The problem

It is Difficult and time consuming to find the right stories to read to your child(ren).

You’re running late and it’s bedtime. Your 4-year-old child wants to choose a story to read - 10 minutes pass. You scan the book but It’s no good, so they choose again and this time it’s a good fit - 15 minutes pass. You finally read the book - another 10 minutes pass. You’re frustrated because it’s 35 minutes passed bedtime.

“How might we… easily choose the right books to read to our children?”

The Solution

Crack open Tiny Tales! the easiest and most time friendly reading application.

The Process

I used a modified version of Google Ventures Design Sprint Method. Each day has been truncated, so what should take 8 hours took approximately 3 to 5 hours given the task.

day 1: Understand and Map

Tell me about how you choose a book or story to read to your child.

I built a persona from 12 parent interviews based around the question above. I found common themes and mapped out and end-to-end experience to easily select a book.

Persona

Mapping

DAY 2: Sketch your solution

I studied competitors using lightning demos to see how each application tried to solve the time problem. Surprisingly, time was never an issue for the competitors because the focus was elsewhere, such as gamification or showing off the large library of books.

Crazy 8’s

I decided the “browse curated list” screen was the most critical because it’s where the parent and child will choose a book and it answers the HMW statement. I used the Crazy 8’s method to quickly draw up possible solutions for my critical screen.

I played with the idea of having a portrait mode reading application, but it’s just more accessible in landscape mode for a reading application. This was still my favorite sketch of the 8, so I translated it into landscape and drew out a 3-panel solutions board.

day 3: decide and Storyboard

If you want kids to decide, give them less.

Day 4: Prototype

Designing for efficiency, simplicity, AND Visualization

I was inspired by FarFaria’s playfulness, Epic!’s large display, and Vooks’ minimalistic approach on the grid system! Screens are simple in color, large bold-faced buttons, and minimal gestures. Prototyping in just 8 hours really tested my UI/UX design ability and understanding what is needed in a workable prototype. I enjoyed the rush of prototyping against time and seeing my work come into fruition quickly.

You can find my first prototype screens HERE.

Day 5: Validate

On the last day of the sprint, I reached out to five families to test out Tiny Tales. I intended to only interview parents, but to my surprise, they also brought their kids.

• Mother and 3-year-old

• Mother, 4-year-old, and 6-yea-old

• Mother and Father, 2-year-old, 4-year-old, 6-year-old

• Mother and 5-year-old

• Father and 4-years-old

The interviews went well, and fast! I got a lot of insight from just watching reactions while interacting with the prototype, especially from the kids. I really enjoyed this format of interviewing because it felt more personal. Here are a few key takeaways for improvements:

• The beginning filters felt vague, misunderstood, and limited - so I added another filter choice to narrow down the book selection.

• Users wanted the ability to sort through books and re-access filters - so I added a ‘filter’ and ‘sort’ button on the library page.

• The slide bar on the book pages is large and distracting to the overall goal of reading - so I made it appear and reappear on tap.

• Some texts were small and hard to read - so I changed smaller texts to SF Pro bold vice Bubblegum Sans to make it more rounded and readable.

FINAL SCREENS

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPE

Conclusion + Lessons Learned

• Time and time again. Utilizing the GV design sprint method really tested my skills as a UI/UX designer given the time constraints. However, being able to produce a viable product in just a 5-day span really opened my eyes and honed my skills even more. It’s amazing how much you can do and learn in just a short amount of time! I definitely bought Sprint by Jake Knapp and can’t wait to learn more about the process!

• Parents are cool, but kids are cooler. I had initially set out to only interview the parents, but all the parents came with their kids to the interview. Being able to watch the kids interact with Tiny Tales and see their reactions was both amusing and extremely insightful for future development!

Next Steps

Although I added in revisions, I will continue to develop Tiny Tales because as a stay-at-home and homeschooling dad, reading with your kids special, and I believe Tiny Tales can really make a difference.

My user interviews, as well as my mentor, gave me a lot of insight for further improvement. I will continue to clean up the UI and go into an even more modified GV design sprint (probably just days 3-5) and go in for another test with more users.

I’m sure I won’t be able to use the name “Tiny Tales”, so when it comes time to handoff my final designs to a software engineer, I’ll be sure to change up the name!