UX/UI Design
The project presents all steps of the design thinking process, from target group research to the Style Guide.
INTRODUCTION
The idea of creating a website for some imaginary indoor playgrounds appeared in my mind at first.
Then I thought about an app to build a parent community. Why not combining these two ideas? Being a parent is a never ending challenge. Where can I spend time with my kids? Where can I buy what I need for my kids? Do other parents struggle with the same problems? Does this sound familiar? No? Well, one day...
UNDERSTANDING THE CHALLENGE
How to sell a service (outdoor and indoor playgrounds) by building a parent community.
We all like to receive some gifts, it builds loyalty. Increase of satisfied application users equals more satisfied parents visiting Playgrounds with their kids. But… How can I achieve this?
BACKGROUND/HYPOTHESIS
Why am I building this? Why is this product important? This is the first step of my research that hopefully will give me a good insight into the problem.
- Parents often don't know where and how to spend time with kids
- Expat parents feel alone, don't have family members who can support them
- Parents look for peers for their children, they are aware that activities play important role in children's life
If parents could find place where they can spend time with their children and could additionally strike up an acquaintance with other parents, they would feel satisfied and less stressed.
USER RESEARCH
Who am I building it for? This is the fundamental question that should shed light on the user's needs and motivations - also develop a user mental model.
I prepared a list of questions, checked them once again to choose really important questions and sent a survey with a set of questions to a target group: parents who have children between the ages 1-12.
- moms and dads who are the main audience, have children between the ages of 2 and 15, so at least one child still plays in the playground, live in Munich
- three of ten don’t speak german, that’s why they are more shy
- eight of ten have family abroad, so they feel alone and overwhelmed
I really don’t like to be the only one mom who doesn’t speak german, but I feel superb when I meet once again parent that I met before and we both can speak english, I wish they have country flags somewhere.
- nine of ten parents would like to use app to go out and meet other parents but don’t like to start a conversation, they don’t know if someone is in a mood to talk
- three of them don’t have a car to make a trip, so they look for attractions in the city
- seven of them don’t know how and where to spend time with their kids, they try to find informations via internet
- most of them visit playgrounds once a week, sometimes are not motivated to go out
I know that people don’t want to speak all the time with moms and dads, even I need sometimes a while for myself.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Existing Apps - this step will help me to identify competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, in order to develop better product and more effective UX design.
What is working well for the users? I tried to find direct competitors, but the research has shown that there is no product offering a very similar set of features to my future customers. Indirect competitors - I wanted to know which existing features could help to solve my customer’s problem?
By which mental models customers are driven? Why hasn’t this solution been built yet?
+helps to find playgrounds in different locations, +very simple +easy to use; -no other features, -no chat, -small amount of users
+fulfills parent’s needs, but you can’t meet and communicate straight with other people +checking arrival time +images of places and locations +useful features but different customers + informations and opinions about from user -no chat -not for defined customer group
+ask other parents question but you can’t match new parents, +sharing links +chat +well known features -only known members -limited features -not defined customer group +useful feature
KEY QUALITATIVE INSIGHTS
I focused on persona based on my research, who represents my target group, instead of creating proto-persona due to the fact, that in my project don’t occur stakeholders, who could provide any needed informations.
Why persona? We think more positively about individuals than about group of people...
Anna Müller, age: 33, kids: 1 (4 years old), profession: office worker (part-time job), status: married, origin: germany
Anna loves to be a mother, she would like to have 2 kids. She is very outgoing, helpful and talkative. Before she became a mom, she has been surrounded by many people. Now she doesn’t go out with friends, because they don’t have children and she can’t afford to stay awake the whole night like her colleagues. She is trying to find new friends wherever she goes out with her daughter. When the sun is shining they stay outside in the park, in a very rainy days they hide in indoor playgrounds. She is looking for an app which can help to bring her social life and kids together.
As a mom, I want to meet other parents and exchange experiences to make my life happier and easier
Customer Journey Map(future state journey map) - Anna’s objective: she heard opinions about app, she’s curious about features, wants to get to know and meet other parents in person. Project’s objective: increase of reservation by creating parent’s community around indoor playground.
Behaviours
enjoys integration across apps, enjoys being a mom, willing to use innovation ideas
Quotes
“I don’t want to feel guilty of being overwhelmed and having my social needs”
Frustrations
making the first step and introducing herself causes stress, being a parent involves looking for activities, forgetting about events and interesting facts
Goals and Motivations
expanding list of the same-minded people, spending quality time with her daughter, getting know people who are interested in conversation
USER FLOW DIAGRAM & IA
Here are a few basic questions I need to consider to build a strong user flow:
- What is the user trying to accomplish?
- What information does the user need to do it?
- What barriers might prevent users from accomplishing a goal?
It was the most difficult stage of this project, I had to very carefully sketch the steps that will easily allow the user to achieve the goal. I repeated this step several times because I was constantly finding new obstacles.
PROTOTYPE & STYLE GUIDE
Below is a sample style guide to show how a ready prototype could look like, which I can also use to run usability tests.
Fresh, saturated colors are to symbolize the world of children, they are to clearly separate the various subpages of the application.
