Animal Centered Design - The Why Behind Pomodogo

Another try

Welcome all dogs and dog partners alike. My name is Luisa Ruge and I am one of the world’s few if not only product/experience designers with a PhD in Animal Computer Interaction. My intention in sharing this as my opening statement is not to brag, but to explain why creating this content/newsletter/community is so important to me - so please bear with me for a couple of paragraphs.

Over the last decade, I have trained myself as an animal centered designer, becoming a certified service dog trainer, working at a couple of dog daycares as a carer and groomer, coursing two semesters of an MS in Canine Science (I did not finish due to financial constraints), building start-ups from scratch (to understand the “numbers”), completed a PhD in Animal Computer Interaction (during which I designed a set of smart controls for service dogs to operate small appliances and fixtures on behalf of their humans - the buttons reduced the dog’s training time by XX%), founded pH-auna, a boutique animal centered design consultancy, and most recently started the Pomodogo podcast.

Quite a few “I’s” in that last paragraph right? I know! But it’s because for the most part, I’ve been mostly flying solo in trying to bring animal centered design as knowledge and a service both into academia (my dream is to create a masters curriculum in Animal Centered Design) and from academia to industry (I once sent one of the top pet care company’s head of HR a fake job posting for a Director of Animal Centered Design to try and showcase my value. She quickly replied worried about where I had found the posting. I apologized about the mix-up and explained why I had done it - the job titile still does not exist). And although the teachers I’ve had along the way are the reason why I stubbornly keep trying out ways to do this, I remain on the lookout for others who like me, believe that animals deserve a place within the human-centric world we live in, more specifically the world of design. And that as legitimate users, it is our duty - of care - towards them to consider their experience when designing products and services that are relevant to them either directly (think pet products or livestock management systems) or indirectly (think urban planning).

So, come join me, lets create a community of animal centered pet partners - for now (the reason behind Pomodogo) - and then continue to take on the human world on behalf of animals!

I can’t wait to share with you the simple yet challenging practice of learning how to use our amazing power of observation on behalf of animals - becoming more aware of their experience of the world and what that means for us as caretakers, designers, and consumers. I’ll be posting a new episode in both English and Spanish every week, the transcripts to the episodes and other content I’ve been dreaming up.

I see this as another try at sharing animal centered design with the world, while hopefully being able to establish a more predictable revenue stream for myself, my son, and my dog (it’s not the pH-auna has not been profitable, but independent consulting firms are rarely predictable revenue streams). So no pressure, but if you would like to pledge to become a paid subscriber, you’ll be able to comment on the episodes, engage with others in the community, and post your own animal centered design ideas/stories/lessons for others to see. You’ll also have access to drawings, reflections, videos, ideas and bonus content from my friends and mentors. The cost of a full subscription is $8 a month or $75 a year. But in all honesty, I’m just happy that you found me!!!

Thanks for reading Pomodogo! Subscribe for free to recieve new podcast episodes and support animal centered design.