Enabling shelters to track feral cats to enhance care and support.
Role: UX Designer
Timeline: June 2022 (2 weeks)
01
Furmiliar is a personal project I revisited as a cat owner with a curiosity about feral cats’ lives and the support they receive. My aim was to understand how these cats survive and what communities do to help them.
Most shelters advocate for the Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) approach, a minimally invasive method that benefits both cats and communities. TNR stabilizes colonies by reducing overpopulation, helping cats live longer and become better neighbors.
Previous iteration
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- Noise: Cat fights have become a nuisance to neighbors. The overpopulation leads to limited food, water, and shelter. Cats that are not spayed or neutered are more likely to be more violent.
- Spread of illnesses: Neighbors had concerns of illnesses spreading to their outdoor cats. Feral cats can spread infectious diseases to outdoor pet cats.
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Defining community members' interactions
I defined the core capabilities of Furmiliar by creating a user flow to map out community interactions with the app.
Early wireframes
Guided by the user flow, I developed early wireframes focused on functionality and simplicity to support shelters and community members in tracking cat data.
06
Create and share entries with the community
Users can make reports by taking and uploading an image of a feral cat, mapping the approximate location, and sharing identifiable characteristics or additional information helpful to shelters. This feature encourages community involvement and provides shelters with accurate, localized data.
Explore reports made by community members
The homepage displays reports submitted by other community members based on the user’s current location. Users can explore identifiable characteristics of each cat to determine if a specific cat has already been reported, helping avoid duplicate entries.
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Next Steps
Shelter Portal
Currently, the solution relies on sending updates and data to shelters. In the next iteration, I plan to build a dedicated portal where shelters can access live community updates.
User testing showed a need for better guidance. I aim to add onboarding screens to familiarize users with app features.