Overview

Kidzout is a supportive community for parents to discover and book activities and classes for children aged 3-12 in their local area. With Kidzout, parents can access local reviews and in-app messaging to connect with nearby groups, share their experiences, and enhance their children's development together.

Role

Concept Development, Research, Prototyping, User testing, Product Design

Tools

Figma, Principle

Timeline

April 2022, 2 months

Keywords

Research, Ideation, Personas, User Flow, Information Architecture, Wireframe, Prototype, Visual Design, Usability Test

Understand the Problem

Problem Statement

Many parents of younger children are struggling to find a community to share and discuss about local activities for kids, events, after school classes, camps and school choices etc. Most of them getting these kinds of information through their friends or searching online. It’s pretty frustrating to spend hours searching family adventures and activities.

Proposed Solutions

Create an engaging, multifunctional, and accessible platform that allows parents to discover the local activities and places for kids that best fit their family’s schedule. Build a local social network of parents, so they can have a community to share and discuss about it.

Competitor Analysis

There’re very limited products focusing on parents and kids’ needs like this. The competitors I found are KidPass, Happyly and Pearachute Kids. I conducted the SWOT analysis on their UX/UI, content, design and performance quality, which helped me find inspirations and opportunities for my project.

What makes them stand out

Detailed filters options such as distance, time, age groups, categories, prices and reviews etc.

Easily book or cancel an activity.

Rewards to encourage users submitting new events to the app.

Personalized activity plans.

A community for parents to share activity experiences and discuss parenting topics.

Maps to show distance and direction.

User Research

Key Findings

Most of the parents would do any child’s favorite activities.
High-income children are almost twice as likely to have participated in non-school learning and activities.

Target Audience

Parents of 3-12 y/o children, aged between 28-45 years old, who are well-educated with upper-middle income to high income, and care about children’s learning development.

Ideation

Point-of-View Statements

As a working mother, I aim to connect with fellow strong moms in my community who uphold similar values and encounter similar parenting obstacles.

As a parent of young children, I want to easily find and book local kids' activities so that I can provide enriching experiences for my family.

As a parent seeking quality activities for my children, I rely on the app to access local reviews and recommendations, ensuring the experiences meet my family's needs.

Challenges Refined

HMW support parents and care givers in effectively scheduling and coordinating their children's events to fit within their busy lifestyles and schedules?

HMW streamline the process of finding activities and classes that match the interests and developmental stage of each child?

HMW design a user-friendly interface that encourages active participation and engagement within a parent community, enhancing the overall user experience?

User Flow 01

Andrew Rowland‍

Age 34
Father of 2 sons

User Story

As a busy Dad, I want to get personalized recommendations for my kids activities.

User Task

Create an account or log in the app, find the recommended activities on the home screen.

User Flow 02

Beth Miller

Age 31
Auntie to a 3 y/o niece

User Story

As an aunt who often babysits my niece, I'm looking for budget-friendly kids' activities.

User Task

Use filters to refine the searching results and find the activities that matching her budget.

User Flow 03

Beth Miller

Age 37
Mom of 7 y/o daughter

User Story

As a working mom, I want to connect with other strong moms in my neighborhood who share similar values.

User Task

Search for a local mom group in the community and join it.

Wireframe

Using the site map structure as a guide, I initially sketched out the app's main features on paper. Then, I progressed by refining these sketches into mid-fidelity wireframes.

Usability Testing

Conducted a moderated usability testing with 6 potential users to understand how they navigate and complete 3 tasks efficiently. Also to understand users’ experience while navigating through design prototype.

Link to the Prototype

Tasks Assigned

Go through the on-boarding and signup process of this app.

Start from the home screen, find an indoor play center for your kid.

Find a local mama group and request to join it.

Key Findings

87%

participants successfully completed all the tasks.

30%

participants hesitated on the same task, but solved by themselves.

4.5

out of 5 ratings on the overall impressions of Kidzout.

Test Results

Task 1

All participants found the onboarding process is easy to follow.

Liked the indicators on the bottom to show how many screens they were expecting to navigate through.

Could add questions like how many kids do they have and if the user is a Dad, Mom or caregiver.

One felt the questionnaires make more sense after sign up to give users a more customized experience.

Task 2

Liked the visual design and layout, found all the content are well-organized.

Nice to have distance and cost in the Filters, as they are key factors when selecting activities for kids.

A few participants expected to find the results on the homepage.

A few participants expected to type in the search bar to find the results.

Task 3

Visually pleasing would want to explore more.

A few participants had troubles to find the entry of Groups page in the nav bar.

One commented the flow on how to find groups list is not smooth and can be refined.

One suggested to add labels to the nav bar.

One would like to be able to share the activities to friends and family.

Takeaways

Problem Statement

// Enhance visibility by incorporating labels into the navigation bar.

// Improve the experience of discovering the parents' community by adding additional entry points on the home screen.

Future Enhancements

Revisit the flow of onboarding experience.
Enhance search functionality.
Expand on features like sharing, map view and reviews.

Solutions

ONBOARDING & CUSTOMIZATION

Recommending activities & classes based on your preferences

Our app begins with onboarding questions, guiding you to set up preferences and basic information. This helps us tailor a personalized and relevant product experience for everyone.

DISCOVER & SEARCH

Discover and book thousands of top-rated kids activities & places

Discover and book kids' activities, camps, classes, and local spots easily, from home or on the go. Our advanced filters streamline the search process, making it quick and simple for you to find precisely what you're looking for.

JOIN & Engage

Join local parents community and get supports

Kidzout provides an exclusive parent community where you can explore kid-friendly activities in your neighborhood. Additionally, you'll discover local groups for parenting discussions and support.

Conclusion

What I’ve Learned

Designing Kidzout has been a valuable journey of learning. Balancing diverse user needs into a cohesive product was challenging, but also being validated the significance of early user research. The more people I interviewed, the more product missions and design decisions became clear. Moreover, I learned the importance of usability testing in refining and improving user experience.

Moving Forward

Integrating feedback from testing will drive further enhancements, particularly focusing on improving the onboarding experience and expanding key functionalities such as search, sharing, map view, and reviews.

Overview

Understand the Problem

Competitor Analysis

User Research

Persona

Ideation

User Flow 01

User Flow 02

User Flow 03

Wireframe

Usability Testing

Test Results

Takeaways

Solutions

Recommending activities & classes based on your preferences

Discover and book thousands of top-rated kids activities & places

Join local parents community and get supports

All Screens

Conclusion