Paws N’ Play
Helping potential cat owners learn to provide proper care to cats through hands- on learning.
Overview
Paws N’ Play is a learning based cat cafe that helps connect young families with a compatible, life-long cat, through hands-on-guided-lessons and supplemental books. Our mission is to ensure that families get cats that will suit their lifestyle and what they are looking for in a cat, this is to reduce stress to the cats and lower the chances of the cat being returned because it is not compatible with the family. This was done with a partner, Amy Lee. We did research together, but created our own deliverables for the project.
The Challenge
Many kids ask their parents for pets, some parents will get the pet and not know how to properly care for it or educate their kids on how to care for it. Many parents are also concerned that their kids will not want to participate in the care of their new pet.
Process
Research
Ideation
Design
My Role
UX/UI designer
Timeline
September 2024-April 2025
Tools
Figma
The Solution
For the scope of this project we decided to focus on cats, and with that in mind, we decided to create Paws N’ Play, a learning based cat cafe where we provide lessons to those looking to adopt a cat, as a way for people to both meet the cat that they are looking to adopt, as well as learn how to properly care for it. To involve children in this process, we have hands-on learning, as well as books for them to take home to continue learning about cat care. To also make it easier for users to decide which cat to adopt, we created a matching system that looks at the users lifestyle and preferences and matches them to the cats that fit best.
Research
Secondary Research
I started off my research by looking into cat care, specifically what kinds of things they need and how to best interact with them. I wanted to see what kinds of things new cat parents would need to know as well as learn about the way cats think and perceive the world.
Interviews
After gathering secondary research, Amy and I moved onto conducting interviews with our user group, young families who have or want pets. Through these interviews, we wanted to find out how they would approach or how they did approach teaching their kids how to interact with cats, what kind of responsibilities they would give or do give their kids regarding cat care, and if they don’t have a pet, what barriers they had that were stopping them from getting a pet.
Want opportunities to have hands-on learning about cat care without having to own a cat first
Worried that kids would not be involved in caring for the cat
Wanting to find the perfect cat for their family
Playing with cats can help them to destress
A cat’s individual personality affects their behaviour towards humans more than other factors like gender
Cats thrive on routine
Ideation
Journey Map
I made a journey map to explore the user’s experience before, during and after going through the process of Paws N’ Play to get a sense of how everything ties in together.
Service Blueprint
I created a service blueprint to flesh out the touch points throughout the user journey to flesh out everything that would be happening to make the service successful.
Design
Wireframes
I then started to make the wireframes for the website of Paws N' Play, deciding on a simple, clear layout that would be easy for the users to navigate.
Concept Testing
We did a few rounds of concept testing with our peers, I tested out the matching system of our service and my partner tested out the first draft of the book series. For the matching system, our peers really liked getting matched to their perfect cats because it feels really personalized for them. While testing, I did find that the questions needed some refinement so we could get the kinds of answers that we were looking for.
Cafe Sketches
These are sketches of the cafe that I made to help visualize the space and mood of the cafe.
Final Prototype
These are the final wireframes that I made for Paws N’ Play. My partner made her illustrations for the books using felt, so we decided to use felt to bridge the books and website to make them feel more cohesive. The felt illustrations on the website were also done by her.
Lesson Plan
This is the lesson plan that I came up with, it is based on things that are the basics of cat ownership, things that I researched when I was getting my pets, as well as things that I get asked about caring for pets.
Cat Profile
This is a detailed cat profile that I made, these are to be emailed to the users after their adoption application has been approved. It gives more information about their new feline friend and includes our email if they need any help or have any questions.
outside view
cafe area
cat room
lesson room
Low Fidelity Wireframe
Mid Fidelity Wireframe
Usability Testing
During this testing session, it was noted that the users wanted more learning opportunities on the website, and they wanted to know more about the cats. One user suggested that we send the families a detailed profile of the cat that they adopted so they know more about it.
Learning Outcomes
Concept Testing
This was my first time doing concept testing and I found that it was a great way to test the waters before diving right into a new project.
Timeline
This was a self-led project so I realized the importance of creating a following a timeline to ensure that I could meet the deadline.
Let’s Connect!
©
Katie Liu
2025
