With some background research, we had put together a preliminary journey map that we felt outlined a potential owner's path towards being a pet owner. We had an idea that we felt pretty good about, but weren't convinced of its value yet and hadn't talked to anyone.

As a next step, my colleagues and I reached out to Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh, one of Pennsylvania's largest animal rescue and adoption centers, to see if they were interested in discussing with us.

We met at the rescue center in-person and held conversations with customers, employees, and managers to validate our ideas.

We learned a lot - and validated - our assumptions that the lowest point in the journey for both the owner and the rescue center was if the owner had to return the pet as not a good match.

With this knowledge, we started sketching and prototyping ideas on how to help potential owners understand a pet's characteristics and responsibilities before stepping foot in a rescue center.

After a few rounds of testing with colleagues for heuristic violations and other critical issues, we produced higher-level wireframes. We established the responsive design format and displayed the webpage in both a desktop and app platform.

As a final step, we returned with our designs to Human Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh. We discussed our design specs, expected interactions, and reasons behind our designs.

The employees of Humane Animal Rescue were incredibly gracious, gave us great feedback about what we made, and were interested in seeing us pursue this concept further.