Fostering Trustful Bonds
Strengthening Connections
By facilitating interactions, we bridge the gap between PDOs and breeders, nurturing a foundation of trust.
Accessible Insights
Eliminating the need for extensive research, this platform offers easily accessible information, creating a seamless user experience.
Empowering Prospective buyers & breeders alike.
Elevating ethical practices
Spotlights breeders that champion responsible practices, placing them in the spotlight they deserve with prioritization of credibility.
Helping guide your decisions.
Equipping buyers with tools to make informed choices, we encourage education and independent judgment.
Championing Canine Well-Being
Holding breeders to higher standards
Pawdigree emphasizes responsible breeding, discouraging support for backyard breeders, and upholding a high bar of entry.
Promoting health for all breeds
By connecting prospecting owners with reputable breeders, we contribute to combatting hereditary diseases and health issues in dogs.
Research Methodology
Understanding the problem — Dog Owners & Breeders
White Paper Research
The process at which prospective owners seek out adopting a dogs is a lengthy process that most engage in.
According to MDPI
60% of dog owners spend more than a week researching before adopting a new dog.
80% of dog owners engage in pre-acquisition research.
In the U.S. the most common sources for the acquisition of pet dogs are breeders (25%)
What makes this research process so long?
Research Findings
“I can't find a reputable breeder - that is my problem. I am looking for the red flags... and I find them everywhere.”
75 Responses Collected
5 Interviews
Several trends where identified through collected responses. One of the most notable being how reliant Prospective owners are on personal judgement. Good breeders are a commodity and the lack of them mean it's like finding a needle in a haystack. More bad breeders, means more poorly bred dogs.
Relevant Reddit Communities
r/dogs Discord Server
Online Dog Lover Communities
96%
Of respondents who bought from a breeder recommended networking and meeting others.
28%
Recounted attending dog shows, events, or breed-specific meet-ups, to connect with reputable breeders.
53%
Suggested researching breed clubs and their top breeders as a starting point.
Trends
What I've learned so far as told by reponses:
Empathy & Journey Mapping
The Prospective Dog Owner Process — an emotional torment.
The journey from realization to obtaining a dog is one of conditioned skepticism and paranoia. I identified two ends to this experience. One where the person in question finds the perfect breeder and the other chose an irresponsible one.
Personals
Capturing the user base.
Design
Wireframes
Feature identification was done through context scenerios.
Design Constraints
What was wrong with the first version?
Overwhelming visual Design — congested, overly colorful, hard to find call to actions.
Too many steps, mainly too many interactions on breeder pages. While it still reduces the time taken to assess a breeder, it could still be condensed.
Needed improvements to information architecture on specific pages. Example: Top companion breeder banner underneath search results.
More could be done to educate the user on the topic
Design Fixes
How I fixed it.
I struggled a lot with balancing the informative aspect of the UX with the overall process. I wanted buyers to make informed decisions before deciding to contact the breeder. Following experimentation, I determined it was best to feed users information while pairing it with this can be seen in
Cosmetic issues where addressed by refining the branding and simplifying the palette.
Design Breakthrough
The hidden truths & big lessons.
I'm designing for dogs, not people.
The further I got into this project the more I realized that this user base did not want something that was for them and more for the well-being of dogs. The root of the problem was prospective owner's fear of supporting unethical practices.
There are less good breeders than bad ones.
There is a supply and demand issue of reputable breeders. I reasoned the design would have to lean heavily on high credibility and social belonging to persuade prospective owners that their patience is worth it.
