Mindmapping the features
Below I have created a mindmap routing all the possible features that I can put in the app. I found this extremely beneficial as it has allowed me to cover a diverse range of different means of adding appliances to the app.
Crazy 8’s (or 5’s….)
One activity I love starting my projects off with is Crazy 8’s (or in my case crazy 5’s) – It allows me to avoid biases by having a clean slate allowing me to creatively sketch down a bunch of interfaces, while sometimes this doesn’t work, it allows me to be more engage in my product and see what features can be added. I decided to play about with the interfaces/direction for the 4 main sections of my app below – Game, music, mood and goals.
For this section of my app, I don’t want to spend too long on it as this isn’t the main focus as this will help with the overall flow of my intended app. I decided to create different mini-games such as breathing, chat, drawing, etc. This allowed me to creativily make numourous amounts of mini-games that I can add to my app.
Above really helped me establish the direction of my app, for the mood section I developed a range of ‘gamified’ ways kids can visually express their mood. However, the most unique in my opinion is the tree with the branches. Additionally, this helps fit the overall app that is significant with birds. For the goals, I can display it in numerous ways, however, I kept sketching something similar to a forum layout, however, this will not fit my app as I don’t want it to feel like a choir or a document, I want it to be visually expressive with illustrations and limited words.
Initial Wireframes
Before I start wireframing, I must acknowledge Hick’s law – a psychological principle that tells us that the more options/directions there are on a screen, the longer the user will take in completing an objective or goal. With this in my head, I must understand how my app will be structured and how to separate different content into the right place while eliminating content that may be seen as a hindrance – that is my job at the end of the day, to provide the best user experience possible.
Starting off with the profile selection, this is the screen users of the app will start at. I want it to be very minimalistic and easy to navigate. This will be the basis where parents go to their section of the app and children go to theirs.
Above shows the parents section of the app, separated by 4 screens: mood, goals, games & music. From here the parents get an analytic overview of their child’s behavior such as their mood and notes from that day. Additionally, parents can manage and send rewards based on their child’s performance.
For children to actually maintain, progress and use this app, one of the main features is to add rewards which can be achieved through completing goals, games, etc. They then can unlock new characters and equipment and additionally gain achievements for their profile. The child’s section is contrastingly different from the parent section as it acts as a more gamified way to allow kids to express themselves.