I led the research, design, and development efforts for ParentAid. I simplified the mobile user experience, crafted illustrations + a style guide, laid down UX processes to develop product specs, user stories, task flows, interactive prototypes, content prioritization, schema design, and translated the information architecture, navigation + process flows into a beautiful and easy-to-use mobile solution.

BACKGROUND

Parents have been struggling to find activities for kids, especially during the COVID-19 crisis. Searching, planning, and scheduling activities for kids take a tremendous amount of time and effort. Busy parents are looking for a solution that will help their kids get busy during their non-school hours so they can have some time for themselves, do the daily chores, or not get interrupted during work hours.

GOAL

ParentAid app is the perfect doorway that can help parents cope with this issue. It helps them find events and sign their kids up for different activities nearby and be sure that they are COVID-19 safe. It helps event providers to advertise and manage all in-person and virtual events. The goal for the future is to create a subscription-based plan that can benefit both the parents and the event providers.

RESEARCH DATA

COVID-19 has turned the 2020-2021 school year upside down. With many schools and workplaces closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, many of the parents have found themselves dealing with a new, and often very stressful, family situation. As well as having to work from home and run the household, they are likely also trying to keep their kids on track with their virtual school work—all while enduring the restrictions of social distancing and even being cut off from the support of friends and loved ones. With the whole family often occupying the same space day after day, the strain can seem unrelenting. If any of the parents have been furloughed or lost their source of income, the financial pressure can add even more stress.

According to Elizabeth Weybright, a Washington State University assistant professor, ‘boredom’ was already a growing problem for adolescents before the outbreak of COVID-19, but the crisis is causing a boom in boredom for kids and adults alike as shelter-in-place orders were issued across the U.S. to curb new cases of the virus. Such an increase may be concomitant with recent increases in mental health difficulties, suggesting that the overarching psychosocial profile of U.S. adolescents is becoming less optimal. Findings also suggest boredom peaks in 10th grade overall although when analyzed separately by sex, girls' boredom declines from 8th to 12th grade.

In order to minimize the risk of boredom, research shows that social media interaction and video games provide a temporary escape from real life and offer valuable social engagement. Digital game distributors, such as Steam report a considerable increase in the number of daily users from 19 million in early March 2020 to a record high of 23.5 million in April 2020.

COMPARATIVE + SWOT ANALYSIS