Kids Gamified Learning Platform
Cross-platform App and Games
Project Overview
Company:
COSMO
Team:
Product Owners, CTO, Full Stack Developer, and UX Designer
My Role:
As a UX Designer, my role was to lead the whole process of designing the user experience of an app.
My Responsibilities:
- conducting user research and competitive audits
- collaborating with stakeholders to define the overall concept and vision
- developing information architecture, creating design documentation, styling guides, and design specifications
- conducting usability studies and accounting for accessibility
- creating wireframes and prototype
- designing visual elements
About This Project
COSMO is a strength-based, AI-powered learning platform designed for children aged 4-6 to discover and develop skills like early math, logical thinking, or letter recognition. It uses AI to create a personalized learning experience for each child based on their strengths and interests.
COSMO's gamified learning environment makes learning fun and engaging and provides parents with insights into their child's learning progress.
The Problem & The Goal
Many young children struggle to learn new concepts, especially in the early grades due to a variety of factors, such as lack of motivation, boredom, or difficulty understanding the material.
The goal is to design a fun and engaging learning experience that will help young children learn new concepts more effectively. The app will use gamification elements, such as levels, rewards, and challenges to keep children motivated and engaged.
User Research
Competitive Analysis
The first step of our research journey was the competitive analysis. It gave us a good understanding of the key players in the industry, their strengths and weaknesses, market positioning, and strategies. We focused on the main features that are important for our product positioning.
Personas
To understand more our users, I have gathered them in user personas. Understanding the importance of parent engagement in children's home learning, I added not only the core users as children but also considered parents as user personas.
Accessibility Consideration
1. Large Interactive Elements: Design interactive elements, such as buttons and icons, to be large enough for easy tapping or clicking, accommodating children with motor impairments.
2. Color and Contrast: Ensure that color choices and contrast ratios are suitable for children with visual impairments or color blindness. Use color-coding sparingly and provide additional visual cues.
3. Clear Audio Instructions: Provide clear and concise audio instructions or cues to guide children through the game, making it accessible to those with visual impairments.
4. Feedback and Reinforcement: Ensure that feedback and rewards are provided in multiple modalities (visual, auditory, and tactile) to cater to diverse learning styles and abilities.
First Design Iteration
The work with an extremely new product for this field requires a lot of design iteration to improve and validate each solution. Realizing who is our user, we developed the most optimal design process for our iterations: the user flows, design mockups, high-fidelity prototypes, and validation of design decisions with user testing.
User Flows
Design Mockups
High-Fidelity Prototype
User Testing Findings
1. Simplify Parental Mode Interface: Users expressed a need for a more straightforward and user-friendly parental control interface.
2. Provide an Option to Open the App Without Parental Control: Some users suggested that while parental controls are essential, there should be an option to open the app without entering parental mode every time.
3. Enhance Report Dashboards for Insights: Users, particularly parents, indicated that the current report dashboards lacked depth and actionable insights.
4. Add Games Preview in Level Map: Test participants, including children, expressed interest in having a preview feature for games within the level map.
5. Reduce Unnecessary Information Input: Users identified instances where they had to provide unnecessary or repetitive information during onboarding and registration.
Second Design Iteration
The work with an extremely new product for this field requires a lot of design iteration to improve and validate each solution. Realizing who is our user, we developed the most optimal design process for our iterations: the user flows, design mockups, high-fidelity prototypes, and validation of design decisions with user testing.
User Flows
Design Mockups
High-Fidelity Prototype
User Testing Findings
1. Enhance Interaction Elements with Better Action Feedback: Users desired more responsive elements that provide clear and immediate feedback when tapped, swiped, or interacted with.
2. Add Animations for Enhanced Engagement: Participants, especially children, recommended adding animations to make the app more exciting and less boring.
Results
What I Learned
1. User-Centered Design with Children: Collaborating with children as users was eye-opening. Their feedback and preferences shaped the app significantly, emphasizing the importance of designing with the end-user in mind.
2. The Vital Role of Parental Control: The project underscored the crucial role of parental control features in ensuring a safe and age-appropriate digital environment for young users.
3. The Impact of Animation: The feedback regarding the incorporation of animations highlighted the significant role visuals play in user engagement, particularly for children
4. Understanding AI: Exploring deeply how AI works, particularly in the context of personalized learning paths, was an educational journey. It deepened my appreciation for the potential of AI in tailoring content to individual learners and ensuring a more personalized educational experience.
Next Steps
1. Enhance Interactivity with Animations and Action Feedback
2. Expand the Game Library for Skill Development
3. Prepare for Product Launch
4. Implement Analytics for Continuous Improvement
