As my capstone project, I have selected to redesign YouTube Kids app. I assigned myself to an ambitious project to improve one of the best kids' apps available on the market.
MY ROLE
I developed a project idea and designed a technical solution through the UX design process that culminated in a high-fidelity paper prototype. The project was developed from July 2018 to September 2018 and presented at Bellevue College.
THE CHALLENGE
- To gather enough usable data to build a solid foundation for improvement with limited time and resources
- To find a way to make Playlists likable and valuable for users
GOALS
- To give parents and caregivers more control over the content their kids watch
- To create a platform for deeper engagement and trust
- To enable users to customize and control the app effortlessly
ACTIVITIES
- A research study to define a target audience and frame user goals, expectations, and pain points
- Competitor analysis
- Personas, scenarios and process flowchart
- Low-fidelity and high-fidelity wireframes
- Paper prototype, usability testing
- Analyzing the results to evaluate initial assumptions and iterate where necessary
- Revising the prototype, usability testing
PHASE 1: DEFINE AND RESEARCH
TOPIC
Kids apps and playlists
PARTICIPANTS
Parents and caregivers (tech-savvy and not tech-savvy) who have children between 2 and 12 years old
OBJECTIVES
- To find out which apps and why parents and caregivers prefer for their kids
- To find out why parents and caregivers use or do not use playlists
- User motivations and pain points
APPROACH
- Interview method: semi-structured
- Number of participants: 8
- Locations for research: outside the class
- Research activities: brainstorming, writing and revising a moderator's guide, collecting and recording data through interviews, reviewing and analyzing data, market research and comparison chart, creating and reviewing a process flowchart, creating low-fidelity and high-fidelity wireframes, creating and revising a paper prototype, conducting usability testing
EXPLORATORY RESEARCH FINDINGS
I interviewed 8 participants who had children between 2 and 12 years old. My goal was to understand the challenges parents and caregivers face when choosing and using apps and playlists. I came up with a moderator's guide that included 3 types of questions: participants' background, devices, and apps they use, criteria for choosing a show or video.
People prefer to use apps to watch, share, and download videos.
The majority of people prefer not to use playlists to watch shows due to their poor design or inconvenience.
People do not like to update apps as it is often not a seamless, smooth process.
People would like a more straightforward connection between different devices.
The majority of parents and caregivers prefer YouTube Kids app for their kids.
The main complaint about the YouTube Kids app is its content quality.
YouTube Kids users would like more content variety suitable for different age groups.
YouTube Kids app is difficult to get: not many platforms support it.
CRITERIA WHEN CHOOSING AN APP
- Content quality
- Free
- Easy to use
- Variety
- Adds-free
- Resuming playback from the last position
CRITERIA WHEN CHOOSING A SHOW
- Interesting subject
- Production quality
- Educational value
- Free
COMPARISON CHART
