Overview
This project was done for University of Washington, INFO 365 Mobile Application Design. We were required to design an operating system and 12 applications for that operating system.
RobOS is an operating system targeted towards children from 5 to 10 years old.
For this project, I worked with a team of designers to design an intuitive modern day mobile operating system that is specifically catered towards children. Our goal was to create an operating system that was fun, simple and intuitive.
Team
Wo Bin Chen, Allison Lee, Benny Nguyen, Calvin Chen, Chris Gerken, Jessica Lou, Lynette Li
Duration
January 2019 - March 2019
Role
UX/UI Designer
My Role
As a team full of designers, we worked closely together throughout the research, ideation, and visual design phases. We worked on screens independently or in smaller groups to work on the required applications, but ultimately, we came together to make sure the designs met our design principles. I was primarily responsible for the messaging, camera, photos, and settings applications.
Being college students, we did not have access to our target audience, to see what they would look for in technology. Alternatively, we researched about children and technology online, and asked our professor and other parents about what they would want in technology designed for children. Another constraint that we had was time. Because of this, we were not required to have the target audience to test our designs. It would have been helpful if we were to receive feedback from children.
Constraints
Problem Statement
We are living in a tech-driven society where smartphones are an important and everyday use technology in our lives. As a result of this, children are receiving smartphones at earlier ages. However, these smartphones are catered towards adults. There are no intuitive operating systems that serves as an introduction to phones. Modern operating systems at first glance are confusing to look at.
Research
We decided to research about two stakeholders, children and parents. We wanted to research on children, since they are the ones that will be primarily using the product, and for parents, since they are the ones purchasing the product for their child to use.
We did not have access to our target audience, so instead we researched about children online. We found that children were likely to use mobile devices for entertainment. We also found out that children in the age range (5-10 years old) have the motor skills to perform basic hand gestures, such as tapping, pressing, and swiping.
To research about what parents want in technology for children, we interviewed and surveyed parents to get a general sense of their thoughts about children phone usage and expectations. We found that parents purchased technology primarily for the use of education. Another concern for technology was safety and would like a way to track the usage of devices.
A few questions asked in the parent survey.
Following the research, we also looked at other operating systems and companies that worked well in the industry, such as Qimo, LeapFrog, and Nintendo to see what they have done to create a successful market and designs. We found that the user interfaces used big letters, rounded corners, and bright colors,
Design Principles
For the project, we needed to build a foundation. We wanted to create something targeted towards children from 5 to 10 years old. After researching, we brainstormed what was important for our target audience. We came up with three important principles of vibrancy, security, and interactivity.
Vibrant
We want our designs to be colorful. Something that is playful and really stands out towards the audience.
Secure
We want our designs to be protective towards the audience. We want to limit the personal information that the user has to provide in the applications. Also, we want to create an application to that would let the parent to monitor their child.
Interactive
We want something fun and simple to use to keep the user engaged. Our idea to create something that is controlled through voice. This will help children be able to do the things they want, since they are developing and might not be able to read.
Personas
We created two personas named Peter and Mabel. They were used to help us understand a user’s flow in the applications we created.
These two personas were created to represent a user that is experienced with using technology and one that is not.
These personas were used in our wireframes to help guide real-world interactions.
Wireframes and Mockups
We created a few wireframes and mockups to get an idea of how our design and flow should look like.
Final Designs
Reflection
Ending this class, the professor and industry professionals rated our project an average of 4.83 out of 5 stars. Our group tied with one other group for first out of 6 total groups.
I think that this product would make a great impact in the world with how children will interact with technology. The goal of this was to create something vibrant, secure, and interactive. I believe that our product achieved in fulfilling these principles.
I was mainly in charge of designing the messaging, settings, camera and gallery applications. Though I was primarily in charge of those, I worked closely with other group members to work on other applications. I found working on this project to be really enjoyable. It was great bonding with teammates and critiquing each other to improve our designs. I found that communication, especially on a team with all designers, was the key to the success of this project.