Transforming Pet Adoption with Huggo: A Journey
Product Designer / Visual Designer/ Web-app Design / Design Systems
HuggoApp surge from the heartfelt need of individuals who desire to adopt a pet but struggle to find one that truly aligns with their needs and capabilities. Despite the numerous existing initiatives, these often introduce friction into the adoption process, leaving people disheartened or delaying their adoption dreams.
YEAR
2021
ROLE
Volunteer Chief of Product
Team & Company
Johan Villalba - Founder & CEO
Jairo Solarte - CTO
Yeison Grisales - CFO
Andrés Mendoza - CMO
Alisson Quintero - Brand Designer
Andrea Becerra - Developer
Jorge Robledo - Jr. User Experience Desinger
@ Huggoapp
Online
The Methodology: Unleashing Design Thinking
HuggoApp emerged as a side-project by a group of individuals determined to revolutionize pet adoptions in Colombia. Given the remote and asynchronous nature of the project, we opted for an agile and asynchronous approach. For product development, we embraced Design Thinking as our methodology. This decision not only facilitated remote teamwork but also fostered a positive impact on UX-oriented product development.
Defining Huggo: The Brand's Essence
Before making any product decisions, we recognized the importance of understanding our purpose, destination, and desired identity. To solidify our ideas and questions, we embarked on a briefing exercise.
Logo & Brandguidelines by Paola Castillo
Understanding Our Users: Research and Personas
To pinpoint the exact pain points of our target audience, we dove into their world, conducting research through a series of interviews tailored to different user types: Adopters, Foundations, Rescuers, and Organizations. We synthesized this information into empathy maps and crafted key User Personas that guided our product scope.
Wireframing Our Solutions: Transforming Insights into Action
Our user research and market validation were not just about gathering insights; they were about putting those insights into action. We leveraged wireframing as a critical tool in this journey. Wireframes allowed us to sketch out the user experience, mapping their interactions with the app. This process visualized our solutions, enabling iterative refinement and validation before development. Wireframing bridged the gap between insights and user-centered design, ensuring HuggoApp effectively addressed the unique challenges of pet adoption with precision and empathy.
The Pilot
Our initial MVP comprised a landing page for testing our appeal to the Colombian audience. Over three months, we collaborated with foundations, who provided us with their pet catalogs. We published these pets on our website and processed adoption forms—a somewhat manual yet deeply rewarding process.
Key Learnings: Nurturing a Pet Adoption Community
Despite launching just a landing page for our first MVP, it was gratifying to witness the formation of a passionate community interested in pet adoption. Foundations increasingly desired to join our cause, and adopters placed trust in our vetting process, bolstering our faith in the journey ahead.
