Cat furniture is bought blind. Owners research, choose by the photo, buy, and the product arrives the wrong size, or the shelves get installed in the wrong spot and the wall has to be redone. Habitat is a WebAR app that lets cat owners visualize furniture at real scale in their own space before buying.
I mapped the problem through desk research: verified e-commerce reviews, cat owner forums, and specialist blogs.
Three consistent pain points emerged: misleading product scale in photos, chaotic wall planning without spatial reference, and the paralysis of not knowing where to place furniture before committing.
A competitive analysis revealed that no product addressed cat furniture + AR as a primary experience: the closest competitor, Catit AR, hides AR behind a static 3D view and offers no catalog navigation.
From the research, I defined the core design principle: AR as the primary state, not a hidden feature. I mapped the full user flow and chose WebAR (Three.js + WebXR) over a native app. A deliberate tradeoff between spatial precision and zero-friction access. The models are built at real scale, with the intent of directly addressing the size pain point through 3D craft, a hypothesis that the usability tests will validate.
A remote unmoderated usability test was designed to validate the core flows without researcher bias. Participants will receive a prototype link and a Google Form, and test in their own home, on their own phone. The three tasks cover the full critical path: visualizing a product in AR, adding a second object to the scene, and sharing the result.
Task 1 - Visualize a product in the living room Instruction for the participant: "You want to see how a cat tree would look in your living room before buying. Use the app to do that." What I’ll be observing: Full main flow: camera permission → catalog → select product → place in AR scene.
Task 2 - Add a second object Instruction for the participant: "You liked the cat tree but want to see how it would look next to a scratcher. Add one more item to the scene." What I’ll be observing: Discovery of the catalog without leaving AR, selection of a second product, multiple simultaneous objects.
Task 3 - Share the scene Instruction for the participant: "You want to show someone how the furniture layout turned out. Share the visualization." What i’ll be observing: Discovery of the center screenshot button and triggering of the native Share Sheet.