Online Social Marketplace for Millennial Parents
How do we get first-time parents to make smarter decisions about raising a family?
Pregnancy is a huge milestone for first-time parents.
When they can’t get information from their doctor or social circle, their experiences can be very daunting. As a result, parents will have to rely on other resources. Because these resources are so scattered, it’s hard for them to consolidate all of this information to make well-informed decisions about their pregnancy, let alone purchases for their family. At ConfiHealth, we are passionate about providing these parents with the right resources and tools to empower them to be better parents. As a Content Associate and Interface Designer, I helped conceptualized HealthyBee, a social baby tech marketplace for first-time parents by getting to know the end users, creating high-fidelity prototypes, and developing the content database. |
COMPANY
Confihealth ROLE Interface Designer & Content Associate CONTRIBUTIONS
SKILLS User research Wireframes & prototypes Interaction design Content strategy TOOLS UXPin InVision PowerPoint Axure Illustrator |
User Research
The team created personas and user journey maps to better understand the pregnancy journey.
We mapped the journeys of a first-time mother and first-time father from pre-conception to early toddler years, including any key thoughts, actions and behaviors. The goal is to understand their journey, pain points, current resources, and how HealthyBee can help parents throughout their pregnancy and parenting journey.
We quickly learned that most of the team members aren't parents. Therefore, we made many assumptions going into creating these personas and journey maps. We even left out some key moments, such as the father cutting the umbilical cord. We also learned that it requires the effort of a whole team to create these journey maps so that everyone is on the same page about the product moving forward.
We mapped the journeys of a first-time mother and first-time father from pre-conception to early toddler years, including any key thoughts, actions and behaviors. The goal is to understand their journey, pain points, current resources, and how HealthyBee can help parents throughout their pregnancy and parenting journey.
We quickly learned that most of the team members aren't parents. Therefore, we made many assumptions going into creating these personas and journey maps. We even left out some key moments, such as the father cutting the umbilical cord. We also learned that it requires the effort of a whole team to create these journey maps so that everyone is on the same page about the product moving forward.
User Interviews
Because we did make many assumptions when creating our personas and journey maps, we needed to validate our assumptions by getting out there and talking to the end users. Talking to first-time parents would help us validate our user journeys and get initial feedback on our prototypes. I conducted a number of one-on-one interviews with parents, clinical professionals and other subject matter experts. Through each interview I've gained great insight about the pregnancy journey. Understanding their pain paints is crucial to creating a product can be useful to them.
Goals:
- Understand concerns, behaviors and habits of first-time parents. Identify their pain points and current solutions.
- Understand the pregnancy journey.
- Determine their sources of advice, health information, and how they select baby products for their family.
Key Assumptions
Mothers are very social. They actively reach out to their friends and family to help them through the pregnancy journey.
Some of the mothers we spoke to with were the complete opposite. Some didn't even tell their friends and family that they were pregnant, and wanted to keep it a secret until the baby was born. They were very reserved, and didn't post anything about their pregnancy through social networks. If they did, the photos would be deleted right away.
There are not many resources available for parents about baby tech products.
True. Doctors didn't know where to refer to. Most of the products that parents purchased were recommended by word-of-mouth from friends and family members who've also used those products or will take products passed on by others (i.e. strollers, cribs, bottles).
Fathers did the shopping for products, especially anything tech-related.
We found that mothers were really curious about tech products but simply didn't know where to begin. If they did start to do some research, many of them felt very overwhelmed with the process.
Some of the mothers we spoke to with were the complete opposite. Some didn't even tell their friends and family that they were pregnant, and wanted to keep it a secret until the baby was born. They were very reserved, and didn't post anything about their pregnancy through social networks. If they did, the photos would be deleted right away.
There are not many resources available for parents about baby tech products.
True. Doctors didn't know where to refer to. Most of the products that parents purchased were recommended by word-of-mouth from friends and family members who've also used those products or will take products passed on by others (i.e. strollers, cribs, bottles).
Fathers did the shopping for products, especially anything tech-related.
We found that mothers were really curious about tech products but simply didn't know where to begin. If they did start to do some research, many of them felt very overwhelmed with the process.
Wireframes & Prototypes
With this information, I quickly learned to create high-fidelity and responsive prototypes to present to our potential users. I have evaluated a number of design tools during this project alone as a new UX Designer, including: PowerPoint, InVision, Axure, Justinmind and UXPin. We wanted something that was collaborative, online and easy-to-use, so we decided to stick with UXPin because it was the most efficient tool for the team.
Logo Design
We saw the evolution of the HealthyBee logo in a short amount of time. The idea of HealthyBee's website transformed from being a site that recommended connected devices for the general user to a site specifically for first-time parents. Using Illustrator, I was able to transform our old logo into a something that appears as friendly and playful yet knowledgeable and sophisticated for our new website.
