‘Kid Points’: A Rewarding Parent/Kid App (Product Design Case Study)
Pointing Children towards learning How to Become Good Human Beings.
Timeframe: 3 weeks
Context: Project for the Portfolio
Consistency as a Parent is Key
Parents often use an allowance to incentivize their kids’ good behavior. But it can be difficult to maintain consistency. If their allowance structure breaks down because of parental forgetfulness, which is contagious, kids get upset; in-turn producing a frustrated parent. Who needs that?
Not having a way to stay consistent means kids experience unpredictable value-shifts in their points/allowances. Unpredictable fluctuations in any market can cause crankiness. Kids, and stockbrokers, don’t like it at all and will often use it as an excuse to act out; which, as parents, we just can’t have.
Additionally, as parents, we lose all of the leveraging powers that the allowance scheme is suppose to offer — if and when we fail to be consistent. What to do? Parents buying their way out of a cranky situation only ruins the kid and risks inflating rates for good behavior; creating a motivational rollercoaster of expectations that’s just no fun. So how do we solve it?
Product Case Study Disclosure
So, I’m presenting this product case study because, sensibly, it’s good for people to have examples to base their judgements on. For me to present my work and methods as a product designer I need a way to elicit those judgments. I’m passionate about solving problems and for anyone with kids,which includes me, I think figuring out a way to motivate good behavior can be a serious dilemma. I believe as adults we make good decisions based on their outcomes; but kids have a harder time envisioning that actions equal consequences. This framework we, as adults, have come to recognize the world operating in is taken for granted by us and lost on the kids. Kids, who are much more adept to recognizing and conforming to patterns through reward, need an incentives program to help bridge that gap.
Working the Problem
Having a framework to approach my work is always helpful especially when problems are complicated. A 4-step process structures my workflow and, because of its cyclical nature, allows me to identify and resolve emerging issues.
The Point System
My buddy Joel has three kids living at home and has them on a point-system he created. Each kid earns points based on their behaviors in school, at home, and elsewhere. The kids can lose points for misbehaving or breaking rules; but they can also redeem points allowing for fun activities and other rewards.
The idea for Joel’s point system came from the program his company uses to motivate their employees. Joel noticed that the program seems to work well and so he thought he would try it at home. To keep track of everything, Joel saves each child’s running total in a spreadsheet app he access with his phone.
So far, the point system is working great. Joel’s three boys all do their homework when they are suppose to; and chores too. They’ve also learned to only ask for things they’ve earned or can earn through the point-system. Overall, it seems to be a success.
The Problem
However, the assigned values for each behavior or activity fluctuates depending on Joel’s mood. Aside from the running totals Joel keeps in his phone, the system doesn’t have much structure. Joel also worries that his kids will someday catch on to the arbitrariness of the system.
The Bonus Problem
The kids don’t have access to Joel’s phone so they can’t see their points. This lack of visibility causes them great distress especially when they are looking to redeem points. Their incessant badgering of Joel, their father, to tell them their scores on a daily and even hourly basis gets beyond bothersome.
The fact that I am a parent and have been looking for a product, to help me provide some structure to my kids’ lives at the same time helping me get work done around the house, was both a ‘blessing’ and a ‘curse’. It was a ‘blessing’ because I naturally was able to offer user-insight. The ‘curse’, on the other-hand, was that I ran the risk of making inadequate presumptions.
Empathy Map
First time using an Empathy Map and it was a rewarding exercise; it forced me to put into words the ideas that were swirling around in my head. From a research standpoint, coupled with the templates on the web, I could see how it could be a highly effective tool for delivering a framework to the investigation.
Articulate the Problem
The fluctuating values and the un-viewable point-totals may make even using a point system a little too intangible for children. Joel specifically needs a system that is fixed and structured and easily accessible for both him and his kids. A system easily accessible from anywhere by both, parent and child, would put all of them “on the same page”.
User Story Map
The User Story is a valuable construction tool. Though, on this particular project it felt redundant and unlikely to yield new insight. It only became useful later as I thought about the app structure.
Identified App Requirements
After talking with Joel there were some things that became apparent right away:
- The interface needed to be simple otherwise people wouldn’t want to use it, i.e. Joel wouldn’t want to use it.
- Also, it needed to be easily accessible to his kids; we talked about getting a cheap tablet and mounting on a way where the kids could easily reference there point totals without having to bother their parent about it.
The takeaway from talking with Joel I was able to drill down to the following requirements:
- the interface needed to easy enough for any parent to use.
