Connecting families with experts

Early in the discovery process, FCPS shared that technology, language, time, and content accessibility were all barriers for families. Parents were hesitant to put their child in front of a screen and little ones are too easily distracted. The solution couldn’t just be games or solely focused on entertaining children - it needed to help guide parents to long term engagement skills.  These insights were the foundation for my design process and direction.

My objective was to create an accessible space that put the expert knowledge leading this initiative into the hands of busy parents. This first iteration of the app would focus first and foremost on providing reliable resources and activities centered on family interaction.

FCPS had an idea for what they wanted to achieve but no sense of how to go about turning ideas into a reality. I realized my role needed to include thoughtfully guiding them through the custom software creation process without use of technical jargon. Early on, I created wireframes for everything from app screens to CMS templates so they could start to visualize content input and output.

Updating and creating content can be a difficult process so I worked closely with the FCPS team to create layouts that would fit their specific needs. All of the content is created and managed by FCPS through an easy to use CMS. Templated layouts and content guidelines allow the experts at FCPS to worry about what goes into the app, not how to do it.

A core tenant driving this initiative is that learning can happen anywhere. Busy family schedules don’t always leave room for extended learning sessions and important lessons aren’t always planned. I considered this when laying out events, which are viewable by listed days for parents who want to know what’s happening now and by calendar for parents who want to plan ahead.

I invested careful attention into making sure navigation and interactions were intuitive and direct in order to reduce confusion and cognitive load in preoccupied care givers. The app includes filtering so that care givers can browse the content that applies to their children and circumstances. I spent additional time and research writing microcopy that could translate into Spanish or English and selecting icons that could support meaning.