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Stay Close App

Design 1.0

Defining the basics of the product, uses, and interface with user testing

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Introduction and Scope

Beginning stages of User Experience/User Interface testing and Market research headed by Ashlee Bradford

Work commissioned by Erica Garner

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Problem

Kids wandering away from their parents in public places

Parental anxiety about keeping tabs on one or more children as they gain more independence

Erica Garner is an independent Software Developer and had the idea initially of using bluetooth limited range as a simple gauge of how far away someone is and an indicator of someone straying too far from a given point (such a child straying away from their parent in a public space). This was inspired by a hike she took in which her friend had a bluetooth speaker that was playing music via bluetooth from Erica’s phone. When she got too far ahead of her friend on the hike, the bluetooth connection would start to cut out and she would know to slow down for her friend
The idea that was presented to me was that Bluetooth’s range could be used to track how far someone is away from a particular device if they have their own bluetooth device. Specifically for use with a) parents taking their young children out in public who they want to stay very close to them and have the extra security of being able to see how far they are if they get out of sight as well as set off an alert that will help them locate their child. b) Parents of slightly older kids out in public who would like to allow their kids to roam but would also like to be made aware if their kids wander too far.
Lots of parents try to avoid getting a child a cell phone at such a young age and also want to avoid the hassle of having an additional device that requires monthly service fees.
Other more extensive tracking applications are available elsewhere, but my task was to determine the “Minimum Viable Product” to see if we could offer a simple, economical solution

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Goal

Functional Goals:

Ease parental anxiety around their children getting lost or venturing too far away

Practical Goals:

No cell phone needed for young child
No Monthly service fee necessary
Use just a small device connected to parent phone by bluetooth - measure DISTANCE away from device

Erica Garner is an independent Software Developer and had the idea initially of using bluetooth limited range as a simple gauge of how far away someone is and an indicator of someone straying too far from a given point (such a child straying away from their parent in a public space). This was inspired by a hike she took in which her friend had a bluetooth speaker that was playing music via bluetooth from Erica’s phone. When she got too far ahead of her friend on the hike, the bluetooth connection would start to cut out and she would know to slow down for her friend
The idea that was presented to me was that Bluetooth’s range could be used to track how far someone is away from a particular device if they have their own bluetooth device. Specifically for use with a) parents taking their young children out in public who they want to stay very close to them and have the extra security of being able to see how far they are if they get out of sight as well as set off an alert that will help them locate their child. b) Parents of slightly older kids out in public who would like to allow their kids to roam but would also like to be made aware if their kids wander too far.
Lots of parents try to avoid getting a child a cell phone at such a young age and also want to avoid the hassle of having an additional device that requires monthly service fees.
Other more extensive tracking applications are available elsewhere, but my task was to determine the “Minimum Viable Product” to see if we could offer a simple, economical solution

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Outline

Competitive Analysis

Brainstorming and getting feedback

Wireframing and initial testing

Subsequent iterations

User Testing and Interviews

Final MVP

Improvement suggestions

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Target Audience

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The competition

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Testing approach - Rapid Prototyping

Wireframe - 1 user

1st Prototype - 2 user

A/B Testing - 2 users

2nd Prototype - 2 users

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User Tasks

What would you expect this button to do?
Tell “Maddie” something
Add a new Device
You want a notification when “Maddie” gets 150 M away
Alert EVERYONE

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Initial Brainstorming

Original actions were “page” and auto alert, but this would be anxiety provoking if child is known to be “too far” and parent cannot know if child heard or will abide by alert

Solution: Be able to speak to child - but what about child response? Or being able to hear what’s going on around child at any given time?: need ability to hear through bluetooth device as well

-Actions = speak, hear, and alert (manual and auto)

Feedback - Rows are more typical for seeing a user’s information and status, and it is advantageous to be able to see all users at the same time for visibility and monitoring shake. (instead of a grid or tabs where not all info is available for all users at once without scrolling or clicking. Columns also work well, but only if there are 1 or 2 kids - this would depend on the situation and user preferences

-GOT second opinion from peer - had the same feeling about which layout was best

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Wireframes

50% Success

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Prototype 1

Dashboard

“Page” Button Pop-up

“Adjust Settings” Button Pop-up

Auto-Notification Pop-up

Updates:

Hear and speak condensed into “walkie-talkie” mode

removed “message” feature - not important in MVP - child can activate alert and parent can walkie-talkie

Option to view in grid mode, rows, or full screen (one device at a time) to accomodate different quantities of children and user preference

Used in situations where moments count and updates “at a glance” are crucial...

-Icons in addition to text

- Color-coded profile pic and smiley face indicate status of child at a glance (how close/far to limits)

Did not want settings and preferences to be overwhelming and without context, so pop-ups were utilized when an action button was pressed instead of immediately carrying out the action - relevant settings could be adjusted and a caretaker could confirm for themself that they were indeed attempting to perform that action

Personalized specific Context for notification

All profile pics added above “ALL” buttons to indicate who receives those actions

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Variations

Columns:

Users like better Visibility of notification settings

Rows:

Users like this more “typical” and uncluttered feel

Grid

Users liked less than rows or columns - nothing special to offer over rows

Unsure if Rows or columns were preferable, so made second version to get second opinion