- It also needed to be intuitive for kids of all ages to also use.
- The point system needed to be versatile enough to easily convert to an actual monetary representation (i.e. USD, Euro, etc.) in case parents wanted to use it for allowances.
- And the app needed to have a “store” feature where parents could list rewards and where kids could redeem their points.
Broadening the User-Base
Initially I was focused on solving Joel’s specific problem, but I realized that the user-base for a product like this is much more expansive. For instance, institutions who work with children could potentially benefit from an easy-to-use system for incentivising good behavior and discouraging by bad behavior. Perhaps, orphanages, day-cares, and schools could also use it.
Branding
Name
Sometimes the having the name first can really help guide the design process. The name of the app needed to lend itself to the apps function and purpose. “Kid Points” seems like an easy fit and works and sounds better than the other variances we tried out:
- Kid’s Point — the implied ownership suggests an idea applied by the kid.
- Kid’s Points — the plural ‘s’ following the possessive ‘s’ sounds redundant.
- Kid Points — applying an adjective to the points seems quite representational.
Color Scheme
Although I was limited to Google Slides, I chose the ‘sprite’ green color not only for reminding me of my favorite sodapop but for two other reasons:
- I’ve longed believe that the color green elicits a calm and familiar feeling. Although, this vibrant shade denotes less earthiness, it still provides that general feeling.
- This type and shade of green is bright and suggests to me something new, welcoming, and playful, like “Green light Go”.
I chose the color white as a secondary color for its cleanliness and complimentary appeal. I did not go into great detail designing an extensive color palette; though I did choose a soft and warm grey as a nice accent hue.
Fonts
Keeping with the playful nature I desire for the brand, I selected the Pacifico font. Of course that is what google slides had available but i was looking for it before I found it, if that makes any sense.
I also needed to find a complimentary print font as well; so I found and selected Comfortaa because it offered that same baloonish and playful feel. I did not drill down into font variations and usage rules as would be customary in a complete brand strategy package because adding that level of complexity I thought would detract from the rest of the case study and because it didn’t seem necessary for my purposes.
UI /Front-End Structure
Wireframes
Functionality
Parents access each kid’s points by tapping the respective kid’s picture (or name).
Tapping on the Parent’s own photo accesses the settings page where they can set the parameters of the system.
A four digit pin enables the Parent to keep the system secure.
Kid Points installed on a wall mounted tablet enables kids to check their points regularly and serves a visual reminder.
Usability Testing
Using the Nielsen Norman Group’s definition of usability, I will be testing:
- Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design?
- Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks?
- Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they reestablish proficiency?
- Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors?
- Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?
Results
In progress.
The App Itself
The beauty, I believe, of the Kid Points app is that it is so simple and yet could potentially fulfill a very wonderful niche-place in the lives of kids and their parents. The thought of somehow contributing productively to the healthy development of children is inspiring in its own right.
Cons
The app was designed (and build) for one end user — my friend Joel. Although its application certainly could present universal appeal to all parents, that ability is yet to be demonstrated. This narrow tailoring, building the app to meet Joel’s needs as a parent (as well as my own*) could perhaps restrict its mobility among other parent populations.
Pros
On the flip side, having a parent be the one to initially generate the idea means that it becomes representative of a solution to a problem already known and felt by its intended user.
Me & This Project
I really liked working on this project because it was interesting and challenging. The project was interesting because it was the first project I was developing the UX while documenting it for my portfolio concurrently. Another aspect of this project that was interesting was that the original idea came from my friend JL Olmstead. Me and JL’s friendship began a few years ago when I asked his help to develop a software I had ideated. I not having begun to learn coding yet then meant I didn’t realize what an enormous ask I had originally made of him. This project made me gain a renewed appreciation for the enormity of work developing an app or software requires.
This project was also challenging because the only tools I really had to use were Google Slides and Mac Photos. For example, to create the Kitchen wall image I had to save a photo-sideways and then use a shape to crop it into Google Slides. It is still a pretty rough shot but the challenge of having to overcome the lack of resources was a rewarding in itself.
Acknowledgments:
- JL Olmstead a.k.a. “Joel”, for giving me his idea and allowing me to use it in my portfolio.
- Eden Wen & Greg Soper for being wonderful mentors and for letting me pilfer some of their presentation framework.
Resources:
- Google Slides
- Mac Book, Preview and Print Screen (command+shift+3)
- App images: Kitchen / Dad / Keypad / Teenager / Kid / Toddler / Cellphone / Market Fluctuations /
- Icon: Shopping Cart / Light Bulb
