Introduction
DURATION: 4 Months (Jan 22-April 22)
TOOLS: Figma, Maze, Google Docs
COLLABORATOR: Kurtis (UX Designer)
GOAL: Design a product for kids, especially toddlers and children who are under school age, to interact with each other without having to meet up in person, or schedule video chats or phone calls. PenPal was born from this idea.
CHALLENGE: Young children are missing out on vital contact during the Covid-19 Pandemic, specifically the social engagement with other children and learning by watching one another.
OUTCOME: We created an app that allows children to communicate with each other via asynchronous video messaging. This way, children can connect and see each other face to face while staying safe during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Understanding the Competition
Because this was a new product idea, we wanted to have a better sense of the market and what was currently available. Because we were focused on keeping this asynchronous for busy caregivers, we wanted to compare it with async platforms only. After researching different options we found the following:
There are few to none asynchronous video sharing apps for children. Caregivers have been using Imessage and other messaging services to send videos from kid to kid
Async video sharing is more common for adults. Common examples we found included Snapchat, Marco Polo, and even social media apps like Instagram
These apps are not kid or family friendly
We knew that our users were primarily going to be parents and caregivers of young children, so we decided against primary survey research.
Designing for Parents and Toddlers
We wanted to make sure to emphasize the following points
Asynchronous Communication: Even if parents couldn’t schedule or coordinate video or phone calls, kids could still have the chance to communicate with one another
Tough as Toddlers: Ensure that kids could watch videos without disruptions (i.e. clicking on other parts of the app), and parents could trust that their kids could do so independently
Trust: We know that in a parents eyes, trust is of the utmost importance. Our goal was to make sure that parents would want to use this app and that their family would be safe using it
We decided to attack the project head on and start sketching out some design ideas
HOME PAGE
We knew one of the most important features of our app design was how the homepage looked. At first, we were thinking we could do an inbox style layout. After considering our users and their needs, in this case families and primarily busy caregivers, we decided on a mission control/module style layout so they could access different features of the app quickly and easily. Our goal was to lay everything out on the homepage that was needed for the app to function (i.e. new video messages, camera, favorites, playlists, etc.).
Homepage Iterations
Low fidelity vs. High Fidelity
WIREFRAMING USER FLOW
Designed for the Busy Caregiver
To ensure that we were going to make busy caregivers life easier instead of more stressful, we wanted to make the design as minimal and familiar as possible. To this end, we kept a familiar tap target (the same as instagram or snapchat) pattern for new videos in the inbox.
We also wanted users to know where their videos lived and how to keep track of their videos vs the videos that were sent to them. To do so, we kept a familiar pattern for IOS users; a drop down that shows videos the contact has sent you vs the user and the contact videos together.
Earning Caregiver’s Trust
Trust was one of our key areas we knew we needed to focus on. Our users are caregivers and we know that privacy and trust is of the utmost importance when it comes to children and technology. We were aware that no matter how great the app was, if the trust was not there, we would not have users. We decided to use an approach similar to Care.com, a website lots of parents are familiar with, where users are required to perform a background check in order to have an account.
PARENTAL CONTROLS
One of the trickier elements to this project was our video controls. We wanted the video player to be “toddler tough” meaning that it could withstand the hands of a toddler and continue playing the video without interruption regardless of the screen being pressed. In order to do this, we needed to create some sort of control on the video screen that was complex enough so toddlers couldn’t immediately figure it out, but not tough enough so parents had a hard time. We thought through a couple ideas, but landed on a tap pattern.
Testing with Caregivers
We wanted to test out product to make sure that the three main goals were attained. As a reminder, the goals were:
Create an app for kids to communicate asynchronously
Have the app be Tough as Toddlers
Build Trust so parents would allow their kids to use the app
In order to test, we used Maze, an asynchronous User Research testing site that would allow us to ask some survey questions and use our prototype.
The main pain points that we found were that:
Parents/caregivers were excited at the prospect of the app idea
Primarily, parents wanted the option to connect with people they already knew, as opposed to families with similar interests or ages
The tap targets that we created for the parent security function were not obvious enough
To help amend these pain points, we decided to do the following:
Create an option to connect families with other families they knew through contact integration
Create more obvious tap targets for parental controls
Future Directions/Takeaways
We had a great time developing this idea into design reality. As a nanny, I found it interesting to think about how an app like this could benefit young kiddos right now. This time (the pandemic) has been particularly challenging on young kids, and I think a video sharing app like this could be helpful to young kids development and social skills. That being said, there is always room to improve, so here is what I would do if we continued this project forward, or wanted to refine it more:
Work on the inline messaging feature of the app so people can better review messages sent back and forth to one another
Test this app on kids to see how they function with the video aspect
Work on developing the video messaging screen (a.k.a. how the app would integrate with your camera and maybe asking questions that help formulate better content between kids)
Ask parents and caregivers what it would take safety wise to be able to connect with new families and kids