Process
Competitors
Facebook
Babycenter
Instant Messaging App chat group (WeChat, WhatsApp, Line, etc.)
Babycenter
Instant Messaging App chat group (WeChat, WhatsApp, Line, etc.)
Strengths
- Tailored experience for the young-children family vertical. General-purpose social networks like Facebook is too complex for busy parents.
- Privacy and safety first. Users only interact with friends and families.
- Real-time communication. Forums like BabyCenter have great content, but they aren't the ideal method for communication.
- Facilitates spontaneous needs for playdates. The app makes it easy to setup or join playdates by offering recommendations for activities as well as connecting families with similar needs.
Weakness
- New user onboarding experience might take a bit effort, because they need to select and import relevant people from existing social networks or contact list.
- The best experience relies on a successful network effect. As a new player in the Social Network game, bootstrapping and ramping up will be one of the biggest challenges in the early stage.
Target Audience
Parents of all cultures, who enjoy family time, have free time to spend with their babies/toddlers/kids, age
25-45,
male or female, college level and above
Persona
Ponnie Page
Age:32
Status: married with a four year old daughter Education: MBA
Occupation: accountant
Hobby: hiking, cooking
Age:32
Status: married with a four year old daughter Education: MBA
Occupation: accountant
Hobby: hiking, cooking
Shelton Lee
Age:35
Status: married with a two year old daughter Education: Master of Science
Occupation: Software Engineer
Hobby: Guitar, playing with his daughter
Age:35
Status: married with a two year old daughter Education: Master of Science
Occupation: Software Engineer
Hobby: Guitar, playing with his daughter
Logo Ideas
Wireframes
Mockups
Questionnaire
The questionnaire is done by 44 participants with no skipped questions.
1. What’s the most important thing for you in a playdate?
Playmates are the most important factor while location doesn’t seem to matter as
much as I thought before.
Decision
- Change profile photo to playmates instead of parents.
- view that focus more on people and time should be placed before map view with the freedom to toggle between the two.
2. What’s the biggest frustration in finding a playdate?
While playmates and time are the most important factors, they are at the same
time
the biggest frustration of parents.
Decision
As helping to find playmates at the right time is the main problem this app will be dealing with, time selection
should be the most obvious button for the app.
3. What is the ideal time for you to find and set up a playdate?
It seems that some planning time ahead is a plus and also a need,
which contradicts my original plan for this app - finding a playdate whenever you want immediately.
Question
Is current layout of the app that looks bussiness like with a “get things done” feel a plus or the opposite?
4. How many families do you know for playdates?
Finding
With most families know 10 playdates or less, scrolling shouldn’t be a problem. This allows me to enlarge
playdate
pictures and information.
5. How many playdates per month do you have on average?
Finding
This also gives me a general idea how many playdates will be displayed at a page. Using even bigger icons or
photos to lessen contents at a page will not require lots of scrolling.
User Testing
User 1
Find a playdate close to you this Saturday morning.
User 2
Add a playdate for friends to join at Happy Hollow this Sunday morning.
Observation
- User 1 looked nervous and said “Oh wait so where do I click now?” But after looking at the app for a while she was able to carry out the plan.
- User 2 looked around and took a while to find the ADD button. After that it was quite intuitive putting in information.
Conclusion
- There is too much information on the first page.
- The add button is not obvious enough.
- The design looks more like a bussiness app than casual. Users seemed “se- rious” when using the app.
Decision
- Minimize information on the main page to relieve information overflow.
- Filters added for selection.
- Pay more attention to the emotional needs of users. Change the design to focus more on people rather than the events.
before
after
