MOBILE APP
The project is a collaboration with Yalty Software, a startup company that aims to solve problems within the eRetail ecosystem using mobile games and eCouponing. My team (formed by graduate students at The Centre for Digital Media and UBC) were tasked to develop an innovative mobile game for children that is engaging, educational, and most importantly fun.
Market/User Research • Interviews • Usability Testing • Prototyping • Video Editing • UI and UX Design.
UX/UI Designer
I aim to create a game that will help kids reach their learning objectives and achieve success in school and at home. In addition, I was challenged to develop a game that distinguishes itself from educational games that are currently available, many of which focus on old-fashioned and obsolete approaches to learning, such as rote memorization.
Due to COVID-19, we shifted to working remotely. Our main collaboration tools are Zoom, Trello, Google Drive and Miro.
I conducted an in-depth research on 4-6 years old children cognitive functions through primary (interviewing, surveys to parents and teachers) and secondary research (competitive analysis and scholarly research).
I analyzed and evaluated popular educational games among children to gain an understanding of the common elements within these games.
Khan Academy Kids offers visual clues and uses colors for different types of content. The screens are cut-off to suggest that children can explore more.
The sesame street game is played by exploring the website and clicking on elements that draw their attention.
ABC mouse has easy navigation with easy-to-locate tabs, which enables children to play through without instruction.
Toca Boca creates digital toys for children that focus on exploratory gameplay in which children can play freely. The brand also promotes gender neutrality in all of its apps.
To understand what kind of games appeal to children and their parents, I surveyed parents of preschoolers and kindergarteners.
I referred to child usability studies conducted by the Nielsen Norman Group and UXKids to separate design myths from usability facts. These are the top takeaways for designing interactions for children:
I created the UX and UI design by collaborating with the design team on Figma. I used Balsamiq and Illustrator to create low fidelity wireframes, the intention is to establish the basic structure of the game before visual design and content is added.
Below is the updated prototype based on the valuable user-test feedback.
Medium Fidelity
I conducted the User Test remotely, which has the advantages of being quicker and being able to reach more people. The user test was done using two different methods:
1) Facilitated and Moderated: I sent users emails asking them to book in a time-slot on Calendly to have a video call. The meeting was on Zoom and users were asked to open a prototype on their web and share their screen. The call was recorded and I took notes of the main observations.
2) User-test conducted using Useberry: it works as a prototype testing plug-in, and gives the opportunity to get quick feedback by simply sending users the link of the prototype. I found Useberry really useful especially since it revealed test results such as heatmaps that graphically represent where users click and interact.
I edited this video using Adobe Premiere Pro.
