LISTAND ME
A social media platform focused on child-parent communication
PROBLEM OVERVIEW
Communication between parents and children has become increasingly challenging in modern times. Adolescents often experience varying degrees of rebelliousness during their teenage years, creating obstacles for parents who want to listen and understand their children. This lack of understanding and communication can lead to cracks in the parent-child relationship, which can impact both parties negatively.
ROLE
UX/UI Designer;
Product Designer
DURATION
10 weeks, Fall 2020
PROJECT TYPE
Individual project
DESIGN CHALLENGE
How can we make children and parents listen and understand each other and improve their relationship?
DESIGN PROCESS
Investigation
Research
Personas
Ideation
Brainstorming
Design
Sketching
Paper Prototype
Wireframing
Digital Prototype
Revision
Evaluation
Usability Testing
Design Documents
UI style design
Design Rationales
Poster
Presentation
INVESTIGATION
#1 Research Methods
Secondary research
Analyzed U.S. census data and related literature on educational psychology
Online Surveys
Surveyed 42 individuals who fit the target user demographics
User Interviews
onducted interviews with 2 parents and 3 children
#2 Research Findings
#2-1 Literature Analysis
The main problems of child-parent communication:
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Parents are often used to communicating in a controlled
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Emotional communication
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Refure to communicate
The main reasons of communication difficulties:
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Lack of correct awareness to communication
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Identity Role Unequal
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Family is a special environment
#2-2 Census Results Analysis
According to the 2020 U.S. census results:
95% of teenagers live with at
least one parent, and there will
be various conflicts due to some reasons such as different living habits.
From 1960 to the present, the number of single-parent families and divorces has increased, while single-parent families have greater difficulties in communicating with families. (Data from census.gov)
#2-3 Survey Results
Out of 30 children and 12 parents that completed the survey, I can determine that:
81% of children think communication is the best way to solve the conflicts with their parents.
Half of parents think they cannot understand what their children's inner thoughts because of generation gap.
92% of children tried to express their true thoughts to their parents, but most of them are failed.
75% of parents express that they would like to listen to their children, but their children do not want to share.
#3 Inspirations
Situation:
Most children believe communication is good for improving relationships and try to do it.
Reason:
These children use wrong way ==>
Do not get feedback ==>
Give up communicating with parents
Potential Solution:
Use texting instead of face-to-face communication
Situation:
Parents willing to spend time on their children but they still cannot understand them
Reason:
Parents always pressure on their child ==> Lack of right awareness of communication
Potential Solution:
Learn professional education knowledge
#4 Personas
Based on the user interview and online survey results, I created three personas to represent the target users. One is parent user, and the other two are children users.
IDEATION
Based on the online survey results, I found most of parent-child communication problem is caused by lack of right awareness. I think the potential solution could be building right awareness of communication and learning to listen + empathy.
So I decided to give these key features:
Allow posting
and replying anonymously
Educational Encyclopedia
One-on-one expert appointment
DESIGN PROCESS
#1 Sketch
#2 Wireframe
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After first round usability test, I added some features and also deleted direct message(DM) feature because children are vulnerable to sexual harassment and online violence.
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At the same time, I set the registration method to anonymous (real-name authentication is required), which can reduce the psychological burden of users.
#3 Usability Test
Due to the impact of Covid-19, I did an online usability test using remote control software applications and Zoom. A total of 6 target users completed the usability test. I informed the users of the main features, and briefly introduced the target users and the main goals before the testing.
Findings and Recommendations:
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For some functions at the bottom toolbar, everyone can easily find and complete operations.
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The click speed of the elderly is significantly slower than that of the elderly which shows the font size is too small.
Some Quotes:
“It’s amazing design to let the parent and children feels empathy…”
“This idea is very good, but it may be difficult to implement. Because the time that parents use mobile phones will be shorter…”
“…Is there a hidden danger to the safety of the child? Will there be online violence and sexual harassment? …”
PROTOTYPE
Anonymous registration
It can greatly reduce the psychological burden of users, allowing users to say what they don't want to say face to face.
Planet Message Board
Increase the fun of the App, distinguish it from other educational apps, and reduce the resistance of adolescences users.
One-on-one Expert
Expert appointment service for parent users. Provide expert online guidance and offline access services.
Encyclopedia
Provide professional terms explanation such as pedagogy, psychology, etc., explain the phenomena that users do not understand, and provide case analysis and potential solutions.
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PRESENTATION
TAKEAWAY
Add more features, such as children being able to invite their parents to the app and then interact with their parents’ online messages to avoid face-to-face emotional interactions.
The remote usability test affected the test results a little bit because of a lack of observation about users' emotions face to face.
I only collected 12 survey results from parent users and conducted only one parent interview. I still need to enlarge the sample size in the future.