Design Sprint - Kids Mobile Operating System
Design Sprint was project given to us as a challenge where we had to finish the Designing the User experience for Kids Mobile OS in 5 days including Documenting and publishing it online. Each day we had to complete single Phase of Design task that was assigned to us.
BRIEF : Currently Kids are using the operating systems that comes with smartphones,and we need a better solution for this which make its appealing easy and secure for kids to use.
DAY 1 : Monday
Survey, User Interviews, and General research.
Day 1 was to conduct a User Survey , User Interviews, and General research. I conducted a survey using google forms and asked some parents about their views on the use of smartphones by their children.Below are the screenshots of the results of the survey.
Although due to COVID situation and time limit I couldn't reach Maximum people to get to fill this form. But this small Survey helped me to understand Parents concern Points. Most of the Parents are worried about the health and Privacy concerns but in reality they love to show their Children there mobile phone when educative and informative Content comes up. Because in this era of VR and AR, Kids have vast and diverse area where they have so much opportunity to learn.
This made me Conduct a thorough interview with few Parents. Here is the screenshot below of the answers that i got from parents. And interesting part is they loved to Educate their kids through internet and Mobile device but their concern was only Parental controls.
User Interviews.
GENERAL RESEARCH
I have done general research online to get an idea of the stats of children using smartphones,their Age when they first got it, and the reason why they use smart phones.
Sell Cell is best known as a phone price comparison site.For this study, Sell Cell surveyed 1,135 parents in the US with kids between 4 and 14 years of age.
47% of kids are under six years old when they start using a cell phone and 12% are between one and two years old.
Sell Cell found that 57% of kids used their phones for gaming, followed by 50% who regularly watched TV or movies on their devices.
Nearly 70% of parents think that the use of cellphones has a positive effect on their child’s development (68%)
65% of pre-teen kids, under the age of 13 own their own phone.
So with this research and User interviews I Concluded that there have to be a seperate OS for Kids which satisfy the Parents concern also it has to be a wonderful user experience for Kids.
DAY 2
Mind mapping / Moodboarding / Explaination
Mind - mapping
After the survey and the interview were conducted on Day 1, most of the Parents response was to have dedicated OS for Children which could be installed on their parents mobile.
So Now I have created Mind mapping of the all the information,adjectives, that came from User research,and surveying parents.
I have listed all the problems that parents/children face while using traditional andriod OS with and without child mode. And i have tried addressing the problem with solution. I have also come up with the attractive style of the OS too.
Below is the Mind mapping Tree.
MOODBOARD
I have created this moodboard with things i came across while doing a general research on kids/children as an inspiration, what Kids Love,what keeps children engaged in activities that help them to develop their knowledge and cognitive skills without boring them and Put them into a moodboard below.
Children's OS Name : LIBER (meaning child in Latin)
This operating system is created for the children between 4-14 years. The main purpose of this operating system is to ensure safe usage of mobile phone by children whilst having Fun and Wonderful experience for Children. LIBER operating system has student friendly interface. It also contains many safety features to ensure safe,and productive usage of mobile.
LIBER is an app but acts like OS as well. It can be installed over any OS ( Android / IOS/ Windows). Parents can also login to the web based app on any browser.
This App should be initially set up by a parent their email ID. LIBER Also has web based app for parents in case emergency they can reset the OS to default. And also Get the Track reports from web account.
The parent can set certain rules like screen time alert, app access control by adding apps. Parent can delete it any time form the os.
There is one tap Call on the phone dailer to call up in an emergency.
DAY 3
Sketches and Prototype.
Sketching the layout and wireframing.
wireframing was done in canva . Its was jut the representation of the how the layout would go.
DAY 4
Create a Logo, Design system, High Fidelity Prototype and Mock-ups.
Design System :
High Fidelity Prototypes, Screens, Mock-ups.
Challenges.
The challenge arised when it got me thinking at two stages.
First challenge when I was designing the Hi - fidelity Home screen layout. I was totally poised as to what could be the language that i could use so that the kids understand and don't overwhelm them at the same point. Then i went on researching famous kids tv shows and cartoons like Peppa pig, Super Monsters, Wizards: Tales of Arcadia, The Not-Too-Late Show With Elmo, Muppet Babies etc,. Then i came up with the word "POCKET". It is simple to understand and also communicate it effectively with parents as well.
Second Challenge : What would Parents do when child grows. It shouldn't bore kids with the same layout and the apps would no longer be useful. Ultimately making the OS obsolete. So i came up with solution with multiple screen layouts and themes. which can be set while creating kids Profile.
REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS.
This project helped me in understanding how Design Sprint works and value of it. I am so surprised that within short period of time I came up with ideas. In this 5 days I got to know what goes into User Experience design and how to implement Design thinking Correctly in projects. I Learned a lot about How to Design for People (Human centered Design) taht actually matters. This project was complete test of my creativity, time management and the skill of fast thinking.
