The Barkomatic
OVERVIEW
In this digital age, nearly every category of device or appliance can connect to the internet. Trying to manage each of these devices and set up parental controls is time-consuming, and often difficult. Documentation can be buried deep within help articles or behind login screens. Bark wanted to create a single location that parents to go to for detailed parental control guides as well as a simple explanation of potential risks for every connected device in their children's lives.
The goal of the product was to create a free, easy, and enjoyable experience that allowed parents to gather, save, and easily update all of the parental control guides for every internet-connected device their children use.
ROLE
Product Designer
Research, information architecture, user experience, interaction and interface design, wireframing, high fidelity mockups, development, user testing, marketing.
Understanding the Problem
82% of US households have internet access; nearly 60% of US households have more than 1 TV, and Americans purchase millions of video game consoles each year. 53% of US children own a smartphone by age 11, and 6,140 new apps are uploaded to the Google Play store daily. Parents that we surveyed had an average of 25 connected devices, providers, consoles, games, and apps. With parent's schedules busier than ever, finding time to manage a child's access to the internet is a time-consuming task. It's challenging to figure out if a device, app, or game is risky or needs parental controls.
I needed to create a product that would:
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Let parents choose the devices they own in an intuitive manner
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Create a sustainable back end experience to allow for easy updates as new products are released
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Let parents come back to their guides at any time
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Organize and present all of the information in a logical way that isn't too overwhelming
Project Process
DEFINING THE ARCHITECTURE
I gathered information about the most popular devices, games, platforms, and providers nationwide so that we could begin to define our MVP set of guides. I defined the categories of the experience and began to popular each with the potential answers a parent could choose from.
WIREFRAMING
Beginning with hand sketches I worked out the basic structure of the experience and utilizing card sorting to figure out the most logical flow of devices, apps, providers, and games.
VALIDATING IDEAS
After sketching out the initial structure I created a low fidelity Invision walkthrough of the product to show to stakeholders. There we defined the number of guides we would go live with for the MVP product.
CREATE DESIGNS
Working with designers I provided instruction on the number, sizes, and types of assets I needed. I began to apply skins to all of the lo-fi mockups and the product began to take its final shape. Simultaneously I worked with writers to make sure they were on track to deliver all of the guides and that everything was moving along steadily to keep pace with the final deadline. Finally, I organized everything for a seamless handoff to the developer.
DEVELOPMENT
Initially, we hired a contractor to develop the front end of the experience and the database to hold all of the information. Unfortunately, she didn't work out so we brought everything in-house. Our engineering team developed the database and back-end content management system. I coded the front end experience, emails and landing pages.
USER TESTING
After reaching out to a parenting and tech group I created a small group of 20 beta testers. After an introductory session, I sent them the product to test and scheduled time for an interview. I conducted 30-minute phone interviews with my beta testers that gave me insight on what was working and what wasn't for them. I also got feedback on the games, devices, platforms, and apps they would like to see be added in future versions, as well as some questions related to business goals.
After organizing all of the learnings I brought back my findings to stakeholders and gave some recommended actions before launch. We made our final edits and pushed the product live.
Results and takeaways
The product has been well-received overall and we have seen a measurable ROI in addition to spreading awareness about our core product offerings.
Here are my key takeaways from the project:
VET CONTRACTORS THOROUGHLY
The initial developer we used was a recommendation by a friend of an engineer on the team. We looked through her portfolio but did not contact any references because we were so anxious to get deliver the product in time for the holiday season. If we had taken the time to thoroughly vet her we may have avoided lost time and money.
ORGANIZATION IS EVERYTHING
During the project, I used spreadsheets to keep track of everything that had to be accomplished. I used a color-coded system to identify which stage of the process every help guide, illustration, and icon was in. By devoting time every day to organization I was able to keep everything moving on schedule and despite delays in development was still able to launch the product in a timely manner.