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JIANTING LIANG

Catoro Pets

Website Redesign for a Mission-Driven Cat Café

ROLE
UI Design
Prototype
Jianting, Kelvin, Anita, Jacquelyn, Tommy, Aikam
TEAM
DURATION
May-Aug 2023
Figma, Illustrator
TOOL

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Redesigned Catoro’s homepage to help users understand their mission and improve the adoption experience.

Catoro is a cat café in Vancouver that houses rescued cats and encourages adoption while also selling drinks and pet supplies. However, their website placed too much focus on e-commerce, making it hard for users to understand what Catoro really stands for. This project aimed to reframe their online identity to center on their mission, not just their products and create a more intuitive and meaningful user experience.

PROJECT PROBLEM

Users struggle to understand Catoro’s mission due to a product-heavy, unclear website.

Catoro’s existing website focuses heavily on pet products and shop categories, with little emphasis on adoption, rescue, or the café experience. Important adoption information is hard to locate, especially for new visitors. The visual tone doesn’t match the cozy, community-based feel of the physical space, and the content layout confuses users about what Catoro actually offers.

As a result:

  • Adoption interest is lost due to poor content hierarchy

  • Potential supporters don't clearly see how to get involved

  • Catoro’s rescue efforts feel disconnected from its digital presence

USER INSIGHTS & RESEARCH

We designed for first-time adopters and casual visitors, based on secondary research and persona building.

Through competitor analysis (e.g., Catfé, Petfinder) and reviews of Catoro, we discovered confusion around the café’s purpose. We defined two main user types:

  1. The unsure adopter – someone curious about adoption but needs clear information, emotional reassurance, and visible calls to action.

  2. The casual visitor – a user simply looking to visit a cat café or view cute cats, who may become a future adopter or donor if the mission is communicated well.

This helped us define key user goals:

  • Understand what Catoro does

  • Find cats to adopt

  • Learn about the adoption process

  • Book visits or support the cause

DESIGN GOALS & CHALLENGES

The goal was to clarify Catoro’s identity and make adoption easier to find without losing its business model.

Our primary design goal was to shift the site’s focus from just selling products to highlighting Catoro’s mission: helping rescued cats find permanent homes. To do this, we needed to:

  • Make the purpose of the café clear from the homepage

  • Help users quickly locate adoption-related content

  • Reflect the whimsical forest tone of the physical space

  • Maintain visibility for the online store and booking functions

The biggest challenge was striking a balance: how can we visually and structurally prioritize mission-first content, without completely hiding the e-commerce aspect that helps fund cat care? We had to carefully reframe content hierarchy and visual tone to support both the social and business sides of the organization.

The goal was to clarify Catoro’s identity and make adoption easier to find without losing its business model.

PROTOTYPE

Built a clickable prototype to test the adoption and visit-booking user flow.

I created an interactive prototype in Figma that simulates a typical user path:

  • Landing on homepage → learning about the café → browsing cats

  • Filtering by personality or age → reading a cat profile

  • Booking a visit → reviewing adoption info

This prototype focuses on the emotional + practical journey of potential adopters, with minimal loading friction, smooth interactions, and clear next steps.

REFLECTION

Before this project, I didn’t fully realize how much website structure and UI decisions could impact how a brand is perceived. Working on Catoro helped me see that good design isn’t just about visuals, it’s about helping users understand purpose and take action.

I also gained experience in:

  • Prioritizing competing needs (mission vs business)

  • Designing with user emotion in mind

  • Building interfaces that balance warmth and clarity

If I had more time, I would conduct usability tests with real users — especially first-time adopters — and build out an “Adoption Success Stories” section to deepen the emotional connection.

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