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Informational Mobile App Design
Helping caregivers to make informed decisions for their children
Problem
Media has become “the other parent” in kids’ lives. It is at the centre of children’s lives and profoundly affects them either positively or negatively.
Solution
An app for caregivers that provides reliable information about age-inappropriate aspects of a product as well as the positive, educational ones.
View the prototype here.
Industry
Entertainment
My role
UX Designer
Timeline
2 Months
Tools
Figma
Age-inappropriate media is everywhere!
The media and content production industry is booming. With this mass production comes lower considerations for the quality of the content. Filtering the products and finding appropriate ones has become a challenge for many parents.
User research
To gain a deeper understanding of the end-users (i.e. caregivers), I interviewed seven parents.
I discovered several factors that affect parents’ decisions about purchasing entertainment products:
Educational value
What message does the product convey? What can my child learn from it?
Age-appropriateness
Is it suitable for my child’s age? Can she/he watch it without me being around?
User reviews
What do other parents say about the product? Are they happy with their purchase?
Kid’s interest
Would my child like the product and want to watch it or play with it?
Following user interviews, I synthesized my findings and created a persona. I used it as a guide to move into feature ideation and prioritization.
Problem statement
Solution
I decided to design a mobile app as an informational platform for caregivers. On this app, caregivers can learn about the developmental and learning potential and the inappropriate content of children’s media.
The insights from the user research phase formed a great foundation to move into feature ideation and prioritization.
Story board
After agreeing on the main features, I started sketching in Marvel and Miro. Then, I created the key screens using Figma. I focused on the search feature and the developmental product review template.
I tested the product with three users and got valuable insights that I implemented in the next round of iteration, followed by high-fidelity design.
Some users misunderstood the app’s goal and thought it was an app to monitor what kids watch on their phones. I added a complementary text to explain the purpose of the app clearly.
I included high-quality photos and videos to indicate the look and feel of the product to facilitate decision-making.
The infographics were hard to understand for some users. In the redesign process, I tried to simplify them and make them more intuitive.
While testing, users looked for the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) ratings. I decided to add it to the app’s rating system since people are already familiar with that standard.
Next steps: Enhancing accessibility & functionality
Takeaway: You are not the user!
Earlier in the process, I made the mistake of worrying about the details of the UI. This prevented me from free brainstorming and focusing on solving the problem. What helped me get back to the UX design process was to go back to the persona and use pen and paper to let ideas flow.
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