Most families have only 2 kids at most in target demographic

Feedback - Rows are more typical for seeing a user’s information and status, and it is advantageous to be able to see all users at the same time for visibility and monitoring shake. (instead of a grid or tabs where not all info is available for all users at once without scrolling or clicking.) Columns also work well due to being able to see all notification preferences as well, but only if there are 1 or 2 kids - this would depend on the situation and user preferences

Conclusion: columns and rows both have merits, grids not so much

Data:

1.93 children under 18/household (don’t typically need more than 2 devices visible, so this would not be a disadvantage for columns at least, but also need to keep screen that just shows one child as this is common as well)
Users saw advantages to both Rows and columns but did not feel that grid offered anything new

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Prototype 1 - Feedback

75% Success

Dashboard

“Page” Button Pop-up

“Adjust Settings” Button Pop-up

Auto-Notification Pop-up

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A/B Testing

Icons and Logotype

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A/B Testing

Icons and Logotype

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Accessibility

Tutorial Button
Icons and text
Lots of visual cues and affirmation of status
Button/action usually has a pop-up or something to prevent accidental activation
Appropriate button size
Minimalistic design
Good spacing

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Prototype 2

Dashboard - Row View

Auto Notification Pop-up

“Walkie-Talkie” Button Pop-up

Dashboard - Column View

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Final User Testing

100% success
All users completed all User Tasks
Minimal Clicks

Dashboard - Row View

“Page” Button Pop-up

“Walkie-Talkie” Button Pop-up

Dashboard - Column View

Testing Results:

Able to navigate well - arrived at tasks in minimal clicks and were able to properly interpret the screens and function

Bluetooth is a concern because of the insecurity at the possibility of going so far that they go out of the range

Manual alert not very useful if just trying to get child’s attention because you might as well walkie-talkie them - mostly only useful if child cannot or does not respond and is close enough that you can hear where they are based on the alert sound

NARROWED AUDIENCE AFTER USER TESTING IF FURTHER GPS CAPABILITIES NOT AN OPTION - goal of “easing parental anxieties” not accomplished if child as not visible, only bluetooth connection is available (not reliable, limited distance), and only a distance from the phone is possible (without any context/direction)

“Manual/Auto alerts” For kids who are not supposed to leave parents’ sight- parent hears child’s alarm to indicate that they have wandered, helps them find their child quicker - not as much risk of going outside of bluetooth range - just an extra precaution IN ADDITION to parental supervision instead of trusting such a limited device as much with child being out of sight (Walkie-Talkie) not as useful in this case
“Walkie-Talkie” for us if children are nearby/within supervision of parent but are older - treated to reduce yelling across distances at a park if kids are at different parts

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Lingering Concerns

Goal of easing parental anxiety not showing up strong in results
Insecureties…

Bluetooth is unreliable
boundaries only Distance

Dashboard - Row View

Auto Notification Pop-up

“Walkie-Talkie” Button Pop-up

Dashboard - Column View

Bluetooth is a concern because of the insecurity at the possibility of going so far that they go out of the range

Manual alert not very useful if just trying to get child’s attention because you might as well walkie-talkie them - mostly only useful if child cannot or does not respond and is close enough that you can hear where they are based on the alert sound

NARROWED AUDIENCE AFTER USER TESTING IF FURTHER GPS CAPABILITIES NOT AN OPTION - goal of “easing parental anxieties” not accomplished if child as not visible, only bluetooth connection is available (not reliable, limited distance), and only a distance from the phone is possible (without any context/direction)

“Manual/Auto alerts” For kids who are not supposed to leave parents’ sight- parent hears child’s alarm to indicate that they have wandered, helps them find their child quicker - not as much risk of going outside of bluetooth range - just an extra precaution IN ADDITION to parental supervision instead of trusting such a limited device as much with child being out of sight (Walkie-Talkie) not as useful in this case
“Walkie-Talkie” for us if children are nearby/within supervision of parent but are older - treated to reduce yelling across distances at a park if kids are at different parts

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Updated Target Audience

Young children who are not SUPPOSED to be out of sight

Closer boundaries

Bluetooth is a concern because of the insecurity at the possibility of going so far that they go out of the range

Manual alert not very useful if just trying to get child’s attention because you might as well walkie-talkie them - mostly only useful if child cannot or does not respond and is close enough that you can hear where they are based on the alert sound

NARROWED AUDIENCE AFTER USER TESTING IF FURTHER GPS CAPABILITIES NOT AN OPTION - goal of “easing parental anxieties” not accomplished if child as not visible, only bluetooth connection is available (not reliable, limited distance), and only a distance from the phone is possible (without any context/direction)

“Manual/Auto alerts” For kids who are not supposed to leave parents’ sight- parent hears child’s alarm to indicate that they have wandered, helps them find their child quicker - not as much risk of going outside of bluetooth range - just an extra precaution IN ADDITION to parental supervision instead of trusting such a limited device as much with child being out of sight (Walkie-Talkie) not as useful in this case
“Walkie-Talkie” for us if children are nearby/within supervision of parent but are older - treated to reduce yelling across distances at a park if kids are at different parts

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Next Steps

Dashboard - Row View

Notification Settings Pop-up

“Draw Boundaries” Pop-up Map

Auto-Notification Pop-up

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Learnings

Strict requirements for a product can result in a very limited application/audience to the point that it may not be worth it to much of your target audience

The user guides in the end and will let you know things that would make a product more useful to them

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Take a Look

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Thank You!

Questions?