>PAWZENS
creating adoption opportunities for aging companions
tags: ux/ui, interaction design, design research
roles: lead designer & researcher
year: 2024 - 2025
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[ overview ]
As part of my Masters studies in UX and service design, I explored the process of senior pet adoption and creating adoption opportunities for an age demographic that often gets forgotten by adopters. Spanning eight months of production, this project introduces PAWZENS — a senior pet adoption service with a mission to treat every aging pet as equal and break down the digital barriers that prevent these four-legged friends from finding their forever homes.
[ problem statement ]
🐾 how can we use design to create adoption opportunities for senior animals and support pet owners by providing better access to caretaking resources?
Senior pets (age 8+) tend to be the least adopted, resulting in high euthanasia rates as shelters and rescues struggle to find people willing to adopt and take on their needs. As of 2021, Humane Canada estimates a total of over 81,000 cats and dogs entering shelters regularly across the country [x], with increased intake numbers and kennel competition impacting their visibility.
Senior pets (age 8+) tend to be the least adopted, resulting in high euthanasia rates as shelters and rescues struggle to find people willing to adopt and take on their needs. As of 2021, Humane Canada estimates a total of over 81,000 cats and dogs entering shelters regularly across the country [x], with increased intake numbers and kennel competition impacting their visibility.
[ r&d: adoption platforms ]
To better understand the issues that impact senior pet adoption, I analyzed popular North American adoption platforms and their structures (Petfinder, Adopt a Pet, PetPlace, Rehome), highlighting gaps in their user experiences and avenues for improvement. Based on this analysis, I identified four key issues:
💻 no dedicated senior pet adoption platform
There is no adoption platform solely designed for senior pets, which means they must rely on general adoption platforms for exposure.
⭐ lack of focus on senior pets
Most adoption platforms will only mention senior pets in pet care guides/resources or if the platform runs an adoption campaign for senior pet awareness.
📑 limited information for adopters
Most platforms relied on shelters to provide key information that adopters need to know, rather than having it be integrated (ex. special needs, compatibility, etc).
🐱 too many age groups
Popular adoption platforms display too large of a variety of age groups, causing senior pets to get lost in the mix of kittens, puppies and middle-aged pets that tend to dominate adoption sites.
Numerous studies on pet adoption made use of online adoption platforms to evaluate adopter habits and behaviours, implying that these online spaces play a key role when it comes to adopting a pet.
[ user insights ]
In addition to adoption platform analysis, I connected with senior pet owners and local animal shelters to identify user needs and pain points with the current process of senior pet adoption and senior pet care. The goal was to gather both the perspective of the shelters/rescues who care for senior pets and the perspective of the people who would be adopting/caring for senior pets. The following are key insights derived from the user research:
100%
The percentage of agreement from both senior pet owners and animal shelters that senior pets are not the first priority for adopters.
age & money
The two main factors that deter most adopters from choosing an senior pet over a younger one.
1-3
The number of applications per month that an animal shelter will receive for a senior pet.
52%
The number of pet owners who would adopt a senior pet if they had the resources or their lifestyle allowed them to.
41% vs. 37%
The percentage of survey participants who have used an adoption service before, versus those who haven't used any.
lifespan
Like with any animal, many pet owners are worried about how long they can spend with a senior pet before they pass/have to put them down.
From here, I developed a list of user needs and pain points that would be addressed with the proposed solution for the challenge:
[ ✧.* ]
introducing PAWZENS — a senior pet adoption service with a mission to treat each aging pet as a citizen of our world.
PAWZENS as a name is a combination of the words “paw” and “citizen”, drawing inspiration from the term “netizen” as a name for people on the internet. Staying true to the goal of treating senior pets equally and fairly as citizens of our world, PAWZENS aims to provide them with a warm home, a delicious meal, the love of their human owners, and a peaceful chance at life.
[ visual interface ]
The interface of PAWZENS combines layouts from existing adoption platforms like Petfinder and Adopt a Pet, drawing on user familiarity to make the website easier to visually interpret; imagery and icons used were also sourced to match existing platforms. Rounded forms and shapes were included to match with the PAWZENS logo; component elements (buttons, cards, dropdowns) also used curved edges. It was important to emphasize playfulness with modernity, revitalizing adoption platform interfaces while keeping the content at the forefront.
The PAWZENS logo is based on a humanoid figure combined with two pawprints, the larger one representing a dog and the smaller one a cat.
