where parenthood meets personal matchmaking!
ROLE
UX Research
Interface Design
Prototyping
DURATION
6 weeks
(Spring 2023)
TEAM
Solo
PROBLEM
Childcare landscape in the US is filled with pain points such as lack of convenience, reliability and accessibility.
Finding good quality child care is becoming an increasingly difficult task for working parents in today’s world. While you may find a childcare center on every block, they still may not be successful in sharing their load. With the arrival of COVID, these problems have intensified even more due to staffing and financial issues and lack of backup care in the form private nannies and help from relatives.
This ongoing struggle is worthy of attention to keep the parents from leaving the work-force, burning out in their personal lives, maintaining good job-satisfaction while also advancing in their careers.
(McKinsey & Company, 2022)
With these staggering statistics, the question arises: How can we enhance the accessibility, reliability, and safety of childcare hiring, whether as a backup or primary option, to better serve parents' needs?
SOLUTION
Design an app that enables busy parents to effortlessly swipe their way to finding the perfect nanny for their child, ensuring that both the parent's preferences and the child's needs are met.
The parent crafts the perfect parent partnership by selecting from a customized menu of requirements and responsibilities tailored to meet the child's needs.
Need a nanny in a nanosecond? Simply enter address or enable location services to search by current location and connect with the nearest nanny
The parent gets access to applicants' complete and verified profiles along with parent-to-parent reviews because nanny search should make them feel as confident and clean as a fresh diaper change
Direct communication is key – entrusting the child's caregiver should be more like a friendly chat than a blind leap of faith!
Parents have highlighted convenience, compatibility, trust and reliability as the four key concerns when looking for childcare.
5 interviews were conducted with parents of children aged 5 and below, 4 of whom were working professionals while 1 was a stay-at-home mother.
CURRENT CHILDCARE SET-UP
CHILDCARE & RELATIONSHIPS
CHILDCARE & WORK
PARENT INTERVIEWS
There was a lack of satisfaction with the current childcare set up and most did not have any back up in times of emergency due to unavailability of the nanny or mismatch between the centers’ hours of operation and parents’ needs.
Lack of partner and/or familial support in managing childcare responsibilities led to friction in relationships and exhaustion among parents.
Caregivers experienced disruption in work schedules and felt a decline in their performance at work finding it difficult to manage both responsibilities (work and child related) simultaneously.
The Corporate Queen of Chaos
The weary working mommy who could use some help with baby-related tasks as she WFH.
USER PERSONAS
The Fatigued Family Manager
The stay-at-home parent who wants a break from all parent duties to take a breather.
USERFLOWS
ideate <> iterate
View all digital wireframes here
LOW FIDELITY
Magic x Practicality
VISUAL DESIGN
This mood board was curated around two main characters: Alfred Pennyworth from Batman, who caters to the needs of a demanding and busy superhero (parents in this case) and the Genie (read: nanny), who magically appears in time of need and grants you your wish.
3 tests were carried out remotely, and 2 were conducted in person. The purpose of these tests was to help the parents most accurately represent how they would experience this app, Nanny Genie, when creating a booking and finding a nanny through this platform.
Based on the results, 3 major improvements were made in the overall designs:
TESTING + IMPROVEMENTS
Gave users the power of precision editing! Threw in an option for editing individual sections, sparing the tired parents the tedious journey through the entire form for a simple nip and tuck
Provided an option for additional requirements/responsibilities beyond the basics, making the booking process as comprehensive and welcoming as a parent's multitasking skills.
'Nanny Genie' deserves a touch of enchantment so I spruced up the microcopy to match the brand's vibe—because in today's childcare quest, finding the perfect match is practically as enchanting as summoning an actual genie, don't you think?
SUMMARY
What went well
My experience in a preschool equipped me with an understanding of the concerns and responsibilities parents harbor regarding childcare. This insight profoundly influenced my design approach, enabling a more empathetic connection with the intended users—parents—and guiding a design tailored to their needs.
What didn’t go well
The absence of participants with prior experience in booking a nanny through such a platform, in my opinion, may have limited the depth of feedback.
Key challenges
Securing participants for testing proved to be more challenging than I had initially anticipated. I reached out to my old network, including parents of my previous students, and also contacted some friends for assistance.
During the signup phase, parental concerns arose regarding whether they would be required to share sensitive information, such as their child's name. In response to this, I included a reassurance paragraph explicitly stating that no such inquiries would be made.
This being my first project, it took more time than anticipated to familiarize myself with Figma. To ensure a thorough learning process without rushing, I wisely incorporated buffer time while still meeting the project deadline.
FUTURE STEPS
Branding
Collaborate with a brand guru to add to the overall character of the app by updating the copy, designing a logo etc.
Recycle
Create an option to re-use and edit a past booking instead of creating a new one every time to help the user accomplish the task in as few clicks as possible
‘Swipe right’ meets childcare
Work on incorporating a feature that allows the user to ‘favorite’ a nanny by swiping right on their profile
To get a full experience of ‘Nanny Genie’, please click here.