Woobo Parent App
Redesigning Woobo
IoT toy’s mobile app platform for parents.
Redesigning Woobo
IoT toy’s mobile app platform for parents.
Aug— Dec 2018
UX Researcher
UX Designer
UI Designer
TZ Wang (Android Developer)
Katherine Hashimoto (Content Developer)
Kaitlyn Nee (Visual Designer)
Woobo is a startup that creates smart toys for kids (age 4-6). Woobo’s product/service offering includes the physical toy itself, its digital content platform with partnered and original content, and the accompanying parent app which allows parents to customize the toy settings and communicate with their kids through the toy.
I redesigned the Woobo Parent app—a key component of Woobo’s product offering and service experience. I managed the project from the initial user research to high fidelity design and worked side by side with our mobile and content developers each step of the way.
As an intern, my main task was to analyze existing usability issues and work with engineers to refine interactions and fix technical bugs. In the daily reports and discussion about our product, I noticed that the needs of the users were missing. In order to validate that the feature improvements and future ideas we were discussing would actually impact and improve the experience of families with Woobo, I took it upon myself to set up a systemic user research effort. I gathered the help of our content developers, customer success representatives and marketing strategists to recruit and learn from our target user — families.
In order to get feedback directly from families, I conducted several user research efforts including:
1. Google form surveys
2. Phone and video interviews
3. In-person, at-home playtests
4. Play events at children’s museums and playfairs
I was always energized and inspired by watching kids play with Woobo. Observing their reactions and listening to their questions helped me see our product through their eyes.
Throughout the research process, I compiled documents summarizing the findings and my recommendations to share with different teams within the company in order to get company-wide buy-in. I felt like a true advocate of Woobo users when the CEO told me that he learned a lot more about what parents really wanted from the product, and that he used this research as evidence for product decision making.
After months of learning about our users, the necessity for an overhaul of the mobile platform and a more comprehensive design system became apparent. The redesign began as a self-driven project to fulfill unmet user needs and provide a scalable foundation for future product development. Through active communication with project managers, other designers and developers on the team I got the validation to lead the effort to redesign Woobo’s Parent App.
Through the surveys, interviews, and play tests, I identified four key unmet needs parents were experiencing and areas of opportunity for the new design:
Parents want to quickly find relevant and valuable content for their kids.
Parents do not have a clear sense of the available features Woobo has to offer for the family.
With additional content available for purchase, the subscription management flow needs to be more clear and straightforward so parents know exactly what they are buying.
The routine feature needs to be more flexible and easily accessible to accommodate families' hectic schedules.
I ideated solutions for these four key problems along with additional feature improvements and a new navigation structure in a preliminary report to my team with the goal of quickly getting on the same page about core feature changes before diving into information architecture and wireframing.
Following research and analysis, I outlined a new information architecture and collaborated with our visual designer to generate wireframes for key feature ideas. I presented the new system architecture to our product manager seeking feedback and adjusted the design according to specific business goals that the company wants to achieve.
In addition to the content and mobile developers in the Cambridge office, I was also working with product managers and the CTO in Woobo’s Beijing office. I learned that clear documentation of my proposed changes, decisions and rationale was essential to asynchronous collaboration. Working in a bi-lingual environment also pushed me to brush up on my Mandarin.
At this stage, we were able to take a longer lens into the life cycle of the product and consider not just the next high-fidelity version of the app but think deeply about how the mobile platform will age and adapt with the company and future toys. I began building a preliminary design system so that future design and development workflow and outcome can be consistent, efficient and scalable. I realized that, on the surface, a design system is a visual artifact while in practice it is a strategy of organizing people to work together to produce consistently high-quality products.
I created interactive prototypes of the final high-fidelity design to communicate the key features and flows to our product manager. But my job as the designer does not stop here. I also worked alongside with our mobile developers to resolve questions about design decisions on the spot and to make adjustments for more efficient implementations.
Home page provides a quick overview and easy access to Woobo’s key features and content channels.
Home page provides a quick overview and easy access to Woobo’s key features and content channels.
Onboarding guides parents step by step to pair their Woobo toy with their parent app account. It also gathers basic information about the user for content customization.
One account can be paired with multiple Woobo toys and have different levels of control access. The toy icon in the top right corner allows the parent to quickly switch between multiple toys.
Onboarding guides parents step by step to pair their Woobo toy with their parent app account. It also gathers basic information about the user for content customization.
One account can be paired with multiple Woobo toys and have different levels of control access. The toy icon in the top right corner allows the parent to quickly switch between multiple toys.
Parents can create custom playlists for their children’s favorite stories or songs in Woobo.
Parents can create custom playlists for their children’s favorite stories or songs in Woobo.
Parents can subscribe to specific content channels in the app to get regular updates of new content.
Parents can subscribe to specific content channels in the app to get regular updates of new content.
The new routines feature allows parents to set up routine activities for their children with more flexibility.
The new routines feature allows parents to set up routine activities for their children with more flexibility.
Parents can send voice messages to their children’s Woobo and receive voice messages back from their kids.
Parents can send voice messages to their children’s Woobo and receive voice messages back from their kids.
Woobo’s news feed provides articles and tips about parenting and how to get the most out of Woobo.
Woobo’s news feed provides articles and tips about parenting and how to get the most out of Woobo.
Login pages highlight the key features parents find most important. Clear and specific feedback helps parents create accounts easier.
Login pages highlight the key features parents find most important. Clear and specific feedback helps parents create accounts easier.
This was my first user experience industry job where I worked with real world constraints. I learned what it means to be an advocate for the user in a consumer product company. I was fortunate to work in an environment that gave me the responsibility and freedom to propose and lead an end-to-end mobile redesign project. It was a fulfilling experience because I worked in various roles from user research to visual design to game design and as a representative at marketing events. This invaluable experience pushed me to further develop my skills in user research, effective communication to drive product decisions and collaboration with teams across a company to bring ideas into reality.