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HealthyBee Mockup #1 (Desktop)
Prior to HealthyBee being a parenting website, it was envisioned to be a website that recommends and reviews connected devices for pediatric, geriatric and the general audience. This very first mockup was created using PowerPoint and InVision. The format was inspired by Engadget, a site that also reviews tech gadgets. In this mockup, users can pick and compare products, view reviews written by HealthyBee, experts and other users, and contribute their own reviews to the website. The HealthyBee review included is original content I wrote for the AliveCor Heart Monitor. Part of creating the review also involved coming up with the key criteria to review. I evaluated a number of review-based websites (Engadget, Gizmodo, Best Buy, Consumer Reports and Amazon), noted their criteria and which are common across all sites. I decided that Ease of Use, Comfort, Core Functionality and Value of Pricing were relevant across all product types for our website.
For this site, we also wanted the clinicians to be an active part of the community. Clinicians have the ability to submit expert reviews and connect with their users. There is also a shift in the mockup design, going from the site being review focused to changing the navigation menu so that it's easier to segment the products that are reviewed on the site.
For this site, we also wanted the clinicians to be an active part of the community. Clinicians have the ability to submit expert reviews and connect with their users. There is also a shift in the mockup design, going from the site being review focused to changing the navigation menu so that it's easier to segment the products that are reviewed on the site.
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HealthyBee Mockup #1 (Mobile)
While doing our user research, we learned that a majority of mothers consumer information and shop for products on their phones and tablets just as much as they do on their computers. With that information known, we wanted our website to be viewed across all platforms, and responsive design into consideration when building our prototypes.
HealthyBee Mockup #2
The next mockup incorporates a recommendation engine, where the site can recommend products to the user based on their goals, conditions and price range.
- Product Catalog Page: Instead of being able to "like" and "compare" a product, users can view the rating of each product upfront (similar to Amazon), as well as view how many reviews are already written.
- Product Page now incorporates the price of the item, community ratings and product specifications.
- Product Review now opens on a separate page, so that the user can have a whole experience entirely devoted to the review process. The rating system is now based out of 5 stars instead of a scale out of 10. It is more appealing to the user when the rating scale is more visual as stars over some number.
HealthyBee Mockup #3
When it came to implementing the actual build of the site, the team found it much easier and faster to work off of a template as opposed to building from scratch. During this change, the company decided to that it needed to focus on a targeted demographic instead of trying to cover all products. The new design shifted focus towards finding articles and products for first-time parents, as well as starting to build community through our already existing Facebook page. We also took a turn in our mockup design by learning from content-based websites (i.e. Brit+Co) instead of review-based.
- The homepage still consists of featured articles. When viewing articles and products, related articles and products are linked at the bottom of the page.
- We decided to make the Product Page less busy by creating multiple tabs to view product description, reviews and discover articles. The user also has the ability to "like" and "share" the product/article with others.
HealthyBee Navigation Menu
Using a template created opportunities for design of the navigation menu. While the menu looked usable on desktop, it was difficult to comprehend on mobile. This is the redesign of the navigation menu for our mobile website, looking at the hamburger menu design and dropdown menu design. The social media links at the bottom of the menus are inspired by The Bold Italic, an online magazine in San Francisco.
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Content Strategy
On a weekly basis, I curate meaningful articles focused on pregnancy and parenting for first-time parents, as well as recommend smart tech products for them and their baby. I have written a few original articles as well as product reviews as a HealthyBee editor, where I explore different themes around pregnancy and parenting, and recommend related smart tech products. There articles are part of the "Being Smart about..." series and has covered the following themes so far: Breast Health, Prematurity, Flus & Colds and Millennial Parenting.
Another part of content strategy is coming up with an effective workflow for how users will approach and interact with the website. I've created sitemaps to map user flow and interaction with our website, as well as led team sessions to strategize on how to organize the content database. I built out the database using Magento Content Management System. Worked with small editing/ design team to decide on weekly content - articles and products to post onto site according to particular themes. I uploaded articles from related parenting sources (Babble, Parent.com, etc.) and searched for products and product information to build a database of up to 300 products. Created a process to streamline adding content and documentation to onboard new members on the team.
Lessons Learned
Working on this project, I learned the importance of working with a small team at an early stage startup. Each team member plays a unique role in the company. Yet because the team is so small, I learned to wear many hats at ConfiHealth.
I quickly learned the challenges of incorporate the design process so that it would work with developer. And designing mockups in a way that the developer can quickly understand and implement to the website. I also learned the challenges of working remotely and how difficult it is to get everyone on the same page for a design or a project decision.
I quickly learned the challenges of incorporate the design process so that it would work with developer. And designing mockups in a way that the developer can quickly understand and implement to the website. I also learned the challenges of working remotely and how difficult it is to get everyone on the same page for a design or a project decision.