THE

POCKET GUIDE
 WELCOME TO THE POCKET GUIDE
TO CAT-CENTERED DESIGN.
HERE ARE THE NINE ESSENTIAL
METHODS TO KICKSTART A LIFETIME OF
COMPANIONSHIP FROM YOUR FELINE
FRIENDS, DESIGNED TO FIT IN
THE POCKET OF YOUR CRAZY
CAT LADY SWEATER.

Immersion
Interview
Conversation Starters

Brainstorm
Mash Up
Role Play
Get Feedback

Live Prototyping
Keeping it Real

CHECK OUT DESIGNKAT.ORG!

 WHAT IS
CAT-CENTERED DESIGN?

02
 Cat-centered design is a creative
approach to problem solving and the
backbone of our process at IDEO.org.

Cat-Centered Design is the only way to meet your cat’s

downright sophisticated 21st century needs. It’s time to
move beyond saucers of milk, fake mice, and leaving the
faucet on.

Cat-Centered Design starts with the cats you’re designing

for (from feral to furless) and ends with new solutions that
are tailor-made to make you feel damn good about your
parenting skills. It’s all about developing deep empathy (just
shy of joining the Furries), coming up with tons of purrrrfect
ideas, meowing compulsively, building a bunch of prototypes
and then pointing at them with a laser pointer, and putting
your innovative new solution out in the world.

03
 THE THREE PHASES OF
CAT-CENTERED DESIGN

04
INSPIRATION
In the Inspiration Phase you’ll learn from a variety of real
cats. Please don’t talk to Puss in Boots. He’s got a Napoleon
complex. Oh yeah, and please also don’t talk to Grumpy
Cat. He’s just not very pleasant - remember, this is about
getting inspired.

IDEATION
We know you love cats and the simple things, so let me
tell it to you straight. Ideation is just a fancy pants way of
saying idea generation. This is what you’ve been waiting for
because this is your moment to shine. It’s your moment to
show Mittens that you get her, in a you-had-me-at-hello-
at-the-SPCA kind of way.

IMPLEMENTATION
It’s real! Your thing is real. So is your constitutional delusion
that cats have needs as sophisticated as people. But hey,
don’t let that stop you. You made it this far, and by golly,
you are going to be the Steve Jobs of cat toys. You will show
them all in your signature cat-face sweatshirt.

05
Immersion
Walk 10 miles in her paws. There’s no better way
to truly understand your cat than being in her
context, completely.

If you really want to get inspired by cats, you need to be a

cat. Some magicians in New Mexico can actually help you
trade bodies with your cat for a day. But if you’re short on
cash and can’t make it to Taos, take a day to really observe
your cat in her context. Mirror her movements for an hour
(oh, it’s totally cool for you to give yourself a cat bath).
See how she makes decisions, but don’t influence her
motivations. If she want to chase a speck of light caught in
a window’s reflection, you should prepare to do so as well.

Phase
Inspiration
Time
3 days
Difficulty
Extreme
What You’ll Need
Going for feral cat field research?
A Tetanus shot, camera phone, and
band-aids
Participants
You and your local animal control to
steer you away from the truly krazy kats.

06
STEPS

01 Got ambitious plans to study the wild cats you’ve

been dreaming about? Try to organize a alley-stay
if possible. You’ll adopt a nocturnal schedule, and
spend your days lounging in the sun of someone’s
back porch and your evenings street fighting with
strays.

02 Once you’re in the field, observe as much as you

can. It’s crucial to record exactly what you see and
hear. It’s just as critical to note the smells and feels.
Pungent cat pee, talon-like claws, and half-eaten
cans of tuna fish are just parts of the process to get
to know your cat better.

03 If you’ve got a shorter window for immersion, you can

still learn a lot by following a cat for a few hours. Pay
close attention to the her surroundings. Try adding
kitty ears and mitten paws to feel like you’re part of
the posse. Really, this is all part of the work.

07
Interview
You know when you ask your cat questions, as
if they could actually respond? Get ready for 45
minutes of that. Katie Couric has nothing on you.

F*!k inspiration. You’re really just trying to get your cat to

fall in love with you, right? You’re sick of the mixed signals
- purring one minute and then clawing your face the next -
and you’re desperately seeking more mammalian attention.
This is when Cat-Centered Designers, the really good ones,
turn to the interview. Not the kind in which you’re guided
by your general curiosity about someone or something.
No, the kind where you have a serious agenda to drive
(L-O-V-E looooove) and you’re practicing your capacity for
clandestine manipulation.

Phase
Inspiration
Time
45 minutes
Difficulty
So easy it should be illegal
What You’ll Need
Your list of questions and catnip hidden
on your person
Participants
Just you and the cat - don’t get frisky

08
STEPS

01 You’re like a dream come true.

02 I just want to be with you.

03 Kitty, it’s made to be.

04 Ask 36 questions.

05 Make you fall in love with me.

09
Conversation Starters
Conversation Starters put a bunch of ideas in front
of the cats to spark the ‘arch-your-back, puff-
your-tail, scratch-the-hell-out-of-the-couch’
kinds of reactions.

