Creating a safe virtual environment for Kids to socialize with their friends.
Overview.
Bestieplay is a product-based start-up in California. Our product BestiePlay is a digital platform where a child (ages 4-10) will be able to virtually socialize with their friends in a safe environment controlled by their parents.
Role
Product Designer
Key responsibilities: User Research, Information architecture, Design systems, Wireframes, Illustrations, and Prototypes
Duration
Nov 2020 - present
Team
2 Product Managers
3 Front- EndDevelopers
3 Back-End Developers
1 Graphic Designer
2 Product Designers
The Challenge.
Due to the pandemic, children were required to stay indoors all the time, they spent most of their time on digital devices learning or playing, but they missed the important factor for their development “ Social Interaction”.
Being a mother to two children, the founder of “Bestieplay” experienced how staying at home has impacted children and parents, she came up with an idea to help children interact with their friends and have fun virtually.
Design Problem
How might we create a safe environment for kids to socialize with their friends without requiring a lot of supervision?
Discovery.
Understanding the Market
28,582,726
Children between ages 5-11 in the united states
61%
Have home internet access
TAM
Total Available Market
28M+
SAM
Serviceable Available Market
5M+
SOM
Serviceable Obtainable Market
2M+
User Research.
To understand how children around the world are using technology for learning and entertainment, we conducted competitor analysis and user interviews with parents
" Tried video calls with my daughter's friend. Both parents need to be involved. They talk for 45 minutes. Parents have to invent the idea, pushing, and prompting "
" Waiting for play dates possible in person,
But during virtual playdates, it would be nice to add some activities (especially for 8 years old ones). Keep them more engaged during the meetings "
Persona
We created two persona's that represented our primary (Kids) and secondary users (Parents).
The research revealed 2 key opportunities for BestiePlay
Understanding user's motivations, as well as their problems with the existing technologies, helped me to identify opportunities and create user-centered designs.
Key insights and opportunities
1
A lot of apps are providing playdates but not all of them have activities to keep kids busy and interact with each other
Include fun, interactive and informative activities in the application
2
Kids needed some kind of supervision while they are on virtual playdates or video chatting with their friends, which was difficult for parents
Parents need a virtual facilitator, who can monitor and guide the kids with the application
A set of design principles to guide decisions
We created a set of design principles to guide and validate the design decisions I was making. Such practice helped me to hold myself accountable to the end-user goals as well as the business goals and create a cohesive and unified experience.
Aesthetic Integrity
Create a captivating appearance that promises fun and excitement, while encouraging discovery.
Feedback
Provide visual and auditory response (feedback) to interaction wherever needed
Consistency
Implement familiar standards by using system-provided interface elements, well-known icons, standard text styles, and uniform terminology.
Concepts and Features.
We turned research insights into product features, the low-fi wireframes helped us with thinking about the layout of the product and to fine-tune all the features.
HMWs
Design Recommendations
How might we provide a safe and parent-controlled environment?
How might we provide guidance to kids to avoid the need for parent's help and keep them actively engaged during their playdates?
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Allow only sign-up by parents and provide unlocked settings which parents can access to add friends
A virtual assistant will guide the kids about what they can do and help them to play activities on the application
Creating an MVP.
After a couple of iterations based on the feedback of the product team, We started thinking about potential features of the product using the sitemap, the sitemap guided how we designed the rest of the experience.
Design.
Building a design system
Hi-fi Prototypes
Onboarding/Signup
We included a simple typical signup process, an onboarding screen where parents can provide kid's interests, and some important rules to use the application to ensure the safety of the children.
Parents can quickly invite other kids to join the app by sending a request to other parents.
Bestie Invitation(Parents -Unlocked view)
Playdate Schedule (Parents -Unlocked view)
Playdate can be scheduled instantly by sending a request to other kids, we included options to reschedule and cancel according to their convenience.
Kids Locked View
Kids can see who has joined their network, join a playdate, change their profile avatars in a locked view, the unlocked view can be accessed by parents by entering the password.