In 2015, two classmates–Joseph and Ali from Lighthouse Labs, and myself started a web platform that connected people with reputable dog breeders and shelters in their area. The idea came to us when Joseph was looking for a dog and recalled his experience to be frustrating and fragmented. He referred to newspapers, offline/online classifieds, outdated websites but had a hard time trusting the credibility of the source.
Our solution was to create end-to-end platform for consumers to easily find and educate themselves on breeds, breeders and shelters, as well as for breeders to have their own ‘mini-sites’ (profiles) that they can easily maintain without going through the hassles of creating their own website.
Within a month, we got about 200 sign ups for potential dog owners just from canvassing the street. We signed up 20 breeders who agreed to help us beta test our platform. We pitched it at Launch Academy’s Student Start-up challenge and won 1st place.
Branding of Fetch
Having a 'friendly' brand within the pet industry is very important but brands tend to push this so much that it ends up looking cheap or cliche. This was a challenge with Fetch. Fetch needed to be approachable and friendly–yet trustworthy. In order to create the 'friendly' feeling, I experimented with many script fonts but ended up creating my own. Something that wasn't over-the-top and was refined enough to instill trust. The end result would be a a subtle dog tag.
I created illustrations of different breeds to use as stickers that were handed out at events. I also created a pattern with the breed illustrations to use on our business cards and social media.
Fetch Logo
Breed Illustrations
The Online Platform
The main objective of this platform was to make it easy for breeders, shelters, and dog seekers to connect. For dog seekers, search and browsing was priority, which meant we had to make sure the search tools was easy-to-use and effortless. For breeders and shelters, their profiles were the most important feature. This meant the sign up process had to be quick and simple. We made that possible with OAuth and used WYSIWYG editors and in-place image uploads for their profiles.
Homepage
Web Search
Breeder Profile
Puppy Profile
