Case Study: Kids activity and events booking app
Hello, I am Hadeel Alqahtani and I will tell you about our case study for designing a booking app for kids, we did the whole reserch and design in just 5 days which was a huge chalenge for us, but our great team (Atheer , Dalal, Hajer) did it and I am very proud of it, it was alot of prusure and very long working hours but I enjoyed every minutes of the project journey.
Our client
The Saudi entertainment authority is an organization that was established in 2016. Their main goal is to provide exciting entertainment options and tailored experiences to the needs of people from all walks of life around Saudi Arabia. Also, to contribute to improving and enriching the lifestyle and social cohesion among the community. They provide a number of diverse activities including artistic, cultural, and educational activities with entertainment above the various festivals for families and children.
Desk Research
At first, we started searching about the availability of ticketing and what people were complaining about on Twitter. we found There is a problem when people want to go to a certain location, they have to register in so many apps and websites, or they are not aware of where to book these activities. Therefore, they’re having difficulties finding tickets, and the problem is bigger with children because they don’t know what’s available for them and for their age and where to book because most of the events and activities websites are mainly for adults.
Because kids are different, the design for them is also different, we studied and read about UX design for kids, how to conduct interviews with kids, and how to implement the UI elements with kids.
we found these good tips on how to make an application for kids:
- Don’t trick kids into buying stuff
- Let kids make mistakes
- Use bright colors
- Think Beyond reality
- Design for children first
- Allow for endless possibilities
Findings on how to interview kids:
- Don’t Rush them!
- Smile
- Be friendly
- Ask simple questions
- Give them a space to express their feelings
- Make the interview fun as much as you can
Challenge
- There are so many places to book activities for children which made it confusing and overwhelming for the children.
- There is a lack of knowledge when it comes to activities for children.
- Children have a lack of knowledge on activities for them.
Goals
- Share and send their experience to their friends
- Variety of activities for kids in one place
- Making booking process easy
Why kids?
The reason we choose kids is that they need to play, learn, and engage, and the Saudi entertainment authority does provide activities for them. Additionally, they don’t seem to be aware of the activities to visit it.
C&C
Leaf diagram
C&C analysis:
Most of our competitor uses a simple language to communicate with the users (kids), also the gamification is very motivating for the kids and a lot of our competitor use it, the kids love to share their experience with parents and friend but not all the competitor offers this feature, the navigation and visual communication was great and clear. the age ranges starting from 1 to 16.
Business and user needs
User Research
We interviewed children and their mothers individually and asked them about what they liked (places, games, etc.), what apps they frequently used, and some other questions, that can help us with our research. Also, we observed children what do normally during the day.
User Journey
Affinity map
Affinity map Insights:
Kids usually use tablets or smartphones and apps, they use them for watching, playing games, and learning new things. the children have different hobbies and likes, they use technology a lot and they are tech-savvy and fast learners, also they use social media a lot, and they admire the YouTube influencers, they like to play in groups and alone, they have interest in many sports, art, tech, games, cinema. they need more outdoor activates and events, and they want to engage more with each other.
Our observation:
Children and their parents don’t know what is the activities available for them, or for which age and we noticed that the covid-19 had a huge impact on the children’s social life because their parents care about their children safety and isolate them, and also because the school is now remotely, so they feel bored with the long free time they had.
Persona
Problem Statement
Our Saudi Children want to have fun and practice new experiences but they have no idea where to go and what is the events happening in their city. Our solution should aim to provide a simple way for them to have fun and go out.
solution
our aim is to provide kids with a platform that lists all the kid’s events with all the details and information, and age ranges, and they can book the event easily and have fun! Provide them with a safe community in which they can reach their peers and have fun. Also, we noticed that children use adults platforms that not suitable for their age and this could affect them negatively. That’s why we wanted to create a safe platform for them.
Key features
Target users
Based on our interviews and research, and our limited time, we selected to target children aged 7 to 9. At this point in life, kids can read text, use technology, tell their parents what they need, and interact with the app to use most of its features.
Information Arcticture & UI
Card sorting
User flow
Task flow
sitemap
before wireframing
We want to know level the level of technology of our users, so we used adult shopping and booking websites. We gave them a simple task like booking a movie or buy something. We tested on ages 6 to 10 years old.
We find out that from age 7 to 10, we know exactly how to navigate adults’ websites Except for the payment step, they gave the device to their parents to pay.
Annotated wireframe
Usability testing
We used the maze tool to do our usability testing. we did the test on 16 children, they all accomplish the task which is to buy a ticket successfully but they liked the color and understood the process but they didn’t understand the map, we redesigned it and test it again with them
UI A/b testing
In order to test which screen colors attracts the kids more, we designed three different screens with different navigation icons and colors, and we tested on 10 kids, 70% of them chose the middle screen.
prototype
What could be next for us?
- Adding a voice note and emoji to the reviews.
- We want to expand the target user to include 6 years old because based on our research this age some of them knew how to navigate an adult application and some didn’t know how which needs in-depth research.
- Gain points when they share activities with their friends.
- Online competitions because we noticed they like it from our research
Conclusion
- We learned a lot and understood kids.
- We learned how to deal with kids.
- We were able to sympathize with the kids.
- We discovered how they use technology and what they use it for.
At first, it was a challenge for us and we didn’t know how to deal with kids or understand them. Then it turned out to be the most exciting experience with its difficulties and challenges.
