PROJECT CONTEXT
create a solution for Tiny Tales, a fictional startup following the modified Google Ventures Design Sprint format
TEAM
solo project as part of UX/UI bootcamp
TIMELINE
5 Days
Background
01
Tiny Tales is a fictional new startup where authors and illustrators can publish children’s stories for parents to read to their young children
Problem
02
As the’ve grown their library of stories, parents have expressed that it’s been difficult and time consuming to find the right stories to read to their children
Design Constraints
03
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Ipad or tablet app
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Focus on choosing one story to read from their inventory
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Read in app only - no hard copies or print outs
Day 1:
Understand & Map
Day 1 began by reviewing existing research that was provided. I went through the interview recordings to understand how parents have been select stories to read to their children and problems they are experiencing.
After carefully studying the interviews, I used affinity map to find the common theme as below:
1. Search time
Parents expressed frustration that it takes a lot of time searching for the perfect story because they have to find the right age level, difficulty, and length. If those criteria are not met, kids loose interest.
3. Multi - child familes
It's difficult for multi-child families to pick a story that both of their children can read
2. Books for kids and parents
A lot of kids want to pick their story but parents also want an educational lesson from the story. When kids choose the story parents pre-read to check if everything is okay
4. Finding new books
Parents find new books through recommendation from other people or lets their children pick out a book from bookstores
Affinity map using sticky notes
With the insights I gathered from the interview, I created HMW questions to prepare for the ideations.
How Might We...
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How might we improve user experience of searching for the appropriate books?
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How might we help users easily find books with lesson values relevant for kids?
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How might we help parents find new books to read?
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How might we add a feature for selecting books for more than one child?
To end the day, I jumped right into imagining possible solutions by drawing a map of a possible end-to-end experience.
Day 2:
Sketch
I began Day 2 with a lightning demo, where I look at solutions competitors have produced to solve a problem similar to the one I am trying to solve.
Kindle
ebook category listings
Netflix
recommendations
Vivino
filtering for wine listing
Nike
filtering items for retail
In order to solve the user's problem, I needed a strong filtering page so I focused my lightning demo on how other apps have options for filtering their products. Also, I looked at how Netflix used their home page to recommend what to watch to their users.
Crazy 8s
Then I sketched possible solutions to my most critical screen using the Crazy 8s method, where I quickly sketch 8 different screens in 8 minutes.
Crazy 8s sketches
Solution Sketch
I selected the best screen out of Crazy 8s and sketched out three-panel board which turned into a tiny storyboard.
3 panel board
Day 3:
Decide
In a normal design sprint with other team members, Day 3 would be used to pitch in ideas to the team and work together to pick the solution they like best. However, since this was a solo design sprint, I used Day 3 to flesh out my storyboard. I created a storyboard as a lightweight, sketched wireframe including the necessary UI elements that I’ll use to build my prototype on Day 4
Storyboard
Day 4:
Prototype
On Day 4, I created sketched storyboards into a realistic prototype using Figma
Test
Day 5:
The last day of design sprint is dedicated to getting feedback from users. I interviewed 5 parents who are reading or may be interested in reading a book using a tablet or an ipad with their kids. For this usability testing, I used 5 Act Interview. Users were asked to complete two tasks.
1. Narrow down books for a 4 year old that want to read related to animals that is 5-15 minutes long but also have family and friendship lesson to it
2. Find books about animals that both four year old child and two year old can read together
User testing Tiny Tales
Key Takeaways
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Final Design
Interactive Prtotype
Click around the app here →
What I learned
I went into design sprint project feeling anxious and worried because of its high-speed and high-intensity process. However, as I was completing each day, I really enjoyed the agile design process. With time constraints, I was not overthinking and felt creative with many ideas. At the end I understood why a lot of companies shifted towards lean ux and design sprints. It is quick, low cost with immediate results. Not all solutions will work but even if it fails it only took five days!
Thank you for reading