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Ritika Anna Kuruvilla
Beyond Insights:Creating Impact

Baby's Hand

Birth of       
Bump to Baby

As a new mother on maternity leave, I faced many parenting questions and realized the importance of personalized guidance. This journey sparked the idea of a parenting app, blending empathy with practical support for mothers like me. Drawing from personal insights and the shared experiences of countless parents, I envisioned a platform that evolves with your family's journey. Thus, from the heart of my parenting adventures, the concept of this app was born.

TARGET AUDIENCE

In our app, we aim to cater to the Expecting mothers and parents of the newborns, offering support throughout their pregnancy and parenting journey. Our focus is on providing valuable resources, guidance, and community support tailored to their unique needs and challenges.

CHALLENGE: Simplifying Prenatal and Postnatal Care Management

New and expectant parents struggle to manage prenatal and postnatal care due to the absence of a centralized platform, leading to challenges in tracking health metrics, scheduling appointments, and documenting developmental milestones. The cognitive load of the "pregnancy brain" further complicates manual tracking and memorization, increasing stress and potential care management oversights. An integrated, intuitive solution is needed to streamline these critical tasks and support parents through this crucial period.​

Key Research

  • ​Research Strategy: Described the comprehensive approach, including interactions with friends and family and conducting user surveys.

  • Objective: Emphasize the goal to narrow down the most needed features and functionalities.

  • Interactions with Friends and Family:

    • Methodology: Informal interviews and discussions with friends and family who are new parents.

    • Key Findings:

      • Milestone Tracking: There is a significant need for a user-friendly, integrated milestone tracking feature.

      • Health Logging: Parents expressed a desire for a simple way to log health-related information, such as vaccinations and doctor visits.

      • Personalized Tips: Customized parenting tips based on the child’s age and developmental stage were highly valued.

This collage highlights the different sources and manual tracking methods parents use, underscoring the need for an integrated digital approach to managE prenatal and postnatal care.

Key Insights from User Survey

  1. Information Overload:

    • How Information is Gathered: The majority of respondents gather information from a variety of sources including websites , healthcare providers, social media, books, and apps.

    • Feeling Overwhelmed: On a scale of 1-10, the majority of respondents rated their feeling of being overwhelmed between 6 and 10, with the highest concentration at 7 (41.7%). This indicates a significant level of information overload among new and expecting parents.

    • Health Tracking Difficulties: Respondents track various health metrics such as baby's milestones, nutritional intake, doctor’s appointments, sleep patterns, and medications.

    • Challenges in Tracking: Many respondents indicated challenges in consistently tracking these health metrics, highlighting the need for an integrated and easy-to-use tracking system.

  2. Appointment Management:

    • Management Methods: A significant portion of respondents do not have a specific system for managing prenatal/postnatal care appointments (64.3%), followed by those using physical planners (35.7%) and healthcare provider's systems (14.3%). Notably, none of the respondents use digital calendars.

    • Missed/Doubled Appointments: Respondents reported occasional issues with missing or double-booking appointments, underscoring the need for a more reliable appointment management feature.

  3. Milestone Documentation:

    • Importance: Documenting a baby's developmental milestones is very important for most respondents, with 35.7% rating it as extremely important (5 on a scale of 1-5).

    • Methods and Challenges: While methods for documenting milestones vary, common challenges include consistency and ease of use, suggesting a need for a streamlined and user-friendly documentation feature.

  4. Cognitive Load and Integrated Solution Desire:

    • Burdensome Switching: Many respondents find switching between multiple tools to be burdensome, indicating a strong preference for an all-in-one solution.

    • Preference for All-in-One Solution: A significant majority (78.6%) prefer an all-in-one solution for managing prenatal and postnatal care.

    • Essential Features: Respondents suggested that essential features for an all-in-one platform include integrated health tracking, appointment management, milestone documentation, and personalized tips and resources.

USER PERSONA

To create a deeply resonant user experience for "Bump to Baby," we embraced the narratives of our diverse user segments—Expecting mothers and parents of newborns crafting richly detailed personas. These personas emerged from the tapestry of stories collected via interviews and surveys and were continuously honed as more data poured in, mirroring the evolving landscape of our user base.

SOLUTION

  • Solution: Bump to Baby is a unified platform designed to streamline prenatal and postnatal care, prioritizing efficiency and simplicity for expecting mothers and parents of newborns, the app respects users' time and reduces cognitive.

