Outcome at a glance

The redesign focused on making urgent actions easier to find, simplifying the reporting experience, and creating a tone that felt more supportive in a stressful moment.

Moderated prototype testing with 5 participants showed:

• Task completion increased from 60% to 100%

• Average completion time decreased from 4m 20s to 2m 30s

• Participants’ confidence increased from 4.1 to 6.3 on a 7-point scale

The problem

When someone loses a pet, they do not need every feature the app offers. They need clarity, urgency, and a clear next step.

In Noah’s Ark’s case, reporting a lost or found pet was buried among donation buttons, store content, and community features. The product had good intentions, and their heart was in the right place! However, the experience did not reflect what users actually needed in that moment.

This was not just a visual problem. It was a product-priority problem.

My role

I led the UX process from audit through validation. My role included:

• Reviewing the current product experience

• Identifying friction in the most important user flows

• Conducting interviews with pet owners

• Turning research into design principles

• Creating sketches, wireframes, and prototypes

• Testing the redesign with users

I also collaborated with the copy designer, founder, and developer to refine the experience's tone and ensure the new design and direction stayed grounded in both user needs and product realities. I wanted to make sure we humanized and simplified the app at the end.

Understanding the current experience

I started with a walkthrough of the app’s most important flows:

• Report a missing pet

• Report a found pet

• Create and manage a pet profile

With those core flows, I also looked at how secondary systems such as social feed, donations, monetization, memorial features, and gamification shaped the reporting experience.

Four problems stood out:

1. Critical actions were competing with less important features
Urgent actions were competing visually and structurally with secondary features. In a moment of panic and anxiety, that kind of competition creates hesitation, confusion, and unwanted stress.

2. The product structure did not match the user’s mindset
The app was made like a platform with many features, but users in a crisis are not thinking that way. They need reassurance, clarity, and a quick path to action. Not a social media feed or a paywall.

3. The tone felt too harsh in key moments
Some of the language felt cold in places where users needed calm and reassurance. It may seem like a small detail, but it has a real impact on how supported the experience feels.

4. The reporting process felt too burdensome
Submitting a report felt longer, heavier, and more repetitive than it needed to be. In stressful situations, users need simplicity and a sense of forward momentum. They need support.

Research

To validate the audit findings, I spoke with 5 participants I recruited from Facebook pet communities:

• 2 had lost a pet in the past

• 1 currently had a missing pet

• 1 had an unresolved loss

• 1 was a general pet owner

I also reviewed real lost-pet posts from community groups to better understand how people naturally communicate when they loose they beloved pet.

One problem became especially clear: crisis language like “Lost Pet Mode” was sitting next to social cues like “Followers” and “Following.” That contrast created cognitive dissonance, making the experience feel less aligned with the moment's importance.

Key insights

Stress amplifies every interaction

Participants found long forms, repetitive questions, and long experiences draining during what was already an emotionally taxing time.

“It feels like an interrogation.”

Design takeaway: Minimize steps, and help people feel like they are accomplishing something.

People need reassurance

Participants craved confirmations, clarity, and tone that would make them feel supported and certain rather than unsure.

“Did it actually submit?”

Design takeaway: Ensure clearer confirmation states, human-centered microcopy, and more robust feedback throughout the flow.

Real recovery behavior is speedy. Functional. Community-first.

We noticed the same patterns keep arising across real lost-pet posts:

Design principles

To guide the redesign, I used three principles:

1. Put urgent actions first

The most important tasks should be the easiest to find and complete.

2. Minimize the effort during anxiety-inducing times

In high-emotion moments, every extra question or unclear step feels heavier.

3. Design with empathy and the user in mind, not just efficiency

The product should not only work well. It should feel like it understands the user’s situation.

Exploration

I tried a few designs with sketches. I wanted to make sure to have a baseline that included:

• A home experience around critical actions

• A navigation

• Reporting flows and guidance

• Moving secondary features out of the critical path

Wireframes and interaction design

I turned the strongest concepts into mid-fidelity wireframes:

• Adding a visual step indicator to reduce ambiguity

• Making required inputs easier to understand

• Giving the location more importance in the reporting flow

• Including a review step before submission

• Improving confirmation states and guidance on what to do next

• Designing a share-ready alert to support community visibility

After this, I went ahead and created my high-fidelity prototype and wireframes.

Report missing pet

Report found pet

Validation

I tested the redesign through moderated usability sessions, comparing the original flow with the redesigned prototype.

Tasks included:

• Submitting a missing pet report

• Submitting a found pet report

Findings

• Task completion increased from 60% to 100%

• Average completion time decreased from 4m 20s to 2m 30s

• Confidence ratings increased from 4.1 to 6.3 out of 7

Qualitative takeaways
Participants advanced through the redesigned flow with confidence, asked fewer clarification questions, and described the experience as easier to understand and more comforting overall.

What I would explore next:

Features/opportunities I would continue working on the app in the future:

• Automatically-generated flyers to print

• Location-based neighborhood notifications

• Trust scores for community members who respond

• Expanded Usability Testing with more users

• Measurement once “in the wild.”

Considerations

While the redesign fixed the immediate reporting friction, several questions remain before growth can continue: how to prevent scams, how to partner with shelters and organizations, how to balance monetization, and how to address crisis ethics, such as including obituaries or asking for donations.

Reflection

The hardest part of this project was not cleaning up the interface. It was rethinking the product around what users were actually experiencing: stress, urgency, and the need for support while trying to do the right thing quickly.

That mindset shaped every design decision. It pushed me to think beyond screens and flows, and more deeply about what supportive product design can really look like.