Family Footprints
“We must design for the way people behave, not for how we would wish them to behave.”
– Don Norman

Client

Family Footprints

The client was founded in 2023 and is in the early stages of ideation with an objective to create a digital mobile application that helps parents keep track of their child's growth and development by capturing memories and experiences. To achieve this goal, the client plans to utilize current technology and design principles to ensure that the process feels supportive and successful for the users.

Project Overview

Family Footprints hired me as a UX Designer and Researcher, with support from the Prime Digital Academy's UX Design and Research program, to develop a new product that helps parents capture the precious moments of their child's early years.

The process included conducting user research and iterating through prototypes and evaluations of how well the new designs meet the needs of the users.

For a conclusion, I was asked to present my findings in the form of a client presentation and deliverable package for Family Footprints stakeholders.

Primary Users:

  • Parents: Anyone currently or expecting to raise children that is struggling or expects they will need help to document the process of the child growing up and documenting their own growth as a parent.

Secondary Users:

  • Children: Kids that have a need or desire to revisit their documented upbringing.

Story of Approach

With a 3 week sprint, I was given the chance to work on a product entitled Family Footprints: Interactive Scrapbooking Board Game. In my UX role, I led the development, research, prototyping, and evaluations of this new product. To begin the process, I partnered with a stakeholder from Family Footprints to develop a Client Overview that encompassed history, present state, and future plans. This involved gaining an understanding of the products purpose, its target audience, key user tasks, competition analysis, and any other relevant resources.

After obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the Family Footprints landscape, I created a scope of work based on the 3-week project timeline. When that was approved, I conducted a deep dive to gain a deeper understanding of the products marketplace. Those insights and data obtained led to Directed Storytelling and Interviews seeking direct user research. This research was used to create a strategy statement which helped identify the themes and key insights to concentrate on and develop into a Low-Fidelity prototype. With a prototype in place, Usability Tests commenced which led to a newly evolved Final Interactive Prototype.

The project culminated in a Client Presentation Video and a Final Deliverable Package that included High- Fidelity Annotated Wireframes, Digitized Architectural Diagram, and the Final Interactive Mobile App Prototype.

My Role

As a designer & researcher for this project, professional goals were:

  • Define the scope of a UX project engagement 

  • Identify and highlight unique strengths or areas of focus as a UX professional

  • Conduct research in order to understand pain points and opportunity areas.

  • Synthesize research findings to identify meaningful insights.

  • Create prototypes that address opportunity areas

  • Refine prototypes through evaluation methods

  • Visually present design recommendations that support key goals

  • Follow up goal, to present a professional portfolio showcasing my UX process and resulting work.

Design Toolkit

Notion - Tracking Projects & Sharing Documents
Figma - Wireframing & Prototyping Web Layout
Adobe Creative Cloud - Photoshop, Premiere Pro Video Production, & Creating PDF’s
Apple MacBook Pro - Case Study Computer
Zoom - Online Meetings
Google Suite - Scheduling & Meeting Coordination, Internet Data Searching, File Collection, Text and Script origination, Emailing & Participant Communication

Directed Storytelling/ Research Interviews

Directed Storytelling/ Research Interviews conducted over Zoom

Top 5 Quantitative Takeaways:
Scale: 0-10 (10 is very important)

  • 10.0- Has to be on a phone for ease of use.

  • 10.0- App needs to be both IOS and Android compatible

  • 9.6- Looking back on child milestones/ videos/ photos/ etc is main priority

  • 9.0- Users imagined it would be a frequently used app by new parents

  • 8.6- The process of parental reflections is barrier but result/ gift is amazing

Approach:
With the scope of work in place, I needed to gather insights from users, so I utilized Directed Storytelling and Interviews Questions. This approach aimed to understand focused needs, goals, and expectations and covered topics such as the target audience, current pain points, and potential goals.

Outcome:
The insights collected from the Directed Storytelling and Interviews Questions were instrumental in shaping the design and development of the recommended product features.

This approach ensured that the final product met the expectations of the users and provided an effective and valuable solution. The interviews proved to be an invaluable method to collect crucial information and guide the design and development of a successful product.

Feature Concepts and Kano Analysis

Approach:
To ensure that Family Footprints product met the needs and expectations of its target audience, I employed the Kano Analysis method. I was seeking the specific knowledge of what features to prioritize and get a deeper understanding of customers needs and expectations.

Outcome:
I was able to evaluate the significance of 13 different features and their impact on customer satisfaction and overall product functionality.

This analysis allowed me to make informed decisions about the future development of the product, ensuring that the direction of development remained very user centric.

Top 3 Resulting Performance/ Attractive Features:

  • The feature would allow you to record video and take photos of your child's milestones/ memories for yourself or child to view later.

  • The feature would allow you to have suggested daily prompts, provided by the app, for recording milestones through text, photos, or videos.

  • The feature would allow you to create 1 account to share with your family. You can create multiple users in a single account like "Mom/ Parent 1", "Dad/ Parent 2" to be able to tag all stories and content from different perspectives to revisit later. (IE dads journey, moms journey, etc.)

Persona’s & Strategy Statement

Approach:
To guide the project direction, personas and an initial strategy statement were developed based on insights and themes that were coming to light. The statement included the brand, specific user groups, emotions, goals, themes or approaches, and metrics. The statement was a constant reminder of the project's direction and was subject to modification as the project evolved and the approach was refined.

