Nextdoor Pets
What if there's a faster way to get them home safe?
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Redesign challenge

Overview

"We all know the gut-wrenching feeling of realizing your beloved pet has slipped out of a cracked door, under a fence, or out of his or her collar. When a pet goes missing, our neighborhoods are often the first place we turn to get the word out and search."

~ Nextdoor blog, introducing the Pet Directory in honor of National Pet Day 2017

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When my family first moved to a different neighborhood two years ago, our new neighbors sent us a Nextdoor invite to connect with our community. In that community, there always seemed to be a loose pet somewhere, leading to a constant relay race between frantic pet parents and kind neighbors trying to figure out who had whose four-legged child. I decided to investigate Nextdoor's Lost and Found feature in the context of pets, wondering if there was a better way to help wayward animals and their worried families.

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The Challenge

Nextdoor is about building stronger and safer communities, and pets are an integral part of that community.

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How can Nextdoor make it easier to reunite lost pets with their families?

The Users

There's over 10 million people on Nextdoor, which covers 90% of neighborhoods in the US alone. Nearly 70% of US families own a pet. With so many neighborhood animals running around, Nextdoor has become the proverbial sign post for all lost and found pet fliers. 

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Even in the context of this pet-focused redesign, users aren't limited to pet owners. Anyone in a neighborhood that includes pets is involved, whether that means picking up a wayward kitten or reporting a dog spotted in their backyard.

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The users are as diverse as the neighborhoods they call home, from elderly grandparents to new parents to recent graduates.

Personas

the user narrative

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Maynna:
Mother of two who runs her business from home. She uses Nextdoor to report the loose pets she sees during the day, and wants to make sure owners see her alert amongst the other posts. She wonders if there's any ways she can find the pet's owner directly if they don't respond to her post.

Eli:
Mochi's dad and recent grad with a busy job. Eli relies on Nextdoor to keep him updated on the neighborhood while he's at work, and hopes that it will help him find Mochi if she gets out. Eli wonders how he can help his neighbors distinguish Mochi from the other white Samoyed dogs in the area.

Mochi:
A 2-year-old Samoyed, recently adopted and adjusting to life in a new neighborhood. Loves peanut butter. She's exuberant, curious, and always ready to explore an open door.

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‍Althougn Eli, Mochi, and Maynna may not cover every corner of Nextdoor's highly diverse userbase, they represent a common shared narrative between a pet owner, a neighbor, and a pet. Eli wants to keep Mochi safe. Maynna wants to help her neighbors.

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And Mochi? Mochi just wants to chase Frisbees and fall asleep by Eli's feet every night.

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With this narrative in mind, I took a closer look at Nextdoor's current pet-finding features to identify the main pain points in the user journey. This journey could be broken down into three main areas: adding a pet to the Pet Directory, creating lost/found pet posts, and navigating the neighborhood Newsfeed.

Pain Point #1

Pet Directory

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Despite its potential to be a valuable resource, the Pet Directory is disorganized and lacks critical information.

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Adding a new pet profile to the directory is an incredibly inconsistent process. There are two different ways to add a pet, which bring up two different data entry forms (and subsequently produce two different pet profiles with two different sets of information). Data entry for both methods is clunky and not mobile-friendly.

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Method #1 is to add a pet profile through the Pet Directory page. Although fairly comprehensive, the use of drop-down menus for large option sets (such as pet color) makes it difficult to navigate the form. It's also unclear what information format is expected in text fields such as size – while some users type in "large", others may type in "45 lbs".

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Method #2 is to add a pet profile through the personal profile page. Unlike the Pet Directory form, this form only asks for name, type, and breed, with no options to add more detailed information. There's too many button options for the user to find the right one easily.

Due to method #2, many profiles in the Pet Directory only include a pet's photo, name, type, and breed. Neighbors who look in the Pet Directory for a pet's profile (and subsequently their owner) often don't have enough information to make a positive match.

Pain Point #2

Lost and Found Posts

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The lack of a structured format for writing Lost and Found posts leads to confusing subject lines and a lack of specific details.

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Users are asked only for a subject and message – it's up to individual discretion as to what information is important to include. This leads to well-intentioned yet misleading posts like the ones below, making it hard for readers to find the posts they're looking for.

Post #1:
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• Does the subject mean that the OP has found someone else's lost dog?
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• Or does this mean that the OP has found their own lost dog (and is simply posting a happy update)?

Post #2:

• A quick skim of the subject line implies that the OP has lost their dog ...
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• ... but reading the post reveals that they actually saw someone else's lost dog.

