Case Study 05:
Lean UX for an LA Based Animal Rescue Non-Profit
USAKARA, Non-Profit
Freelance UX & UI Designer
Oct 2023–Dec 2023
Problem
USAKARA is an animal rescue non-profit organization based in Los Angeles. They were faced with a critical situation: Their non-profit renewal was threatened when their existing website unexpectedly went down. Sadly, this jeopardized their ability to fulfill their mission and they needed help fast.
Matheo Cadena, Mr Owl
Freelance Web Developer
Project Overview
USAKARA needed a website designed, developed, and launched within three months to meet their critical non-profit and trademark renewal deadlines. This had to be achieved on a small budget to prioritize animal care funds, while also incorporating a fundraising feature to support their mission.
Discovery Process
Researching the Problem
- Non-Profit & Trademark Requirements: I interviewed with their trademark attorney to learn and document the technical requirements for the non-profit and trademark filling.
- Design, Develop, & Launch on a Small Budget: I created and tailored a cost effective project roadmap to design, develop and launch their website and using lean UX process and WordPress. Because any additional costs would cut into animal care. Their founder received a quote from a LA based web development firm that was quoted at $12,000. I was able to provide a solution that cost half of that ($6,000).
- Minimum Viable Product (MVP): To receive an approval, USAKARA’s needed a website that: (1) Provides education content to the public. (2) A donation feature. (3) Showcase of the animals they’ve helped rescue. Defining the MVP helped me create a lean and affordable project roadmap that the client felt confident in approving.
Solution
I used the lean UX process to carve out essential steps in the project roadmap that informed and directed the web development process. Only essential UX artifacts were created: User personas, use cases, lo-fi wireframes, and hi-fi UI mockups. By combining these tools, I quickly designed and developed a website that met the MVP requirements, while staying within the client’s budget.
Design Process
Lean UX Accelerated the Website Development & Launch
I leveraged user stories and personas in my presentation guiding my client to prioritize the key features: Educational content sharing, gathering donations, and showcasing rescued animals. With this intention, I focused on designing and developing the most impactful features first, while backlogging non-essential features saving time and money.
Tools & Implementation
Researched to Uncover User Personas & Stories
I researched USAKARA’s non-profit sector, creating user personas and use cases that guided feature prioritization. This helped me focus on core features the audience and stakeholders cared about most: Animal rescue stories, fund raising, and providing educational resources.
Created Wireframes & Mockups
I designed lo-fi wireframes, and conducted user tests to validate design ideas early in the process. With this in mind, I was able to design hi-fi mockups using Adobe XD. Through presenting my research and mockups to the client, I got approval to move the project forward. This lean UX approach accelerated my development process, because all the design work was completed within 1 month allowing the rest of the time (2 months) to be dedicated to development, launch, and testing.
Developed the Website’s Content Management System
I developed the website using WordPress as the content management system (CMS) while staying within the client’s budget and deadline thanks to my lean UX process. Lean UX accelerated my development process because the design direction was already finalized and approved by the client so launching the site was a much smoother process, because the final solution exceeded their expectations.
Results
Six months after I launched the website, USAKARA in-person visitors increased: From, one interaction per month, to 3 per week. I was able to help the non-profit increase the number of in-person visitors as a result of my research and development in search engine optimization (SEO) for their website. Further, USAKARA’s non-profit status and trademark were approved, because of my hard work to meet the deadline and budget constrains, allowing them to continue to serve the great Los Angeles community.
Supporting the LA Pet Rescue Community
Increased Web Traffic Boosted In-Person Interactions
With their previous website, traffic was below 100 visitors per month, which correlated to one in-person interaction per month. However, six months after I launched their new website: Traffic increased over 1,000 visitors per month, which lead to an average of 12 in-person interactions per month. The client was blown away by these results, and extremely grateful for the new found growth.
More Website Visitors Led to More Donations
In today’s interconnected world, online presence is paramount. With this in mind, I researched and developed optimized SEO web content that boosted USAKARA’s web traffic. Thanks to my effort this not only increased their web traffic, further it increased donor engagement. Because more people were able to discover the website, more people donated to help USAKARA achieve it’s mission.
Empowered the Pet Rescue Community
USAKARA supported the LA community through serving as a resource hub. More web traffic, and in-person visitors led to USAKRA connecting people to: Increased pet adoption, and helped pet owners find support when they lost pets and needed help getting reunited with their lost pets. People came to USAKARA for more help and support than ever before.
Reflection
I learned how to define a lean project roadmap, while meeting my client’s budget and solving their problem.
Thanks to working with USAKARA, I learned how to manage a project from start-to-finish on a tight budget and timeline. This case study demonstrates my ability to think creatively under pressure, utilize rapid prototyping techniques, and ultimately contribute to the success of a non-profit organization’s mission to help people and pets get the support they need.
Looking Back
What I’d Do Differently
Launch a Community Support Database
If I could work with USAKARA again, I’d launch a database of community resources that would provide people the support and help they need when handling unique pet rescue situations. Overtime, the team realized that people ask for help in-person because they couldn’t find answers online. Everything from spay and neutering services, pet re-homing help, and what to do if …? This showed me there is a need for an online community database to help people get their questions answered when they can’t find answers elsewhere in their local community.
Stories from the Community Page
Many heartfelt stories were shared, but USAKARA doesn’t currently have a way where to share stories with their community. For example, one story of a woman who rescued a German Shepard from wandering the streets. The dog was skin and bone and malnourished, but she provided food and a temporary home. She tried re-uniting the dog with it’s owner, but no one ever came to claim the dog. She came to USAKARA hoping to find the dog a home. However, after consulting with the USAKARA staff, she ultimately felt empowered to adopt the dog herself. She had fallen in love with the dog and she even said the dog saved her life because it brought her so much joy and unconditional love into her life at a time where she was at an all time low. USAKARA provided the support she needed to confidently rescue the dog and navigate LA’s complicated adoption guidelines.
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