Strategy Statement:
”My user group is parents who want to find a reliable and consistent way to document the journey of raising children. They wish to feel supported and successful in documenting the journey of raising children.

I will do this by creating a user friendly tracking system entitled Family Footprints and gaining a reputation with the parents through strong engagement and motivation/ assistance.

As a result, I hope to see a change in the future number of parent/ children footprint entries. “

Outcome:
The statement was critical to the success of the project. It provided a daily clear and concise direction to follow, ensuring alignment on the project's goals and objectives.

Additionally, reflecting on the project allowed for valuable follow-up reflection moments, such as evaluating the approach taken and how success would be measured. Overall, the strategy statement served as a valuable tool throughout the project's lifecycle.

Digitized Architectural Diagram

Digitized Architectural Diagram created on Figma

Approach:
I created a computer-generated UX architectural diagram that visually displayed the screen flows and interaction model of the design, which was presented to stakeholders during a strategy meeting. This meeting allowed for a collaborative discussion around stakeholder goals and ways to measure success. The resulting confirmed design vision and UX strategy ensured that the app had good usability for users.

Outcome:
This established a shared understanding among stakeholders and myself on the app's structure and functionality, which helped to align everyone towards the same goals.

Additionally, the UX architectural diagram provided a roadmap for development and testing, which helped to identify potential usability issues and improve the overall user experience of the app. Ultimately, the approach resulted in a well-designed app that met the needs and goals of stakeholders and users alike.

Low Fidelity Wireframe Sketches/ Brainstorming

High Fidelity Annotated Wireframes

Approach:
To showcase my proposed features and user experience for the Family Footprints app, I started by sketching and brainstorming through low-fidelity work. After getting feedback through a usability test I went deeper and created a higher fidelity Figma prototype and annotated wireframes.

With the annotated wireframes, I started by focusing on the most critical and distinctive interactions that aligned with my user stories.

Outcome:
In documenting the annotated wireframes, I focused on providing context, rationale, and interaction information. For context, I provided information on the element's purpose, location in the app, and viewing context. I linked my design recommendations to research findings, user needs, and business goals for rationale.

Finally, for interactions, I described how they would behave, the different states and how they would display and work together, and what would happen after an interaction.

High Fidelity Annotated Wireframes

Interactive Mobile App Prototype

Client Presentation Video and Prototype Package

Approach:
A client presentation video and presentation deck was created to share with stakeholders as a conclusion to this 3 week sprint. The video gave an overview and explored the entire design process including a prototype demo.

Outcome:
The client presentation video proved to be an effective way to communicate the journey of the Family Footprints experience. Viewers were able to understand the potential impact of the application and the customer experience. Stakeholders appreciated the clarity and emphasis on design principles in the prototype.

This viewing helped gain buy-in and approval for the proposed features, which ultimately led to further success and development of this product.

Click video above to watch Family Footprints Client Presentation video

Next Steps

  1. Family Play vs Solo Play: Players will be able to choose between two different play modes: Family Play or Solo Play. Family Play mode is designed for players who want to play with others, such as family members or friends. In this mode, players can create a group and invite others to join. Solo Play mode, on the other hand, is designed for players who want to play alone. In this mode, players can compete against themselves and try to beat their own high scores.

  2. Explore privacy and sharing settings: Players will be able to explore the privacy and sharing settings of the app. This will allow them to control what information is shared with others, such as their scores, achievements, and personal details. Players will also be able to adjust the settings to make the app more private or more social, depending on their preferences.

  3. Keep developing prompts (+500 created so far): The developers will continue to add new prompts to the game. There are already over 500 prompts created, but more will be added to keep the game fresh and exciting. These prompts will challenge players to think creatively and come up with innovative solutions to different problems.

  4. Explore various animation options: Players will be able to explore various animation options for the game. This will allow them to customize the look and feel of the app, and make it more visually appealing. Players will be able to choose from different animation styles, such as cartoon, 3D, or realistic, and experiment with different color schemes, fonts, and backgrounds to create their own unique look.

Personal Growth

With this project, the original target for myself was seeing this product be more of a functional data storage mobile application versus a interactive scrapbooking board game. But, by embracing the user-centered approach and focusing on user research, I designed a product the users loved and in turn developed greater empathy for the end-users. Being able to now apply these lessons to future projects, I am confident that I can continue to create products that meet the needs of users and provide a satisfying user experience.

This process also allowed me to improve my skills in conducting user research, synthesizing findings, and developing actionable insights. Overall, this experience has reinforced the value of user-centered design and has made me a more effective and empathetic UX professional.

Method Thoughts

Through the process of integrating diverse research methods, I was able to gain a profound understanding of user behavior. This experience enabled me to make informed decisions that aligned the final product with the actual needs of users, thus reducing the risk of developing something that didn't resonate with stakeholders.

Overall, this experience has helped me to grow both personally and professionally, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have gained these valuable insights.

Conclusion

Being one step closer to the introduction of the Family Footprints new mobile app is a significant step towards helping parents track their child's growth and development. This user-friendly app will succeed in capturing precious memories and experiences and will offer a wide range of user centric features. This innovative app will bring a valuable tool to parents that will help them feel supported and successful.

File Index

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