Easy peasy

UX/UI, Design Research 

Easy peasy is an app that enhances communication between parents and daycare facilities.
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Challenges

This app was created during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic to create a safe and transparent environment with the reopening of daycares. Easy peasy needed to make parents and employees feel comfortable about the reopening of daycares during a pandemic. With these important challenges in mind, safety and communication was something that needed to be engraved through the whole design process.

Approach

To overcome the challenges, thorough research was conducted by surveying parents and daycare employees. Based on the surveys data collected, our prioritization and “how might we questions” were created to achieve the main goal. Once our low fidelity design was established, user testing was conducted with daycare employees and parents. The user testing helped in solidifying  the communication and safety component that was part of the challenge.

Alondra Vasquez: Concept, Research, UI, Identity
Roy Resendez: Concept, Research, UI, Identity, Trademark
Aspen Walter: Concept, Research, UI, Identity, Interview

Research Process

Stakeholder Surveys

Take Aways Parents Survey
From the surveys we were able to understand how parents/guardians and employees felt about returning back to daycare facilities. One of the major concerns parents had is how opening daycare was the possible transmition of Covid-19 in their daycare facility. Even though parents were fearful, the majority of them expressed the need to send their child back to daycare as they did not have anyone to look after them.
Take Aways Employees Survey
Employees were equally worried about going back to work becuase they were afraid of catching the virus and having to deal with all the consequences that followed. Even though employees stated that they were comfortable because of the new protocols that were implimented to help lower the spread of Covid-19.




Empathy Map

After the interviews were completed empathy maps were created to separate the types of people that were interviewed and anyone else that is part of daycares. In this case a father, child and daycare employee were selected because they are the bases of daycares.





How Might We Questions

“How might we questions” were developed by consolidating the survey findings, such as the most repeated responses. From this dividing process, important and feasible options were selected to further develop. 





User Flow

User flow chart was created to help visualize how the user would navigate through the app. This helped pinpoint any issues that may arise while developing that could be prevented. It also helped spot information that could be better placed in another part of the design.




Usability Testing


The primary goal:
  • Determine the feasibility and user friendliness of the different functions within the app.
  • Find out how effective and accessible communication is between parents and daycare.
  • Deducted whether the app lessens the fear created by Covid-19.
  • Collect feedback on aspects that were unclear or needed refinement.

Participant Overview:
Total of 7 participants
3 Mothers, 1 Father, Daycare Owner, 2 childcare facility employers
Age range 23 to 50
Key Takeaways:
All the participants of our user testing were excited by the objective of our potential app. Through initial testing there were concerns brought up about the alerts and communication between the daycare officials and the parents. The other major hiccup was the drop-off/pick-up functions. It was brought to our attention that the initial times set in the drop-off/pick-up would cause too much disturbance during a normal day at the daycare.

Some testers had a difficult time understanding the iconography which prevented them from finding certain features. However, all participants were able to navigate through the navigation bar easily. A number of testers found the yellow circle to signify what screen they were on in the navigation bar to be helpful.  

Originally we had announcements and reminders separate in the home page but some users found this redundant because they believed they were notifications that could be combined. Another user suggested the inclusion of the facility policies as the second option to showcase in the home page. They believed that this could promote clarity between the daycare and parent/guardian as well as give daycares the ability to hold parents accountable by giving them the option to easily access this information. Our team took all the feedback we received into consideration when refining and creating the high-fidelity version of the app.




Final Design






Home Page


How It Works
The parent always has the option to see the policies the daycare facility has by selecting the policy button. They can also alternate and select the reminder button to see any announcements or notifications. On the top right corner parents are able to make changes to their accounts and also log out if needed. 
Why
The home page is the first screen parents will see when opening the app. The inclusion of reminders and policy were added on this screen because this would give the daycare facility proof that they were communicating important information with the parents/gaurdian. There was also an inclusion of the Covid-19 message to remind parents of the protocols the facility is taking and the rules that must be followed.




Messaging

How It Works
Parents are able to communicate with the staff and other parents through the app. They are able make calls, video call, send texts, images, forms, or schedule appointments through the calendar option.
Why
Giving parents the option to have a space to communicate with different options was in part to help resolve one of the challenges. This facilitated the process of parents notifing the teacher and facility of important information. It also made it eaiser for employees and the facility to get important messages across.





Cleaning Log / Health Screaning


How It Works
Employees check off the time section after cleaning parts of the facility everyday. Then parents would be able to pick the date to see how often the daycare is cleaning the facility.
Why
Covid-19 forced many facilities to shut down with daycares being one of them. When facilities were able to open up again daycares reopened with strict precautions. Daycares needed to find a ways to prove that their facility would be safe enough for parents to send their children.  The cleaning log is to help daycares create transperency between the facility and parents and make parents feel comfrotable about sending their kids back to daycare.
 




Scheduling Drop off / Pick Up


How It Works
Parents log into the app and are able to schedule a time of when they can drop off their child or when they are able to pick up their child. The parents are able to pick from different time slots and select the Here Now button to notify the daycare employee when they arive.
Why
To help with our challenge a scheduling time for pick up and drop of was implimented into the app. This prevented the daycares from becoming overcrowded and help with covid 19 precautions. Daycares had less people at a time when checking in and leaving allowing employees to focus on making sure parents and children are following certain protocols such as washing hands before entering the building without feeling overwhelmed.

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