Client / Independent project
Duration / Ongoing
Role / UX/UI Designer
Responsible for the research, ideation process, generation of sketches and designing the mockups.
The Challenge
I explored solutions to a problem I had as a new parent looking for family-friendly places. I developed an idea for an application into a concept that can be used for further evaluation and development.
It's a combination of an event board and map application that should be driven partly by user generated content, as in:
Users would be able to add new places or areas.
Give ratings to help other users.
The main goal is to help users plan family-friendly outings and activities in town with minimal hassle.
Workflow
Research
The images to the left show a research summary of other similar existing applications with description of the applications and their features. Other research that I've done is through reading articles and blogs about pram customs in other countries, among other things.
Interviews
I conducted interviews with a wide range of potential users from first time parents in their late twenties to grandparents.
Frustrations:
They can't take children everywhere (not suitable or missing child facilities).
Planning and research takes too much time.
Missing out on family activities in the city because they find out too late.
Not having any new ideas for activities.
"When you search online, the range of suggestions becomes too wide reaching to other cities!"
"This could be great for grandparents for tips when baking cookies isn't cutting it anymore."
Fieldwork
I conducted field studies in different locations around Malmö (Sweden) and observed what the problems were and how users behaved. The observations made me notice things that I hadn't thought of before and that didn't come up in the interviews. The process got me to understand the users' needs better which was helpful when figuring out solutions later.
Sketching a concept
At this point I started sketching out some ideas and developing the concept into something tangible I could use to get more feedback.
Mockups
The next step was to create some simple mockups that take into account the feedback I received on the sketches and explore the visual design of the application.
The feedback that I got from potential users about the mockups gave me interesting suggestions but also insight (concerns) about how the application might be used in terms of security.
"I would want to have a setting for age (children) so that I can receive information for events based on age."
"It would be great if the application could have listed playgrounds appropriate to age."
Final thoughts
Further development would be to re-design the application, work more on the preferences in the filter and add the setting feature so that the user can find or receive correct content. Once this has been implemented I would move on to do user tests and then based on the results do re-iteration.
While I don't have the answers to the questions raised around security and possible misuse of this kind of application, it is something I will continue to think about going forward.
For the future I can see the application expanding to reach an even wider target group.
To be continued...