Role
UX/UI, Prototyping
UX Research
Visual Design
Tools
Figma
Illustrator
Photoshop
Duration
80 Hours
Platform
Add-On Features
on Local Public Library Website
• The social isolation of the long-lasting COVID-19 pandemic has led people to lose their social skills, especially young, vulnerable children.
• Now they are forced to find the ways of connecting with other children by themselves.
• A local library, Shelter Rock Public Library, plans to add a feature, a children's book club, to its website. In the community, it would provide a safe space for children to interact with each other.
The COVID-19 pandemic has prevented kids from engaging with others. As a result, it has caused a need for more social skills development.
To create an add-on feature in the public library website, which would be a virtual book chat to connect kids; an interactive, easily approachable and safe environment to foster the growth of social skills in children.
Parents or caregivers + children (elementary schoolers)
First, I interviewed stakeholders and users to identify their pain points. Further, I examined other children's book reading or chat platforms through competitive analysis and market research. Conducting research enabled me to gain valuable insight into the users' current pain points. In addition, I learned the key components to make this feature successful.
Number of participant : 2 parents + 1 librarian + 2 children
After the interview, I conducted the competitive analysis by auditing the strengths and weaknesses of other book-reading or chat platforms, and I used them as inspiration for my design.
Key takeaways:
The personalized digital reading platform for each child’s age and interest causes children’s engagement in reading.
• Reward badges boost children’s inspiration.
• The “Read to me” feature improves children’s reading fluency.
• Avatar tools entertain kids to encourage engagement.
• Parents and teachers' dashboards (to track kids' reading activities and send kudos) help to keep children motivated.
• Interactive virtual book chat generates a bridge for children to connect with others.
Through Unicef report, "How the pandemic impacted children's development", Forbes's article, "How have children' social Skills been affected by the pandemic", and Early Educations Pros's article, "Importance of social interaction for early childhood development", I found critical learnings below, which were reflected throughout my design process.
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic,
• Children’s social skills are out of practice.
• Some children have struggled with a significant amount of anxiety when returning to regular school settings. They felt overstimulated and socially anxious upon re-entering their school setting.
• Education providers noted delays in young children's speech and language development. If left unaddressed, it could potentially cause problems for primary school.
Using the research findings, I created three personas to understand the users and establish empathy with them so I could develop a design process that keeps them at the center.
I created a site map that describes an effective path users can take to find a book club based on my research.
My next step was to create a user flow that shows users' interactions with the book club feature on the library's website through possible decision-making. As a result, I was able to design the feature without missing any possible user paths.
Before finalizing the high-fidelity wireframes, mid-fidelity wireframes were created to run by other designers during the group critique to get quick feedback on user experience, and user flows to iterate.
I created the UI Kit using UI components to make the UI intuitive, kid-friendly, and playful to create the platform for kids to engage easily.
I created high-fidelity wireframes to understand what the finished product will look like and how it will work. It was used for testing and validating individual design decisions.
Number of participant : 3 students + 1 primary stakeholder
Demographics of student participants: Korean international students in NYC between the ages of 18-25 looking for a roommate or room to rent
This was a significant learning experience with a strong connection and empathy for users. Moreover, as a designer, it was a meaningful experience since it was a socially impactful design project for the community. If I have more time for this project, I will keep iterating on the design based on the usability testing and work on adding more accessible features to make the user flow more clear and delightful.
© Jacie Lee
