Prototyping Tools For Animal Shelters

I was surfing the web for animal shelters and animal adoption websites and noticed that some of these shelters’ websites could be optimized to help visitors adopt pets more easily and it probably would not be overly difficult or time-consuming for them to do so. (This process could be sped along by using a prototyping tool as well, which could save the animal shelters money on drafting designs for their website.)

Prototyping tool and usability
For example, on one website the color scheme was a bit loud and the adoption process was not instantly recognizable. (This is obviously subjective, which is why these animal shelters could consider conducting usability tests in order to reach the greatest amount of people.) Usability testing is not as scary as it sounds though. It is a process in which people are asked to try out a website (through given scenarios or other testing patterns) and a moderator notes what they do and how easily the person was able to accomplish the task. Some prototyping tools offer integrated usability testing functions, which would not only help these charities in drafting new designs for their websites, but also in testing the design to see if this is optimized for their conversion, which would be for people to adopt animals.

How a prototyping tool works
A prototyping tool is basically used to create a wireframe for a website, which is basically a blueprint. You could draft a website yourself using the prototyping tool and even perform usability testing on the prototypes you create. You can then make changes to your design before you send it to the web developer for implementation. If you prefer to involve a web-developer from the beginning, you both could sit down and work out the prototype together with the prototyping tool. Some prototyping tools also have collaboration functions, which means that prototyping could occur through virtual real-time collaboration or in person. This is where the web-developer can give the animal shelters advice about what is easy to program and what is not so easy to program.

Benefits of a prototyping tool
A prototyping tool that can be used to create interactive prototypes would be beneficial in creating prototypes that can be used in usability testing. This is because the prototyping tool would allow elements to be linked and clicked through in simulation in a similar way to a live application. The prototype could then be modified using the prototyping tool. As stated above, some prototyping tools also have collaboration functions, and can allow comments to be left in the prototype (Prototype, Prototyping Tool) or simulation for colleagues to see and respond to. The new website could be a project where everyone can get involved.

Prototyping tools for animal adoption
If animal shelters and other animal adoption agencies optimized their website designs for usability through a new web-design, there are bound to be implications for animal welfare. This is not a campaign on its own however, efforts must still be made to encourage people to adopt animals in animal shelters and convince people that a trained grown dog at an animal shelter is a valuable investment. I hope that using prototyping tools to help in the process of redesigning animal shelter websites can help save costs and also save more animal lives.