 

  • Journey: Bump to Baby was developed to transform the management of prenatal and postnatal care for expecting mothers and parents of newborns by offering a streamlined, unified platform for efficiently tracking health metrics, scheduling appointments, and recording developmental milestones.

 

  • Design Philosophy: Designed for quick and intuitive interactions, Bump to Baby minimizes unnecessary scrolling and engagement, addressing the urgent need for an effective yet time-conscious digital solution. This project underscores the importance of mindful app design in supporting parents through a critical life stage, prioritizing efficiency, ease of use, and user satisfaction over digital distraction. Bump to Baby ultimately aims to empower parents by providing a reliable, all-in-one tool that simplifies their parenting journey and enhances their ability to care for their newborns.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

The diagram provides a comprehensive visual representation of the app's structure, showing the main sections and features

Screenshot 2024-03-17 at 4.25.31 PM.png

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR APP DEVELOPMENT

Based on the insights gathered from user surveys and interactions, I have outlined key recommendations for developing a comprehensive and user-centric parenting app:

  1. Comprehensive Information Hub

    • Objective: Reduce the feeling of information overload by providing a centralized location for reliable information.

    • Implementation: Create a section in the app that aggregates content from trusted sources, including articles, tips, and guides on prenatal and postnatal care.

    • Features: Search functionality, categorized topics, and integration with healthcare provider resources.

  2. Integrated Health Tracking

    • Objective: Simplify the process of tracking various health metrics to help parents stay organized and informed.

    • Implementation: Develop features that allow users to easily log and monitor nutritional intake, sleep patterns, medications, doctor’s appointments, and baby's milestones.

    • Features: Input forms, visual charts, manual and automated entry options, and progress tracking.

  3. Digital Appointment Management

    • Objective: Prevent missed or double-booked appointments by providing a robust scheduling tool.

    • Implementation: Introduce a digital calendar or scheduling feature that can sync with external calendars and provide reminders for upcoming appointments.

    • Features: Calendar view, appointment syncing, reminder notifications, and history logs.

  4. Milestone Documentation Tool

    • Objective: Help parents document and celebrate their baby's developmental milestones.

    • Implementation: Implement user-friendly tools for documenting and tracking developmental milestones, with options for adding notes, photos, and videos.​

WIREFRAME PLANING

Objective: To create a user-centric interface for the Bump to Baby app, focusing on ease of use, efficiency, and the integration of key features identified during the research phase.

Design Strategy:

  • User Needs: Based on the insights gathered from user surveys and interactions, the wireframes will prioritize features that address the most pressing needs of expecting mothers and parents of newborns.

  • User Journey: The wireframes will map out the user journey for each primary feature, ensuring a seamless and intuitive experience.

​

​Current Progress: Below are the initial wireframes for the Bump to Baby app. These screens are drafts and are subject to further refinement based on user feedback and iterative design processes.

FUTURE EXPANSION PLANS

While the current focus is on completing the initial set of features identified during the research phase, I am passionate about further expanding the app to provide even more comprehensive support to new and expecting parents. Here are the planned features for future development:

  1. Lactation Support:

    • Objective: To offer valuable resources and guidance for breastfeeding success, empowering mothers in their parenting journey.

    • Planned Features:

      • Access to lactation consultants

      • Video tutorials and articles on breastfeeding techniques

      • Personalized tips and support based on the baby's age and mother's needs

  2. Thrifting Platform:

    • Objective: To promote eco-conscious parenting by facilitating the buying and selling of gently used children's items, reducing waste, and fostering community sharing.

    • Planned Features:

      • Marketplace for second-hand baby and children's items

      • User profiles and ratings to ensure safe and reliable transactions

      • Categories for easy browsing of items

      • Pickup and delivery coordination tools

LEARNINGS

Through this project, I honed my skills in Figma, enhancing my design process. Direct engagement with users enriched my empathy, guiding a user-centric approach. This project challenged my preconceptions, highlighting the value of simplicity in design. Overall, it propelled my growth as a designer, emphasizing empathy and iterative processes, even in independent projects.

                                     On a personal level, this project helped me get back on track after a break taken for my baby and reignited my passion for UX design. It highlighted the joy and fulfillment I derive from solving design challenges and creating meaningful experiences for users, reaffirming my love for UX design and motivating me to continue growing in this field.

Appreciate your time; journey's success shared.
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