MoMo
MoMo is a playful and interactive app designed to help kids navigate the colorful world of emotions, fostering self-awareness and empathy through fun games and videos. As a former behavior technician, I understand how crucial being able to identify emotions is for children; it's one of the most important ways they're able to communicate with us. I wanted to create an engaging and enjoyable learning experience for children of diverse ages and skill levels, integrating creativity, collaboration, and adaptability to make it both fun and effective across various developmental stages.
The problem:
Kids often struggle to understand and express their emotions.
The goal:
Design an app and website that offer children simple and enjoyable solutions to make identifying and managing emotions entertaining and successful.
My role:
UX designer designing an app and website for MoMo from conception to delivery.
Responsibilities:
Conducting interviews; paper and digital wireframing; low- and high-fidelity prototyping; conducting usability studies; accounting for accessibility; and iterating on designs.
User Research: Summary
I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users I'm designing for along with their needs. A primary user group identified through research was caregivers who are seeking a safe, educational, and engaging app to help their children learn about emotions.
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Research also revealed that these were not the only factors limiting caregivers from allowing their children to use certain apps. Other user concerns include intuitive navigation and diverse representation to ensure an equitable, well-rounded education.
User Research: Pain Points
Identifying feelings
Identifying feelings can be difficult for children due to the novelty of the experience: it can be confusing, messy, and sometimes feel like there's no end in sight.
Limited vocabulary
Managing feelings
Children don't have lots of words for feelings because they're still learning the emotional ABCs, similar to how they're still learning regular words.
Children are still developing the skills to understand, regulate, and express their emotions in a way that feels comfortable and effective for them.
Persona: Jayda
Problem statement: Jayda is a caregiver who needs a fun and educational platform for her child that effectively teaches about emotions while ensuring a safe and engaging digital learning experience.
Jayda Forst
Age:
Education:
Hometown:
Family:
Occupation:
31
High school degree
Concord, NC
2 children
Firefighter
"I am a mother of two creative children who is passionate about finding the best and simplest ways to enrich their lives."
Goals:
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Help her children identify their feelings
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Find an app that she considers safe, entertaining, and educational
Frustrations:
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Many apps geared toward children contain videos that don't provide value, are unsafe, and are ineffective
Jayda's children are her number one priority. She wants to ensure that they are happy, healthy, self-motivated, and confident. She wants an app that she deems safe for her children to use without constant supervision, one that helps them develop skills they will continue to utilize as they grow older.
User Journey Map
Mapping Jayda's user journey revealed how helpful it would be for users to have access to an app that is both educational and entertaining.
Persona: Jayda Forst
Goal: Help her daughter identify her feelings and learn appropriate ways to self-regulate.
Paper Wireframes
Taking the time to draft iterations of each screen of the app on paper ensured that the elements that made it to digital wireframes would be well-suited to children of all abilities. For the home screen, I prioritized an open layout with expressive pictures to accompany the respective emotions.
Digital Wireframes
As the initial design phase continued, I made sure to base screen designs on feedback and findings from the user research. Easy and clear navigation was a key user need to address in the designs.
Expressive cartoons help users easily navigate the app if they are still developing their reading skills
Easy access to navigation that’s accessible at all points when using the app
This button that takes users to the 'Games and Videos' page is a bold color to indicate a call-to-action
Usability Study: Findings
I conducted two rounds of usability studies. Findings from the first study helped guide the designs from wireframes to mockups. The second study employed a high-fidelity prototype and revealed what aspects of the mockups needed refining.
Round 1 findings
Users enjoy labels to accompany the pictures of emotions.
Users prefer a tab bar to a hamburger menu.
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Round 2 findings
The button leading to the 'Games and Videos' page isn't as obvious as it should be.
Users want to be able to go back if they click on the wrong emotion.
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Key Mockups
High-Fidelity Prototype
The final high-fidelity prototype presented cleaner, more lucid user flows for navigating the app and the many features it has to offer.
progressive enhancement
Accessibility to MoMo regardless of the device being used was extremely important to me. After finalizing the design of the app, I made sure to bring MoMo to computer screens as well. While the 'Help' section is a bit different, the general layout remained consistent between devices.
Accessibility Considerations
Provided access
to users who are vision impaired through adding alternative text to images for screen readers
Used icons to
help make
navigation easier
Used expressive
imagery to
help all users
better understand
the emotions
Takeaways
Impact
MoMo creates a platform accessible on a variety of consoles that provides children with an entertaining way to explore their feelings, while simultaneously providing caregivers with peace of mind during times when they aren't able to supervise their children's time online.
What I learned
While designing MoMo, I learned that the first ideas for the app are only the beginning of the process. Usability studies and peer feedback influenced each iteration of the app’s designs.
Next Steps
Conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed
Conduct more user research to determine any new areas of need