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Project: In 2017 I was recruited by the CTO of HiMama (a former co-worker from NYC) to lead the audit of a childcare administration application's workflows and re-design the user interface and visual language. I worked on a part-time basis both in the HiMama office and remotely until the end of 2019 when I moved to a new city. Results:
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My role on the project:
About the Company
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One of the great things about HiMama is that more than half of their employees are former certified Early Childhood Educators (ECEs), who also happen to be their target audience. This makes gathering feedback very convenient as there is always of pool of available and eager volunteers.
The Customer Success team at HiMama is also incredible and they do a great job collecting and compiling reports on customer feedback and issues, so there is always a list to work off of when looking at designs for new features or researching ways to improve the current experience. |
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In photo above: An ECE using the HiMama app to capture a snack time update to send to parents.
Product Audit
Initially HiMama was developed without the help of a designer, and while the app had a solid back-end, many of the common user flows contained redundant actions and there was no direction in styling.
Visual samples of the app was gathered and inconsistencies were noted.
Flow Audit
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One of the things that I started with was flow audits on the various processes and page elements associated with them. It was important to see how users are currently using the product to accomplish pre-identified objectives.
The first step was to ensure consistency between similar interactions and actions that are part of the same flow. Here is an example of an mapping exercise for the Reports feature. |
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Product RedesignAfter assessing the flow, certain pages were rerouted and button paths were changed to ensure a consistent experience across different user flows.
Other pages such as reports and the activity tracker were simply given UI makeovers with the underlying user experience untouched. A visual UI library with colours, elements and usage guidelines was defined and implemented. |
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UI ElementsBecause this is a childcare app, there is an opportunity to incorporate whimsical and fun elements into the app design.
This visual style is carried over to many of the product pages, especially as part of flows that feature very little information on a large page such as an error page or a walkthrough tutorial. |
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Field TestingWhile at HiMama, I had multiple chances to visit centers to see first-hand how our users use the app. In the photo I took to the right, we visited a branch of Green Apple Childcare in Toronto.
After obtaining the correct legal sign-offs, we were able to talk to parents who are picking up their children. Additionally we scheduled and recorded sessions with the center director and multiple ECEs that were used to direct future feature and design planning. |
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In Conclusion
I absolutely loved getting the opportunity to work on such an amazing app with a BCorp that really values social responsibility. This was the first time I got to work on a product that would come up in casual conversation where people would tell me about how much they loved it and how it has made their lives so much better.
But don't just listen to me on this, 10,000+ reviews don't lie! I am very excited to see the company's growth in the coming years.
But don't just listen to me on this, 10,000+ reviews don't lie! I am very excited to see the company's growth in the coming years.