Post #3:

• There is no indication as to whether the post is regarding a lost or a found cat until halfway down.

• Because there are a dozen gray tabbies in my neighborhood, this post received numerous inquires for more specific detail on the cat's physical appearance.

Pain Point #3

filter options & navigation

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The neighborhood Newsfeed displays all posts in chronological order with no way to filter posts by category. Instead, users must first navigate to the "More" tab, and then choose a Newsfeed category (such as Lost and Found) from there. After reaching Lost and Found, there is no additional sub-categorization, search bar, or filter option. These extra steps decrease navigational efficiency, take the user away from their original feed, and make it hard to find specific posts.

Inefficient navigation process to the Lost and Found page: main Newsfeed (leftmost) and "More" tab (middle)

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For all user cases, finding specific posts is confusing, time-consuming, and frustrating.

Pain Points

Recap

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‍Although Nextdoor has a number of pet-finding features already in place, these features work in isolation rather than together. As a result, it's difficult for people who have found pets to communicate effectively with people who have lost pets (and vice versa).

Solution

To ensure that this redesign fit into the rest of Nextdoor's current features, I kept Nextdoor's original visual language and user flows in mind throughout the entire design process – from paper, to wireframes, to final designs.

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My primary redesign focus was introducing greater information specificity and more direct navigation patterns.

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Visual Design: A Foreward

While examining Nextdoor, I noticed that that the app currently has two visual design styles in use. The first style is more text-heavy and condensed. The second style features a more spacious and bold design with colorful icons.

I decided to follow the second style for two reasons. First, the use of negative space and illustrations creates a friendlier appearance, which seemed better aligned to Nextdoor's identity and purpose. Second, it makes the text-focused nature of Nextdoor more digestible. Thus, many of the visual updates I made were meant to carry this livelier style throughout the app.

Solution

Add pet profile

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The Pet Directory's success as a comprehensive resource was limited due to the inconsistency between the two "add pet profile" forms. Building primarily upon the form from method #1 (see Pain Point #1 above), I updated both the visual interface and content so that the form is more user-friendly and specific to each pet.

Redesigned pet profile template (leftmost), and an example with Mochi's information (center and rightmost).

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For a more mobile-optimized form, the drop-down menus were replaced with a selective button format. Buttons are organized with the most popular options first, while a "more" button provides additional choices without cluttering the screen.

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Larger option sets such as breed demanded an efficient and low-profile way for users to get through options quickly. I opted for a "start typing ..." solution where the list of filtered options is displayed after the first letter or two (middle screen). For the more ambiguous size options, a "size chart" link brings up a sizing guide by weight (not shown).

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Note the new microcopy in the profile template: much of creating a more user-friendly yet detailed profile form revolved around telling users exactly what kind of information is expected. The microcopy provides examples and suggestions that point users in the right direction, helping them build a more complete description of their pet.

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I also redesigned the Pet Directory and the pet profile details pages below.

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Side note: pet profile details currently open on the mobile website rather than inside the app (second screen)

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The "Add Pet" button is now a "+" in the top bar, which is where action items reside on other pages. Full-width tiles on the Pet Directory make better use of the vertical space (and follow the posts layout on Newsfeed). On the profile details page, tweaks to the typographic hierarchy increase clarity.

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Solution

Create Lost and Found pet post

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The primary problem with the original "write post" page was its open-endedness, which left content entirely up to user discretion. The new "write post" page is based closely on the new "add pet profile" form, with altered microcopy and added options for unknown fields. Specific field requests give users a clear idea of what kind of information should be included, helping them write a more comprehensive and detailed post.

Comparison between the original "write post" post page (leftmost) and the redesigned page (center). Maynna's post for Mochi is shown as example (rightmost).

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The "add photos" icon is now featured prominently at the top of the page, as photos are often the most descriptive piece of information possible. The title field is auto-populated with "LOST" or "FOUND", creating a clear naming convention for both the author and future viewers. Again, microcopy prompts provide guidance and direction.

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Given how broad the range of lost and found items can be, I found it necessary to add subcategories into the "create new post" sequence so that filtering would be possible on the main Lost and Found page (further discussed in the Filter Categories section below).

User flow for creating a "found pet" post (top screens) and a "lost pet" post (bottom screens)

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When creating a "lost pet" post, users have the option to autofill information from pet profiles they've already created. This eliminates having to re-enter information, expediting the posting process.

