Melissa & Doug
Project Summary
Timeline 4 weeks
Role Designer & Researcher
Team Alice Fei and Mia Tang
Tools Figma
How might we turn screentime into a healthy and enhanced playtime?
Melissa & Doug designs toys and play sets for children that inspire hands-on and open-ended play, with a purpose of skill development and reducing screen-time. I led the visual and interaction design for a story-driven app that modernizes play in a way that helps parents play with their kids while maintaining healthy screen time and meeting children’s development goals.
PROBLEMPlaytime is stressful when parents don’t know what’s best for their child’s growth
For parents, choosing toys and playing with kids is joyful for the most part. But there can also be mental burden and stress in selecting the right toys and connecting with kids in play.
SOLUTIONDesigning a story-driven app that meets childhood development goals
Our app is dedicated to support parents, making sure playtime is helping childhood development. It provides parents with a closer and more detailed lens to monitor their kid’s development.
01
Play by age
A small gap in age can make a huge difference on a child's level of cognition and skills. By identifying age ranges, we ensure that the stories and activities presented to the child are appropriate for their age, allowing them to develop the skills that are right for their level.
Show desired skills
Our app breaks down the development skills into 4 categories and labeled the corresponding skill on the story page, so parents are aware of what kind of skills their kids are developing while playing.
02
03
See play progress
Our App keeps track of a child's play history and their level on each section of skills, so parents can always review their child's progress. They can have a better understanding on what areas their child may need to focus on or where they are excelling.
RESEARCHWe identified value opportunities by creating a stakeholder map based on our secondary research.
Spending time researching the company website and its competitors, such as Lovevery, allowed us to see the big picture and the relationship between stakeholders. We identified the key value and cash flows, which allowed us to find 3 value opportunities that inform our hypotheses. We focused on the second hypothesis and also interviewed a parent who uses Melissa and Doug products to arrive at 3 key insights.
Children are very imaginative in play
01
Children are very imaginative when it comes to play. They can find new ways to interact with a toy that adults often do not expect or in ways that were not originally thought of in the intended design. It is beneficial to stretch their imagination.
Parents are unsure if they’re helping or hurting growth
02
Parents can experience feelings of stress and uncertainty because they are not sure if they are playing in a way that helps with building their child’s imagination or stifling it.
Parents have mixed views about screen time
03
Parents have varying views of screen time, some are okay as long as it is reasonable, “healthy” screen time that benefits their child.
DESIGNWe mapped user needs from research to features
Low Fidelity Prototype
We did rapid sketching of possible experiences with a phone that minimizes the use of screen time. Ideas ranged from monitoring the child’s mood to creating a story-time experience.
Mid Fidelity Prototype
We focused on story-driven flows and conducted 4 user tests with parents ages 2-10 years old, our feedback was to provide parents with more guidance to play with children and add more input for children.
High Fidelity Prototype
Based on the findings from our usability tests, we added more interaction and input between the child and the story in the device, so that multiple senses are engaged.
Business Value
In addition to designing the story-driven experiences, we also considered how this new service can lead to more purchases. When parents browse for interactive stories, they are recommended toys to purchase that should be used with the story. This adds a new way to purchase Melissa and Doug toys and can be another income stream for the company.
REFLECTIONRetroactively thinking about parent and children engagement with mobile devices
Taking out the guesswork in play
In this project, I had to really think what is the quickest and easiest ways for parents to see key information they want to know for their child’s development. Through our iterations, we were able to identify what was most important and reduce the number of clicks for those interactions.
Creating a product that maximizes interaction while minimizing screen use time
I was challenged to create an interactive experience that minimized screen time while still using the device in meaningful play. This allowed me to think out of the box and find new ways to use the mobile device, such as using voice input during play-time.