GoodParent: The Parenting Lifestyle App
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"Being a parent requires a LOT of steps. Here's where we come in."
"Being a parent requires a LOT of steps. Here's where we come in."
My Role
My Role
As lead UX Designer, I was tasked with sketching paper wireframes, planning and conducting user research, creating digital wireframes, developing low to high-fidelity prototypes, testing prototypes and creating insights as well as iterating on designs based on user feedback.
As lead UX Designer, I was tasked with sketching paper wireframes, planning and conducting user research, creating digital wireframes, developing low to high-fidelity prototypes, testing prototypes and creating insights as well as iterating on designs based on user feedback.
Empathize
Empathize
For first time parents, raising and caring for children can feel extremely overwhelming and many might feel unprepared or even inadequate for the responsibility. Planning activities and time for childcare takes precious time that some people just don't have. This is exactly why I designed the GoodParent app, so that parents can not only manage their time more effectively, but also gain valuable information on the complicated challenges that parenting can create.
Research for the GoodParent App revolved mainly around getting into the heads of parents, empathizing to understand what it is like to take care of one or more children. Their problems, constraints and needs were all to be taken into account when designing the interface for GoodParent.
The primary functions of the app not only needed to cater to the needs of experienced parents, but it especially needed to consider the needs of first time parents, who might not have the knowledge that other seasoned parents have. As for these new parents, it became apparent that they might benefit from educational resources the app could provide.
Define
Define
Planning
Planning
Research revealed that parenting, for many, is just as much of a time management challenge as it is a financial challenge. Particularly when it came down to planning evening plans with your child, I came to realize how many different steps it took to organize everything. This insight directly inspired the events and activities function, so that parent's would no longer have to scour the internet, and instead be able to search for local, child-friendly activities with ease (reviews and all).
Care/supervision
Care/supervision
Another important consideration came to light during research: single parents. For single, working adults, there really is so much you can do in terms of providing childcare, and its understandable that in some cases, parents just won't have the time to be able to watch over their child 24/7. This is why I came up with the addition of a babysitter function, so that in a pinch, parents could find a trusted, local babysitter to provide emergency childcare/supervision.
Education
Education
Finally, I decided on including an educational aspect to GoodParent that could benefit not only first time parents, but experienced parents alike. With a parental guidance feature, user could be able to browse educational articles on essential parenting subjects. For more hands-on learning, I decided to design a live-classes feature, so that parents could learn in real time, how to perform essential tasks such as changing diapers or how to properly breastfeed.
Ideate
Ideate
Ideation for GoodParent revolved around designing for 4 primary user needs: Find a Babysitter, Live Classes, Parental guidance, and Activities/Events
Ideation for GoodParent revolved around designing for 4 primary user needs: Find a Babysitter, Live Classes, Parental guidance, and Activities/Events
I created paper sketches that would eventually be translated into digital wireframes further into the design process. The primary challenge of this phase was how to present each function in a clear, convenient and easy-to-use manner for all kinds of users. The implementation of universal icons and proper language choices was essential to making the designs effective as possible.
Here I used crazy eights (design exercise) to quickly come up with different ideas for features that could implemented into my low-fidelity designs.
I also decided to sketch out several different versions for what the homepage might look like. This way, I could pick out the strongest elements from each version and design the homepage with the best parts of each. I also took this time to sketch out early concepts for the user flow of each feature.
Prototype
Prototype
Through prototyping, a major challenge was how to sequence each of the 4 main functions, so that the app's flow would feel consistent and avoid one-sidedness. Identifying clear endpoints was also crucial to the prototype's effectiveness.
A finalized sitemap allowed me to efficiently structure the overall flow of the experience as well as help clarify what kinds of elements each wireframe should contain.
I knew that having a pre-ordained user flow through the sitemap would make both the wireframing and prototyping process much quicker and easier.
With the information architecture having been plotted out, I began building wireframes . Upon designing and sequencing my refined wireframes, I was ready to begin testing the designs for the first round of feedback.
Test
Test
With the first round of usability studies, I found that the overall user flow was solid, with not many groundbreaking changes needing to be made. Nonetheless, users encountered several minor pain points that should be addressed for a better user experience.
A structured affinity chart allowed me to group and categorize all the user feedback of the user experience. This would allow me to organize and synthesize the broad group of data down to single, actionable insights.
With these new actionable insights in mind, I could move onto creating refined, high-fidelity mockups with new and improved layouts.
Implementing user feedback mainly included making the designs more visually appealing and logically sound respective to the importance of each function. The high-fidelity stage of GoodParent's designs saw many quality of life changes, as well as the addition of a new "favorites" feature, allowing users to save articles, videos, sitters and events, allowing them to come back to them later.
The high-fidelity prototype required me to think critically about the overall flow between different features in the app. Weaving each of the 4 functions together in a way that was simple to understand was crucial for the app’s design. Additionally, making each function FEEL consistent with the overall tone of the app was an exciting challenge.
Impact
Impact
With an app like this around, first time parents can have a quick and accessible source of information on the complicated subject of parenting, helping them be more prepared for anything. In addition to vital information, the app provides a greatly efficient way to provide emergency care, as well as making planning activities with children much easier and stress-free.
What I Learned
What I Learned
From interviewing so many different parents, I truly got a glimpse into just how many steps it takes to do something as simple as planning an evening activity with a child. More than this, I understood just how many different responsibilities parents have to manage at once, and just how well you have to be with time management for things to go smoothly.
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