Adventures

Design for Social Good | Case Study | 2021

Adventures is a prototype that was created for Google's online course, 'Design for Social Good.' This app is specifically designed for children to teach them about emotions and empathy.

Project Duration

2 months

My Role

UX Designer

My Responsibilities

Ideating, user research, visual design, wireframing, prototyping

The Problem

As society constantly evolves, new and unique problems arise in every era. Today, empathy is among the key issues of concern, particularly among children. There is growing apprehension about the decline of empathy in our society; and its potential impact on children's emotional and social development.

The Solution

Adventures is a case study of a mobile application designed for children between the ages of 6 and 9, aimed at teaching them how to express their emotions and learn about empathy.

Understanding

User research

Because I did not have direct access to children in my target user group, I conducted my research using secondary methods. I focused on three main areas: research methods, content development, and visual design decisions.

Method

Using games in teaching can increase children's concentration and desire to learn.

Content

I used blogs as a source of inspiration to create different games.

Visual Design

Children in the 6-9 age group develop an ability to understand what they read; however, imagery should be the main communication channel.

Visual Design

Children tend to be attracted by bright colours rather than pastel or muted tones.

User personas

Agni is having trouble expressing his emotions.

The Design Process

Crazy eights

Information architecture

Digital wireframes

During the wireframing process, first, I focused on game mechanics, as developing smooth gameplay is just as important as the game ideas themselves. I created low-fidelity prototypes and tested them, then proceeded to the mock-up phase.

Iteration

Because I didn't have direct access to my target user group, I couldn't conduct usability testing. As an alternative, I consulted with a psychological counsellor who works with elementary school children and discussed my application. The insights I gained from our session proved to be very helpful.

I redesigned the homepage for an improved visual focus, particularly for children. To achieve this, I used brighter colors to grab their attention.

I sourced all the stickers from www.flaticon.com and carefully manipulated them to ensure a cohesive visual design across the entire application.

To improve cultural, socioeconomic, gender, and physical representation on the app, I decided to incorporate real pictures of children. I believe this realistic approach will help the target audience engage with the app in a more meaningful way.

To source the images, I used the free stock photography website www.unsplash.com.

After the first round, I noticed that the stickers tended to be overly optimistic, which could potentially skew the overall emotional balance. Therefore, I made some changes to ensure that the representation of negative emotions was equally important.

The Solution

#1 Emotions

Open the game 'Emotions.'
Observe how the character expresses a specific emotion.
Try to imitate it.
Take a photo of yourself.
Move on to the next character in the game.
Repeat steps 1-4 until the end of the game.
Congratulations! You are now the master of emotions.
Play again or return to the games menu.

#2 I feel

Open the game "I Feel."
Think about the question, "How do you feel today?"
Choose eyes that best describe your feelings.
Choose a nose that fits you.
Choose a mouth that matches your emotions.
Feel free to change any part of the face if you don't think it expresses you well.
If the face looks accurate, click the button to proceed.
Answer the questions while thinking about your day.
Play again or return to the games menu.

#3 Everybody is here

Click on "Everybody is Here" in the Friends section.
Choose a friend that you want to get to know better.
Read about your chosen friend to learn more about them.
Say hello to your friend.
Click the "Return to everybody" button to return to the catalogue.
If you want, you can choose another friend to get to know.

#4 Situations

Click on "Situations" in the Friends section.
Select a situation that interests you.
Read about what happened.
Imagine yourself in that specific situation.
Answer the questions.
Click the "Return to everybody" button to return to the list.
If you want, you can choose another one to explore.

Try Prototype

Impact

“As a psychological counsellor who works with primary school children, I would use this app regularly.” – Counselor

Going Forward

What I learned:

I learned a lot from designing for children, which was a unique experience for me as a UX designer.
Since I couldn't perform usability studies with my target user group, I had to find an alternative solution and relied on secondary information sources.
I focused on improving the app's visual representation and function.

Next steps:

Conduct user research and usability testing to gather feedback and make further improvements to the app.
Expand the selection of games and activities available in the app.
Create content for the books section of the app.
Develop a business plan to explore the potential of making the application free to increase its usage.