Comparison between the original post detail page (left) and the redesigned detail page (right)

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In the post detail page, I added "Direct Message" as an action option, so that viewers can privately contact the OP from the post rather than having to first navigate to their profile. The redundant "Reply" button in the top bar was removed so action items could be condensed to one place at the bottom of the post. Information hierarchy was updated for a more spacious interface, and the all-important photos were given a prominent, swipe-to-see-next spot at the top.

Solution

new feature: Pet ALert

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As mentioned previously, the redesigned "write found pet post" page above is almost identical to the pet profiles. This opens the possibility of comparing metadata between found pet posts and pet profiles.

Pet alert notification to Eli (left) and Eli's subsequent conversation with Maynna (right)

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Whenever a potential match is found between a post and a pet profile, Pet Alert will send the pet's owner a direct message containing a link to the post details.

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This new feature would allow owners to be contacted automatically and immediately, ensuring that they never miss a post that might be related to their pet. This is a major relief to users like Eli, who no longer has to worry that he'll miss a Mochi post when he's not home. If a possible match is found, Pet Alert will send a notification straight to Eli's inbox.

Solution

Filter Categories

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Finally, I addressed the navigational issues and lack of detailed search options on the Newsfeed and Lost and Found pages. While investigating existing navigation on Nextdoor, I found that the category bar on "For Sale and Free" (first screen on image below) was a useful feature for filtering through different marketplace items. Given that the category bar already exists, is user-friendly, and fits well into Nextdoor's visual language, I decided to introduce a similar concept to Newsfeed and Lost and Found.

Comparison between current features (top row), and new filter categories on Newsfeed (bottom left) and Lost & Found (bottom right)

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On Newsfeed, category buttons take users to their respective category pages, such as Lost and Found. Ideally, it would make most sense if the categories displayed first were those most frequently visited by the user.

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On the Lost and Found Page, multiple subcategories (introduced in the "create new post" redesign) can be selected. Opacity and highlight rings provide visual feedback as to which options are active. Buttons were added to filter between lost items and found items, and a search bar enables users to further customize their search experience.

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New category bars and filters allow users to quickly find the posts that are important to them.

Reflections

Working with the constraints, flows, and visual language of an existing platform created numerous challenges that I spent many hours trying to understand. Nevertheless, those challenges pushed me to be more aware, insightful, and intentional as a designer. Here are some things that I learned along the way:

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  1. Inventing a new feature isn't always the best solution – oftentimes, there are opportunities to restructure existing features in a more efficient and useful manner. Rather than creating a completely new process for finding lost pets, I looked for opportunities where existing features might be better utilized if they could somehow work together. This led to the idea of matching data that already exists in pet profiles with "found pet" posts.
  2. Address the fact that different people will make different assumptions when given the same task. When users title their posts "lost dog", some mean "I have lost a dog", while others mean "I have found a lost dog". An understanding of these disparate interpretations inspired the specific form fields on the "write new post" page, which encourage greater consistency even when approached by different users.
  3. Additionally, researching platforms such as Petfinder, AdoptAPet, and PawBoost helped me gain a better understanding of what information pet owners (and pet finders) would find valuable. This heavily influenced the content and microcopy of the redesigned pet profiles and "write new post" pages.

    Next Steps

    Throughout this project, I hoped to make Nextdoor a better product for anyone interested in helping their neighbors. After its completion, there were many areas, possibilities, and questions I'd love to explore further.

    1. Comprehensive user research to identify additional pain points, needs, and expectations. Although my design decisions were guided by the personal research and user interviews that I conducted, I ultimately didn't have access to Nextdoor's data or engineering processes. The assumptions that I had to make may apply to users in Silver Leaf, CA (my neighborhood), but do they apply to users in other cities and even countries?
    2. Design evaluation and usability testing. Test and critically assess the redesign to help inform smarter design decisions for future prototypes. This redesign was guided by the current Nextdoor designs – are there any patterns I followed that should be reevaluated? Are there any gaps in the user journey?
    3. Iterate in collaboration, rather than in isolation. While this was an individual project, real-life products are shaped by numerous people across different teams. For instance, how will features such as metadata comparison be affected by engineering constraints?
    4. Introduce animations. Interactions can play a huge role in how products perform, and I'd like to explore how they might be incorporated into my redesign. Additionally, I'm eager to create interactive prototypes for a better visualization of what the overall user experience would look like.
    5. Translation to Web and Android. Since I tailored my redesign for Nextdoor's iOS app, it would be important to next examine what those same features look like on other platforms. A problem that multi-platform applications frequently comes across is consistency – how can I ensure that adding a pet profile on the web is the same experience that it is on iOS?

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      *Condensing my process and decisions into words was a challenge all of its own. Thank you for reading!