Parenting 101 App & Responsive Site

The Problem: Young adults need a dedicated online destination to learn about being first time parents.

The Goal: Design an app and responsive site that is simple, stylish and inviting for individuals who wish to actively and continuously invest in their parenting skills.

I was tasked with designing a dedicated app and responsive site in service of the public good. On this project, I was the lead UX designer responsible for bringing the Parenting 101 app and website from conception to completed design. I served as the point person for researching, interviewing, wireframing and protoyping.

Who are Our Users?

I conducted preliminary interviews with:

5 users
all first time parents or soon-to-be first time parents
between the ages 18-35

to better understand any differences in need for various age subgroups.

Interview Questions

What parenting information would you like to see on a parenting app? Why?
Describe who you generally get your information from surrounding pregnancy and parenthood?
What other services do you think should intersect with parenting information?
What are the most disappointing parts of current parenting sites?

Persona

I used the data from those interviews to create a persona, a user story and an empahy map to help steer my design direction and problem statement.

Journey Map

Empathy Map

Four major pain points stood out from the interviews:

Most parenting programs are impersonal because they're typically attached to legal services.

Users desire a platform that connects with interconnected community services.

Many parenting classes are too expensive for financially strapped parents.

Parents desire class options for all aspects of childhood.

Who's Our Competition?

I performed a competitive audit of both direct and indirect competition in order to get a better picture of the types of app features that work for users and the details that could use improvement.

Wireframes

Using the information I learned from the interviews and the competitive audit, I began initial sketches for the panels for the Trendy Bouquet app.

I chose to focus first on the design of the app because of mobile-first philosophy and because most young users primarily access their information through their mobile phones.

I then created digital wireframes making sure to keep efficiency a priority of my design before moving on to the next round of testing.

Multiple ways to quickly arrive at your destination

Hero description video for users on the go or the visually impaired

Click here or on the picture below to check out the user flow.

Research Study

Methodology

Usability Study- unmoderated, remote
Participants will search for the 'New Parents' course, buy the course, and then go to the landing page of the course according to their own personal search styles using 5 prompts.
Participants are given a questionnaire afterward concerning their experience.
Each session is 10-15 minutes

Participants

5 Participants
- 2 male, 2 female, 1 non-binary
- all are first time parents to infants or soon-to-be-parents
- ages 17-29
- 1 assistive technology users

Research Questions

How quickly can the user find the "New Parents" course?

How easy or hard is the app to navigate?

What are the potential places users can get stuck?

Are there any features that would make for a better user experience?

Key Peformance Indicators

Time on Task

System Usability Scale

Conversion Rates

Organizing the Research Results

All participants were recorded (with their written permission) and I took notes based on what I noticed on the recordings. I also took note of any interesting and applicable commentary participants might have shared.

I then organized the observations into an affinity diagram in order to pin down themes surrounding the participants' user experiences.

Research Results Summary for Two Rounds of Usability Studies

1. It typically took participants around 5 minutes to complete the user journey and 100% of participants completed the user journey.

2. Participants' biggest complaints were about unclear directions and issues with the log in function. These problems were subsequently fixed and the second round of usability testing yielded very promising results and zero participant complaints.

3. Generally speaking, users were able to complete the test with minimal issues and reported excitement about the potential of the app.

Mock Ups & Digital Wireframes for Mobile App

Mock ups of the digital wireframes were created based on the data from the usability test. They were then linked together to form the prototype.

Before Usability Study

Based on the insights from the usability study, I applied design changes like simplifying the labeling of the ‘sign up’ button in the drop down menu to make for a more streamlined user journey.

After Usability Study

More Mock Ups

High Fidelity Mobile App Prototype with Connections

Click here or on the picture to check out the hi-fi prototype.

Mock Ups & Prototype of Responsive Website

An accompanying responsive website was created in order to appeal to users who choose to access their information on their laptops.

High Fidelity Responsive Website Prototype with Connections