Bark Kids with Disney Chat App
OVERVIEW
Children and introduced to cell phones and tablets at a very young age. Disney was interested in creating a potential chat app for kids integrated with Bark's monitoring software.
The goal of the product was to and provide a safe place for children to communicate with their friends and family and to create an in-app shopping experience in order to sell Disney merchandise.
ROLE
Product Designer
User research, experience, interaction, interface, wireframing, high fidelity mockups.
Understanding the Problem
The marketplace already has established chat apps like Messenger Kids by Facebook, WhatsApp, and native texting apps.
This app needed to distinguish itself by providing a fun experience for kids of all ages and their families. Additionally, Disney wanted to find ways to better engage boys ages 8-13 as they have struggled with that particular demographic in the past.
I needed to create a product with:
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A unique app experience that could distinguish itself from competitors
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An easy interface that young children could understand
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Built-in features to help parents keep their kids safe
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Features that would appeal to 13-year-old boys
Project Process
GATHERING INSIGHTS
I conducted an analysis of the competitive landscape and began identifying known pain points with existing products. Some of these pain points included:
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Apps have clunky interfaces that are difficult for children still learning how to read
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Approving and requesting new friends is difficult for parents and children
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Kids feel like they have no privacy if parents can see everything they say to their friends
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Older children want to use apps like Instagram or Snapchat for things like filters and picture editing
WIREFRAMING
Beginning with hand sketches I worked out features as well as rough components visible in the initial load of each screen. I also completed affinity maps to identify ways to solve the pains research identified.
VALIDATING IDEAS
After making sketches of all the screens and writing out the ideas I began creating low fidelity mockups of each screen in grayscale. From there I presented my initial concepts to stakeholders and in a roundtable session gathered feedback that let me know I was on the right track.
DEVELOPING DESIGNS
I created high fidelity mockups that incorporated images, colors, and design elements. While designing the user interface I kept a number of things in mind:
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Making the buttons big enough for a young child to navigate but still retain elements of cool that tweens would appreciate.
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Streamlining the in-app shopping experience for non-tech savvy family members.
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Only using shopping recommendations pop up models at natural times, around holidays or for birthdays.
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Limiting the number of taps necessary to complete any task, never going above 2 taps per interaction.
Results and takeaways
The product concept was presented and well received. Disney and Bark are continuing to discuss the details of the product and begin work on a prototype soon.
Here are some key takeaways I had from this project:
LIMIT PROJECT SCOPE
This project was completed on a compressed timeline and if I had tried to include every feature we talked about in kickoff meetings I wouldn't have hit the deadline. By limiting the scope and focusing on the target demo, solving pain points users reported in existing apps, and creating distinguishing features I was able to deliver a roadmap to an MVP product that could be up and running in a short amount of time.
DON'T GET LOST IN THE DETAILS
With content as vast and rich as Disney, I was tempted to keep adding ways a user could customize their experience beyond the colors, stickers, and skinning of app elements. It would have made for a cluttered experience and in the end, it was better to deliver a clean UI with small moment of delight than to reinvent the wheel and risk going down the rabbit hole, missing deadline, and presenting an interface reminiscent of an early 2000s webpage.