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At-a-Glance
Story Safari is an interactive platform catering to 1st generation immigrant children within the United States of America; Providing them with an enjoyable and engaging means to explore their unique cultural backgrounds. In four months, we delivered a complete set of design layouts, user interviews, personas, and worked with several immigrant family units (parents and children).
Client
Private Client
Timeline
24 Months
Team
4 Person
My Role
Lead UX Designer
Lead Researcher
Problem
Our aim is to create an interactive children's book app that addresses a pressing concern - the potential loss of cultural heritage among first-generation immigrant children as they face the socialized pressure to assimilate into the predominant American culture. This demographic of children often face the challenge of acclimating to a new predominant culture while struggling to up-hold and accept their familial and cultural roots. Oftentimes, this can result from the absence of a supportive community and/ or one that shares their cultural background. Our task is to design an app that fosters cultural preservation and helps these young learners connect with their heritage in an engaging and sustainable way.
Solution
We have designed an interactive storybook app that boasts culturally enriched content presented through video, audio, and text formats, thoughtfully integrated with interactive games and puzzles woven into narratives. Children have the opportunity to personalize their avatars, adorning them with culture-specific outfits and accessories, fostering a virtual realm for them to embrace and connect with their heritage. By featuring their customized avatars as the central characters in every story, the app endeavors to heighten children's immersion in the content, drawing them deeper into the experience. With a child-friendly interface meticulously crafted to eliminate confusing elements and screen distractions, our primary user group, children aged 2-12, can effortlessly access the application features with minimal parental assistance. This app allows children to explore their culture in a fun and easy way, with approved stories, games, and puzzles from parents and other members within their culture.
User Research
The research took off with the identification of the users targeted by the product. Both children and their parents were interviewed in the process. Being a learning app, the product needs to cater to children of all ages and their parents. We used the information we collected from our users to create an ideal candidate, Khalid.
User Persona
Khalid is an eight year old, first generation child from Nigeria. He loves soccer and goes to school a couple miles from his house. Khalid loves reading in his free time. Khalid is currently in third grade but is reading at a 4th grade level.
Goals:
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Read more stories from his home culture
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Wants to connect with his family members abroad
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Wants to play games
Frustrations:
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Juggling two cultures can be confusing
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Most of the media/ literature Khalid is exposed to is very euro-centric / American
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It’s hard to find educational games that relate to Nigerian culture
“My mom misses Nigeria a lot and I want to read her stories about her home.”
User Flow
Figjam link for a closer look
User Classes
Primary Users
Foreign-born children between the ages of 2-6: This user type refers to children who were born outside of their parents' home country and are between the ages of 2 and 6. These children may be struggling to connect with their cultural background due to their young age and lack of exposure to their home country's traditions and customs.
Foreign-born children between the ages of 7-12: This user type refers to children who were born outside of their parents' home country and are between the ages of 7 and 12. These children may have a better understanding of their cultural background than younger children but may still struggle to feel connected to it due to the challenges of assimilating to a new culture. They also have improved cognitive development and require bigger challenges.
Secondary Users
Children staying in their homeland, using the app to improve their cultural capital: This user type refers to children who are living in their home country but may not have had the opportunity to fully engage with their culture due to a lack of resources or exposure. These children may use the app to learn more about their cultural heritage and strengthen their connection to it.
Parents/guardians of children who are born away from hometown: This user type refers to the parents or guardians of children who were born outside of their home country. These adults may feel the need to provide their children with a better understanding of their cultural background and may use the app as a tool to achieve this.
Parents who want to use the app to supplement their learning of the culture: This user type refers to parents who are interested in learning more about their cultural heritage and want to use the app as a resource to supplement their own knowledge and understanding of their culture.
Individuals who are interested in learning about cultures in a fun and engaging way: This user type refers to individuals who are not necessarily part of the target audience but are interested in learning about different cultures in a fun and engaging way. They may use the app for educational or entertainment purposes, or simply out of curiosity.
Wireframe
We began by brainstorming and creating wireframes and interactions for iPad screens. We chose iPads for this purpose as they provide a large screen size (in comparison to smartphones) and improved portability (in comparison to desktops), which is an ideal combination for children who will be using the app. Our aim was to make the app child-friendly by presenting a limited amount of information on each screen.
Given below are some sketches that guided our design.
Following color convention has been followed:
Blue for page elements
Red for interactions
Low Fidelity Screens
Medium Fidelity Prototype
High Fidelity Prototype
Lessons
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The Significance of Usability Testing:
Designers, at times, can become so immersed in a project that they overlook aspects that may not be clear to an outsider. This oversight can lead to usability errors, leaving users uncertain about navigating a website.
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Proper Time Management:
Our project turnaround was very fast; we had two-week deadlines for significant portions of this project. Therefore, if we did not allocate our time effectively, we wouldn't get the project done.