PAWS of Austin
PAWS of Austin is an animal rescue shelter specializing in Great Danes. It’s focused on providing refuge to stray and unwanted companion animals in Austin and the surrounding areas. They concentrate on promoting public awareness regarding animal welfare issues, pet healthcare, disaster preparedness, and most importantly, the necessity of spaying and neutering.
The objective of this case study was to enhance the user experience and effectiveness of Paw of Austin's website, to increase donations, streamline the adoption application process, and improve overall engagement.
Before
Background and Introduction
Our first steps were to research the PAWS of Austin website and similar sites. We used this information to focus our problem statement and create a user persona.
This organization plays a vital role in animal rescue and adoption, so it’s essential that their website provides a seamless user experience.
The Paws of Austin website serves as a hub for information about their mission, available pets for adoption, and how the community can get involved. The primary audience includes potential adopters, volunteers, and donors.
The goal of the website redesign to make it easier for visitors to the site to adopt or to donate.
Visitors to the site can quickly get information for foster info, adoption and donations.
The Paws of Austin website is a fantastic resource for animal lovers and advocates, but there’s always room for improvement. By addressing these usability, design, and accessibility issues, we can create a more effective platform for connecting pets with their forever homes.
Define the Problem
Users seeking to adopt Great Danes are experiencing frustration with a low-fidelity website that lacks essential features for a smooth browsing experience. The site is cluttered and outdated, making it hard to find information about available dogs, adoption procedures, and important resources. Users report slow loading times, poor mobile responsiveness, and inadequate search functionality, leading to a confusing and discouraging experience. This results in potential adopters feeling overwhelmed and less likely to complete the adoption process.
The website is dated. It is non-responsive and non-functioning on mobile. The content is bloated and confusing.
As a potential pet adopter, I want to easily browse available animals for adoption on the Paws of Austin website, so that I can find a suitable companion. I need clear information about each pet, including their age, breed, temperament, and adoption requirements, along with high-quality photos. Additionally, I want a straightforward process to submit an adoption application and access resources about pet care to ensure I’m prepared for pet ownership.
Diverge & Converge
Using other shelter sites as a resource to determine the industry standard, my team collaborated to build the mind map for the redesign.
The mind map helped us organize our thoughts and develop solutions to the problems on the original site.
We concluded that some sections felt crowded. Increasing whitespace could help guide users’ focus and improve content legibility."
The site uses multiple font styles, which can create a disjointed visual experience. A more consistent typography choice would improve readability and cohesion.
While many images have alt text, ensuring all images are appropriately tagged is vital for visually impaired users.
Some text on colored backgrounds lacks sufficient contrast, making it difficult for users with visual impairments to read."
Regular updates about events and success stories could keep the content fresh and engaging.
Call-to-Actions (CTAs): Enhancing the visibility and clarity of CTAs could guide users more effectively toward actions like adopting or donating."
When we initially reviewed the current website, the first thing we noticed was the big red button to donate, along with a Venmo QR code. Following that, users can find more information about PAWS, their mission statement, various work they do, and how they rely on support from their community. While these are their core beliefs, we found that the sizing and content hierarchy don't highlight these values enough, and the important information can get lost in the wall of text.
While conducting our Content Inventory of the home page, we noticed a couple of main elements, but the page still looked overwhelming and could make better use of its space. The Navigation Bar has 7 pages, each housing more pages and links, which led to some confusion while finding important pages on the site. Half of the page is text about PAWS, but the text is lengthy and can push users away from reading about their important cause.
During the Content Audit, we made note that PAWS could make better use of their space. Simple changes, such as changing the sizing of buttons and condensing the clunky paragraphs could improve the overall quality and usability of the page and its intent. We suggested changing the typeface to be more consistent, and for the colors of the page to move away from the harsh red and use a more inviting color palette. We wanted to re-group the pages nested within the navigation so users could accomplish their goals of adoption, donation, or finding information easily without having to click through multiple pages to get there.
The information with the highest importance is the donation section. Appearing twice on the homepage, both with a high-contrast button and a Venmo QR code. Who PAWS is as an organization is second in importance on its homepage. In four sections on the page, you can learn about PAWS, their mission statement, their work, and their support.
Lastly, a picture of the founder and her name ends the homepage. We found this page lacking in truly showcasing the organization’s values and who they ultimately serve.
Make it stand out
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more or maybe you have a creative project.
