ABC ANDY
App
Problem Statement
Currently available educational apps are visually busy, lack incentives, and feature in-app purchase or require monthly subscriptions.
Concept Statement
My app would accompany a one-time purchase of the companion doll at no extra cost to the user. The system would utilize in-app awards to gamify and incentivize the learning process for children in the early stages of literacy.
Phase 1 - Heuristic Report
The first step in my design process was to complete three heuristic reports on competitor apps.
Phase 2 - Market Testing
In order to establish a base knowledge about the current market for children's educational apps, I created and conducted a survey about some of my assumptions and questions regarding the topic.
Hypothesis
I believed that parents would be very interested in an app that would help their children practice reading and writing given that many children already play on tablets and phones
Assumptions
Parents are willing to spend up to $50.00 on a doll and companion app given that higher end educational apps can have a subscription of around $10.00 a month and educational dolls such as American Girl Dolls retail for $110.00.
The majority of parents are comfortable allowing their preschool age, or older, child screentime especially if the content is educational
Many children already engage in some type of gamified educational activity
Parents allow their children to play on their smart phone and tablet
Parents are interested in being able to check the progress of their child's literacy skills
Phase 3 - Survey Development
Market Testing
Description
The survey features twenty questions which address; consumer generation, price point, and attitudes regarding educational programming and technology
Objectives of Survey
The survey will provide me with the information to know if my concept is viable in today’s market place given consumer attitudes towards technology’s effect on children
Interview Methodology
In order to conduct my survey I will distribute it amongst people from varying generations, of multiple genders, and both parent and non-parent status. When interpreting the data later I will use these same factors to determine if there are varying perspectives correlated to these groups
Phase 4 - Research Synthesis
After conducting my survey I linked my Excel data from my survey to Microsoft BI in order to create graphs to communicate my most relevant findings.
Phase 5 - Research Analysis
My hypothesis was confirmed and so I was able to continue my work in the same direction.
Findings
My theory was confirmed that parents are interested in educational apps and that many children already play on tablet and smart phones
abc Andy must feature incentives such as awards
the less educational the app looks the better
include parent access to child’s progress
Next Steps
Taking what I had just learned I continued to study aspects of app design for children in educational apps and otherwise
Phase 6 - Journey Maps
To better understand the user of my app I created two journey maps. The first of the primary stakeholder, the child whom the app is designed for. The second journey is that of the secondary stakeholder, a parent of a child who has this app.
Phase 7 - Mood Board
The mood board depicts different ways in which children first encounter written language. In the upper left corner is a set of Primary Phonics books that use several early education strategies to create easy-to-read books, the top right is a child interacting with Montessori materials to practice spelling, and the bottom left shows a classic writing practice tool. The color scheme for the app features three shades of blue and an orange and red accent. The blue was chosen as the main theme color to promote feelings of calmness and focus whilst using the app. The orange evokes a warmth and welcome feeling, and the red, fun and excitement.
Phase 8 - App Icon
I began by exploring app icons of other popular children's apps and educational apps and found that many utilized pictures of the educational material at hand or of the characters from the app. From there I created several rough sketches
Phase 9 - Flow Chart
Before I created the app I needed to create a flow chart to illustrate how the user would navigate through the app and to document all sections of the app.
Phase 10 - Sketch Wireframe
Next I created wireframe sketches of many of the app pages.
Phase 11 - Low Fidelity Wireframe
Once I had my colors, app grid, and wireframe I created a low fidelity wireframe of what my finished app would look like, only featuring the major headings of each section.
Phase 12 - Final Graphic Design
The final graphic design utilizes flat simplistic forms to cater to a young audience. Dependant on which doll is purchased the user's home screen and in app experience will feature the likeness of their doll: Andy, Amy, Angie, or Annie
Phase 13 - User Flow Video
To document the experience of app use I created a video of myself using the app both from the child user's perspective as well as the parent's.
