. That Dog, Cat, and small animals are the most popular types of pet to adopt.

2. Breed, size, and the chemistry with the animal, as well as maintenance fee are the top considerations for pet adopters.

3. Information from friends/family are most common way people know a pet is up for adoption followed by the social media, which both are social way.


Analysis on Introduced by Friends/family in relation to pet adoption :

This is a very manual way and it relies deeply to the connection of each person. This could be a huge problem as some people who just don't care about animal yet have the information of strays need adopter might not pass this important information. Humans are also selective in presenting information. So they might know 10 animals need to be adopted but they might only tell you one.


The good thing about this solution is that friends/family are more trustworthy and easy to be accessed. Simply chat with them or talk to them will present you any information of pets for adoption. Talking/socialising is a basic activity of a human, so this is indeed the easiest part about this solution.



Analysis on Facebook/Social media in relation to pet adoption :

Facebook/other social media like Twitter and Instagram is something that people use daily and very often in their life. They share joy and see joy through them. In facebook, sharing information is as easy as one button. So when a friend shared an info about this dog that needs to be adopted, information accessed easily and fast.


What I adapt from this social media solution is the in-app messaging, whereby people can interact with each other through the app easily.


The down side of this solution is that because information shared so rapidly, it is difficult for the pet owner to update if the dog/cat is adopted and there is very little way to report any misused adoption activity.


The Process 3 : User Journey



The ideal user journey would be as following :

Home, Browse, View, Chat, and meet up. As simple as that


There are however, scenarios that enables to solve any future problem, such as potential animal abuse. User may report to Forever Friends Team if there is an indication of animal abuse or misusing the platform as a business purpose.


The Process 4 : Wireframe





Some of the plans in this initial design did not make it to the final one, such as :

Hashtag section in the home page itself (instead, it is merged into the search bar)

Similar pets (removed because it might make the user got lost and end up have to press back button so many times)


The goal of this design is an intuitive, easy, and simple process. So there are actually very little different artboards to design as things can be accessed in the same page with a swipe.


The inspiration of the UI is Airbnb and Carousell as I love how simple and clear they are and most people that I asked use both Airbnb and Carousell, love these app and have little problem while using it.


The Process 5 : Designing it


I use Adobe XD to design this app because of how familiar I am with XD and how fast it is to generate new artboard.


In total, there are 41 different artboards, both the shelter and adopter point of view.

This design is available for iOS only at the moment and the great part that I am proud of is that there is no need of a back button like in Android device. So actually both android and iOS can access this app without any (potential) problem.




The UI is inspired by the tone and voice of the brand, which is : fun, friendly, innocent.


After branch out the meaning of this and researching the perfect color for this UI, I think orange would be the best primary color.


According to Bourn Creative Website : "Studies show that the orange color can create physical effects such as increased hunger, heightened sense of activity, increased socialization, boost in aspiration, stimulated mental activity, increased oxygen supply to the brain, increased contentment, and enhanced assurance. Orange also helps aid decision making, and enhances happiness, confidence, and understanding. "


From the primary color, I try to browse in Pinterest to look for the secondary and tertiary color that can support orange and together, create a fun and friendly look and feel.


Here is what caught my eye and makes me feel joy INSTANTLY!




This color scheme is fresh, fun, happy, very much of a character of the lovely animals I will help in this project!


Organisation is super important, so I make sure the folders and files are neatly placed and named.



FINAL PROTOTYPE


Finally! We have reached the final prototype!


I choose Marvel to prototype this because of how fast Marvel usually is. I tested on different device with different internet connection and all works fast and fine, except one problem when I test on android device, swipe motion did not work at all so I have to replace swipe motion with tap.





To try the prototype, please CLICK HERE

Best to access this link via your phone.


So, what now?


At this point, I am still gathering user data and feedback, basically, testing this app.

I don't have any plan to launch this app at this moment. I made this for learning and entertainment purposes!


Thank you everyone who participated in the process of this creation!

It is so amazing to see my work in real life 🥰



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