Overview
The product:
Parenting with a Helping Hand is a West Michigan-based organization focused on helping inform new parents about pregnancy, birth, and beyond. One of its prime features is the contraction counter. This tool helps users keep track of their contractions and know when they might be close to active labor. Parenting with a Helping Hand’s primary target users are young adults who need to learn more about parenting so they will be better prepared to raise a healthy child.
Duration:
July - August 2023
My role:
Lead UX/UI Designer and Researcher
Responsibilities:
User research, wireframing, prototyping, user research, and UI design
The problem:
Many young adults feel overwhelmed and underprepared to raise a healthy child. There is a lack of relatable and applicable knowledge about pregnancy, childbirth, and beyond. There is a need for community support paired with online, reliable knowledge.
The goal:
Design an app and responsive website to assist young adults in finding the knowledge they need to raise a healthy child.
Understanding in the user
User research:
I conducted research, user interviews, which I then turned into empathy maps to better understand the target user and their needs. I discovered that many target users feel especially anxious about labor and delivery in particular. There are many websites that offer contraction tracking, but most of them require payments. This was frustrating for many target users. Furthermore, many of the target users did not know the actual facts and statistics about the different phases of labor.
Competitive audit:
As exhibited in the spreadsheet, there are an ample number of websites and apps that can help educate women and young parents about pregnancy, childbirth, and beyond. The problem lies in lack of accessibility for the target users because most of them require a payment or subscription. This can become costly, and many young parents do not have a lot of extra money to spend during their parenting journey, no matter where they are at in the process.
Ideation:
I did a quick exercise to come up with ideas for how to address the accessibility gaps revealed in the competitive audit. I focused specifically on offering valuable facts, insights, and event tracking.
Starting the design
Digital wireframes:
After brainstorming and drafting paper wireframes, I created the initial designs for the Parenting with a Helping Hand app. These designs focus on allowing easy access to the most valuable articles and tools for the target users.
Low-fidelity prototype:
With usability testing approaching, I prepared a low-fidelity prototype that connected the user flow to viewing valuable and reliable information for preparing young adults for parenthood. See the Low-fidelity prototype - Parenting with a Helping Hand.
Usability study:
parameters
Usability study:
findings
Study type:
Unoderated usability study
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Location:
West Michigan, remote
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Participants:
5 participants
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Length:
30 minutes
1. Personalize - Users want a more personalized
experience.
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2. Photos - Users wanted a way to save and
view photos of their journey.
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3. Factual information - Users wanted to view
more information about the facts and figures
regarding pregnancy, childbirth, and raising a
newborn.
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4. Search - Users did not always notice where
the search bar was located. The header was a
bit too crowded and disorganized.
Refining the design
Mockups:
After discovering new insights from the usability studies, I chose to change the design to be more streamlined and personalized on the home page. It gives a clearer message on the actions a user would typically take at this point. When the navigation button is opened, the user can opt to navigate to the tools section, which includes the article links. This new design choice makes the initial home page less congested.
Before
usability study:
After
usability study:
Before
usability
study:
After usability study:
Mockups:
To fit the needs of users and the insights discovered from the usability studies, the profile page is now separate from the login / sign up page. The original page (wireframe / lo-fi prototype) caused a pain point and added confusion to users because the call-to-actions were unclear. The new layout simplified the design.
Mockups: Original screen size
Mockups:
Screen size variations
I have included considerations for additional screen sizes in my mockups based on my earlier wireframes. Because users will have a variety of devices, I felt it was important to optimize the browsing experience for a range of sizes and proportions, such as mobile and tablet so users have the smoothest experience possible.
High-fidelity prototype:
The high-fidelity prototype follows the same user flow as the low-fidelity prototype. However, there are added screens to make the experience more realistic and closer to the envisioned final design.
Accessibility considerations
1. I used headings with different-sized text for a clear visual hierarchy.
​
2. I used landmarks to help users navigate the site, including users
who rely on assistive technologies.
​
3. The design layout (addition and elimination of certain elements) of
the home screen help guide the user to the primary task or action.
Responsive design
Sitemap:
After designing the mobile app, I began to work on designing the responsive website for different-sized screens. I used the Parenting with a Helping Hand’s mobile app to help guide the organizational structure of each screen’s purpose. My goal was to ensure a cohesive and consistent experience across all devices.
Responsive designs:
The provided designs are for various screen sizes, such as mobile, tablet, and desktop. I felt it was important to optimize the browsing experience for a range of sizes and proportions so users have the smoothest experience possible.
Mobile - app
Mobile - website
Tablet - website
Desktop - website
Going forward: Takeaways
Impact:
The target users liked that the mobile app, complemented with a responsive web design, was neat, clean, and intuitive to navigate. Users also mentioned that it was more visually appealing than most other sites due to minimal distractions. They appreciated that it was very informative on the aspects that mattered most. Finally, users liked the “Contraction Counter” feature and explained that it was very easy to use.
What I learned:
Through the usability studies, I quickly learned that a big proportion of young parents don’t know very much about childbirth and caring for an infant. Much of what they did know was contradictory
to the actual facts. The usability studies were very instrumental in helping me see beyond my own inherent biases so I could focus more on the users’ actual needs.
Next steps:
1. Add more tracking and logging features for users regarding a variety of experiences, such as feeding intervals, napping schedules, milestones, and more
2. Include a calendar for young parents to visualize their due date and memorable events (e.g., first kick, first smile, etc.)
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3. Continue to identify new ways to make the website even more accessible for all users
Let's connect:
Thank you kindly for your interest in reviewing my work. If you would like to view more of my designs or share your thoughts, I would love to hear from you. My contact information is below.
Email: juliegeersdesigns@gmail.com
Phone: (616) 477-4849
Website: www.juliegeersdesigns.com