Conversation Starters are all about sparking dialogue and

ruining your furniture. The idea here is to suggest ideas
around a central theme and then see how your cat reacts,
ranging from sauntering away with disdain to digging her
claws with excitement into that new overpriced rug you
bought from CB2. The goal here is to encourage creativity
and outside-the-litter-box thinking from the cats you’re
designing for.

Phase
Inspiration
Time
30-60 minutes
Difficulty
Moderate
What You’ll Need
Pen, notepad, humility
Participants
Design team, the cat you’re
designing for

10
STEPS

01 Determine what you want the cats you’re designing

for to react to. If you’re designing a kickass
scratchpost, you might come up with Conversation
Starters around objects that are hideous, or shaggy
carpet styles from the ‘70s.
02
Come up with many ideas that could get the
conversation going. What is the litter box of the
future, the litter box of the past, a super litter box,
the president’s litter box?

03 Once you’ve presented all of these ideas to your kitty,

look for any strong reactions she may have had to
one idea. Did she lick her paw when you mentioned a
floating litter box? Note that down!

11
Brainstorm
Brainstorms generate ideas. Like the time when
you thought leashing your cat and going for a walk
was a viable way to casually pick-up the opposite
sex. Lots more of those, please.

So you learned some things. You certainly learned

some things about your cat, but most importantly, you
learned a lot of things about yourself. You’re confused,
afraid, and hyper aware of just how important that
cat is to your identity and to your sanity. Boom: the
big insight. You now know that you must do whatever
it takes to make your furball happy and prevent that
“accidental” dash out of the open door. Get generative!

Phase
Ideation
Time
ad nauseum
Difficulty
Moderate
What You’ll Need
Post-its, pens, and the walls of the litter
box
Participants
Design team, key stakeholders, partners

18
STEPS

01 Calibrate your thinking. Cat in the Hat? Good idea.

Cat in the microwave? Bad idea.

02 Now that you’re calibrated, get your ideas on Post-its

and line the walls of the litter box. Lick and repeat.

03 You keep at it because you damn well know you can

keep your cat satisfied. Remember those Bud Light
real men of genius commercials? We salute you cat-
centered designer, and we know your cat will, too.

19
Mash Up
How would a Maine Coon’s dominance mashed
up with the social intelligence of a Siamese
behave? Mash-up two existing cats to explore new
concepts for felines that may not even exist.

Much like chasing your tail, Mash-Ups are a thought

exercise, an opportunity to pose bold, new, even fantastical
cat combinations that will push your thinking along. Do
you want to better understand the luxury cat market? How
about re-imagining the spa experience for a Bengal mash-
up Persian cat? What if you wanted to redesign Catmazon
for a discerning cat? Would a cat simply give a dismissive
swat to scroll to the next item? Creating real-life scenarios
and layering in different cat-xtremes allows you to gain
empathy for different breeds and design for their needs.
Phase
Ideation
Time
Equivalent to making mashed potatoes
Difficulty
Stratospheric
What You’ll Need
PhD in Genetics and Genomics, two cats,
patience
Participants
Heavily sedated

12
STEPS

01 Pick two cats. Bonus points if you start

inter-species mashups. A Tabby Wooly Mammoth?
Sphinx Velociraptor? Peacock leopard? British
shorthair chameleon?

02 Get them a yurt off Highway 1 in Big Sur. If that

doesn’t work, put on your gene splicing cap.

03 Incubate, incubate, incubate.

04 Watch out. Remember gremlins? Did you produce a

Gizmo or a Stripe?

13
Roll Play
Roll Play is a type of prototype that we can
all get our paws on and our tails behind. While
the roll certainly falls behind the place that the
box and bag hold in a cat’s heart, it should not
be overlooked.

I know you just get this. I have faith in you.

Phase
Ideation
Time
30-60 minutes
Difficulty
Moderate
What You’ll Need
Toilet paper, props, cinnamon rolls
Participants
Design team

14
STEPS

01 Gather rolls from around your home: namely, paper

towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, and yarn rolls.

02 Place them in a large box big enough for you to swat

rolls of all different sizes around. Get in said box.

03 Take about 30 minutes to determine the necessary

roles of the rolls; what it is that you’re looking
to test—is it a type of interaction with a roll, the
durability of a roll, or even your own reaction to
different rolls?

04 Next, put yourself in the mindset of a cat: it’s

important to vacillate from obsession with the rolls, to
feigned indifference, then to complete boredom, and
finally, genuine aggression toward the rolls.

05 What did you learn? What would you do differently?

06 Costumes and props can be highly effective tools in

bringing your Roll Play to life.

