Confidential App Feature Case Study Duration: 1 week Tools: Balsamiq, Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator
The Project
Design a feature for a children’s learning app. The feature would include a costume/clothing customization menu. I was able to design the feature from ideation to the finalized version through the UI/UX design principles.
Methods: sketches, interviews, wireframes
Research
Competitor Analysis
I looked at other apps to compare and gather information on similar features. I researched the many ways how children between ages 2-5 years old would handled the feature.
Surveys & Interview
In order for me to get an idea of what kind of needs my target audience would want to see in the app I interviewed friends and family. I wanted to gather information on what customizable slider options they wanted to see and what some of the issues they see in other children’s learning apps.
Key Findings & Insight
A few of the needs included: is there a way to go back to the home screen or exit that feature, can they add clothing or accessories at the same time, would they be able to unselect an item, these findings helped guide the process of the project.
Define
Personas
I created a child persona in order to use as a way to help guide the project according to the needs of the user. I created Katie Smith as “the preschooler” to get an idea and empathize with how a child would navigate the customization feature.
Problem Statement
In order to define what the users problem was with the feature. This was another strategy to better understand the user.
I mapped out the steps the user would have to navigate for the feature. During this whole process I was taking notes and documenting what I was observing and the motivations the user would have.
Ideate
Sketch
Made some notes on the customization feature. Low-fidelity sketches were sketched out before creating these mid-fidelity mockups. I created these using the program Balsamiq. I edited the the screens and eliminated a few to keep the design simple and quick to navigate through with the user feedback in mind. I then created a prototype and tested it out on 3 users for more feedback.
Test
Testing
This part of the project was crucial in finding out what was missing and what was working. It helped refined the user’s journey a lot better. I recorded some negative and positive things away from their experience.
Conclusion
Overall, this project was lot of fun and a great learning experience for the fundamentals of design. The user being a child was a new experience for me. Getting in that mind set and taking into account what a parent and child want and need from an app was challenging. It was a great way to understand a specific user’s journey and influence they have on an interface. Some of the issues I ran into had to deal with the font size, the colors and the icons to achieve the overall feel of the app. More testing would be required to further understand user necessities to make the app feature seamlessly to navigate through.
