A Pandemic Project
The creation story of an Educational Gaming App.
Introduction
As part my postgraduate certification with Skills Union and Ravensbourne I was asked to tackle a brief with a team of my peers.
The brief asked us to design an original product over 12 weeks to solve one of the challenges created by the pandemic relating to connection and interaction. For the first 6 weeks of the project, I conducted research and defined the project as part of a team of four people. After that, I went at it solo.
Research.
Desk Research.
As a team we read reports and articles online and wrote summaries of our findings.
Survey.
As a team we filled out the Lean Survey Canvas and created a Survey together in Google Forms. In total, twenty five parents, teachers and teaching assistants answered our survey.
User Interviews.
We decided to interview three children aged ten to get their opinions on school, the pandemic, their hobbies and their internet usage. We also interviewed three parents.
Insights.
From the Surveys we knew that English was the most affected subject and from desk research we knew that the lower school years had been most affected by the Pandemic. However competitor analysis showed that there were already a lot of apps targeting English for this age group.
Articles and studies conducted by the National Literacy Trust showed that illiteracy had been a problem before the Pandemic.
Our Problem Statement.
“Children aged nine to twelve need a way to improve their reading levels because of the impact that the Pandemic has had on their learning.”
Personas.
Value Proposition Statements.
Parents:
We believe that our app will reassure parents that their children are learning new vocabulary and having fun in a safe environment alongside their friends.
Children:
Our product will not only relieve the frustrations of learning new words but will also help build soft skills like creativity and empathy. We will deliver our content in entertaining and innovative ways.
Must have/Nice to have list.
As a last team activity, we created a Nice to Have and Must Have matrix which we used to make two lists. I kept these lists in mind throughout the ideation process.
Information Architecture.
With my Must Have and Nice to Have lists in mind, I created the Information Architecture for my solution.
I created over three iterations, streamlining user journeys with each attempt.
Ch-ch-changes.
Onboarding.
I changed the information collected during the onboarding process.
Navigations.
I used icons to make the dashboard area appear cleaner. I also changed type and button sizing to make the app more accessible.
Testing.
I tested a child and an adult over Zoom. I prepared a list of tasks for the child to do. For the adult, I decided that they would click through the prototype and discuss the experience with me. Below I’ve listed what I determined from each user testing session.
Child testing.
The onboarding process was confusing
It was unclear how to get to the avatar page.
It was unclear what the marketplace did - but this might be due to lack of imagery.
Adult testing.
It was difficult to find the parent area from the profile screen.
It could be useful to be able to navigate to parent’s area from kid’s accounts.
It could also be desirable to add a setting which restricts kids from playing with strangers.
The Final Prototype.
From this feedback I implemented many changes to the Parent and Child flows. View my clickable prototype in Figma or watch a click through of my prototype.