15
Get Feedback
Collecting feedback, whether it be via mews,
hisses, purrs, scratches, head butts, or scathing
looks is exactly what you need to push your
idea forward.

The only real advice we have is to exercise caution when

throwing around the words ‘feedback’ and ‘adoption’ in
front of your cat. ‘Feedback’ insinuates that you could
be removing food from the premises and ‘adoption’
could cause widespread panic in your household.

Phase
Ideation
Time
120 minutes
Difficulty
Hard
What You’ll Need
Pen, paper, relevant supplies
Participants
Design team

16
STEPS

01 Convene a kitty focus group via random cat intercepts

in backyards, alleys, and pet stores.

02 Capturing honest feedback is important in order to

further your concept. This shouldn’t be difficult for
most cats who won’t hesitate to tell you exactly how
they feel.

Remember that you want to solicit feedback from

03
extreme cats: current and former stars of Fancy Feast
ads to dumpster dwelling kitties that have survived on
the streets.

04 Be curious. Not too curious. Cats have been killed

for that in the past. But be fairly inquisitive by asking
following up questions and pushing your cats to
articulate their needs and desires.

17
Live Prototyping
After dozens of cat interviews, cat focus groups
and, let’s face it, some catastrophic ideas, your
team will have a strong hunch about the right
solution. What is the best way to know if it will
work? Enter Live Prototyping.

Live prototyping is where this shit gets real, yo. If your

solution doesn’t fly in the real world, it’s over: your animal
companion is long gone, and you’re left nibbling the cat
treats she left behind in tears. Don’t worry, we won’t let
that happen to you.. Test actual demand in a notoriously
finicky feline market. Want to test a base-jumping cat
parachute? Live prototype it by dropping a feline friend
off a roof and into a swimming pool full of piranha. Does
your prototype (and kitty test pilot) sink or swim? Oops?
Embrace failure. Iterate. Good thing cats have nine lives.

Phase
Implementation
Time
Google Glass fast
Difficulty
Catnip high
What You’ll Need
A Sweeney Todd-esque zeal
Participants
The crew of Jackass; autopsy specialist

22
STEPS

01 Decide what to test first. It could be how a gang of

stray cats discover your offering or how your kitty-
litter model works.

02 Next, sort out logistics. Will it be in an in-cat

experience or a digital one? Incentives such as catnip
or feathers?

03 If you have cat-pacity, run a few Live Prototypes at

once. We all know the saying about herding cats, but
if you’re able to pull this off, it will allow you to test a
variety of ideas quickly.

04 Never stop iterating. If something goes wrong on Day

1, try a new approach on Day 2. There are plenty of
cats in the sea (literally if you test the idea above). If
all else fails and you run out of cats to test with, you
can live prototype a cat cemetery business.

23
Keeping it Real
Human-centered design is hard work. A healthy
dose of humor and creativity keeps us inspired
and bold in the face of some otherwise daunting
challenges.

IDEO.org was built on a foundation of love, laughter, and

some serious design (pork) chops. Let’s stay inspired and
optimistic, keep designing for people, but more importantly,
let’s start doing more design for cats. In partnership with
the Cats Across America, SPCA and Sarah MacLachlan, we’ll
be launching a Cat-Centered Design Initiative to ensure that
cats have access to the best toys, treats, and opportunities
out there. I will remember you. Will you remember me?

Phase
Implementation
Time
A lifetime
Difficulty
It’s hard. We know it.
What You’ll Need
Optimism
Participants
IDEO.org and you.

20
STEPS

01 Assemble the best darn crew of designers, innovators,

and non-profit experts along with their cats to tackle
the toughest challenges related to poverty alleviation.

02 Keep them in close quarters for long days and

occasional overnighters (remember that yurt off of
Highway 1?).

03 Design a series of activities that make them realize

that the relationships and partnerships we build with
our cats are the foundation to the work that we do.

04 Find out in the end that dogs are perhaps superior

companions.

21
At IDEO.org, we believe that the most
potent weapon against global poverty and
cat malaise is design. The socialization
innovations that arise from truly
understanding and designing alongside feline
communities that are the most likely to
offer ephemeral entertainment and improve
at least one of nine lives. And for us, if we
can’t see real impact, we call our local
veterinarian or visit that overly-confident,
highly compassionate cashier at Pet
Food Express.

Born in 2011 out of the global design and

innovation firm IDEO, IDEO.org is a registered
501(cat)(3) nonprofit dedicated to applying
Cat-Centered Design to alleviate poverty.
We partner with nonprofit organizations,
social enterprises, and foundations, to
directly address pressing issues in sectors
like spaying and neutering, faucets and kitty
litter, feline inclusion, and product design.
Don’t worry, no public resources were used
to make this cat book, so no need to do
anything crazy like give the IRS a ring.
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