Nuzzle is a digital support platform designed to help pet owners navigate the often overlooked stage of anticipatory grief. Through research, I found that early emotional support is crucial to preventing prolonged grief and promoting healing. Nuzzle addresses this gap by offering companion matching, journaling tools, and memory-preserving activities, creating a soft, empathetic space where users can process emotions, honor their pets, and build resilience before and after loss.
Website: www.nuzzleloss.com
Research paper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-0gpt_ZSa9O9p4ni_lJsmttHF2qihl2R/view?usp=sharing
Today, pets are increasingly accepted to be family members, and the human-animal bond has been elevated to be comparable with human familial relationships. This tightened connection set the premise of a grief response after bereavement. However, as it becomes more significant for individuals, society and related families frequently fail to recognize the profound influence of the loss (Spain, 2019; Liang, 2018).
The research questions of this study generally address two central questions:
How do individuals cope with anticipatory grief and bereavement?
What technological interventions can assist emotional healing?
Research
Anticipatory grief can be characterized by a wide range of emotions, while they are different from individual to individual. Traditional studies reveal that anticipatory grief may relate to non-death-related situations such as the chronic and irreversible conditions, including heart diseases, blindness or deafness. However, research on anticipatory grief in human-animal relationships still remains limited and unique.
The research process contains: a literature review focusing on three main topics - Understanding Anticipatory Grief, Grief Managment, and Technologies in Use. A mixed-method primary research includes interviews, diary studies, and a survey study.
Investigating Anticipatory Grief
Research on Memorialization, Technologies in Use, and Continuing Bond
Three interviews gained insights about the process of emotional change from anticipatory to post loss, and the professional suggestions on strategic grief management skills. The diary studies filled in more details of the journey. Previous survey took a close look into the memorialization choices between comforting and distressing options. All the research insights would be used for future prototyping stages to build a proactive tool for pet loss when experiencing anticipatory grief.
Deep research through diary studies and interview
Pet Loss Journey Map
Pet owners most likely need professional intervention and support during the Accept, Decide, and Farewell stages, when they are required to make important decisions while sometimes they cannot find a reliable person to talk to.
Findings from my previous research revealed the emotional complexity of anticipatory grief, where themes of guilt, sadness, hope, and posttraumatic growth overlapped during end-of-life caregiving and beyond. Because of the overwhelm of emotions, pet owners are hindered from active search for support. Some pet owners feel difficult to express themselves openly towards the public. Thus, memorialization serves as a central coping mechanism, which offers comfort and divert attention from overwhelming emotions. Surveys highlighted a preference for passive, community-oriented tools including virtual memorials and story-sharing platforms over interactive ones, such as AI chatbots, and VR/AR.
Design Guideline
Target User Persona
User flow and Wireframes: contains the main functions and interactive activties between users.
User testing on onboarding experience
On home page, I designed an interactive element which features a particle-based paw. The paw responds dynamically to user input. Hovering on the paw causes the particles to gently disperse, mimicking the sensation of petting a pet’s paw. The speed and movement of the particles are adjusted to better present the gentle movement of the pet’s fur. It gives users a comforting experience to memorize their beloved pets. It also has an implied meaning that their pets are not gone, but turn into a different form of existence.
In the journal page, I added the OpenAI API to detect extreme negative emotions. When users put in words such as "depressed", the system will pop up a window to suggest users see the therapists for better assistance.
Text input section & pop up window of notification.
Code for API connection
For techniques in user matching, I prioritize the user preference in matching with a companion. Using the information in previous pages, I'm able to match companions according to different criteria. In future plans, the matching may be more accurate as more users are registered to the site.
Code for user matching
Home Page
I envisioned a scene of starry night within Spline. I was inspired by the metaphor that the departed pets are "napping among the stars." I included information about the unique value – how Nuzzle differentiates itself from online communities and support groups. The core concept is presented through a concise storytelling method, starting by recognizing the emotional complexities and the hard work of pet owners taking care of the pet.
Onboarding
Through user testing, I went with the storytelling style to guide the user through a self-reflection process. The process contains 6 steps and the estimated completion time is around 3 minutes.
Dashboard
The user dashboard contains other preview functionalities of ‘Whisker’ Wishes, mood calendar of the month, and Whisper Drawer. All of the sections have the navigation features to bring them to the right page.
Main Functions
Interactive activities are specially designed based on the traditional memorializations, coping strategies, and the thoughtful reflections from participants in research studies.
The current prototype has completed the core functionality and employed the design principles as discussed in the paper findings. In the future, the platform could work on the possible problems that may hinder the usability including the inclusivity, accessibility features, and language barriers.
Future opportunities could include collaborating with veterinary clinics, specialty animal hospitals, veterinary teaching schools, grief counselors, and even merchandise sites such as Chewy and Petco. These service providers, educational institutions and merchandisers could promote the expansion of Nuzzle and integrate the tool into the real-world end-of-life care practices. Embedding the tools into the existing support systems, pet owners can have an alternative source to progress grief and use it as a support system.
Code for user matching
