Bubba Map
Bubba Map is a family-friendly public facilities locator app designed to help parents and child caregivers more easily find baby and kids facilities in public spaces, reducing their stress during travel with their little ones.
Timeline
July - Sept 2023
Role
Research, Branding, Product & UX/UI Designer
Project Type
End-to-end | Product Design
Industry
Parenting, Family & Children
01
Problem
Many parents and caregivers encounter difficulty locating essential baby public facilities such as nursing rooms and diaper changing stations, especially when away from home or in unfamiliar environments. Unfortunately, there's no easy to use app to help them find these essential facilities. This not only leads to stress and inconvenience for parents but also puts the comfort and safety of babies at risk. Additionally, available information is often outdated, leaving parents uncertain about finding necessary facilities. This situation often increases stress levels for new parents and caregivers, particularly for first-time parents who already face numerous challenges in caring for a newborn. We need a simple solution to support parents and child caregivers wherever they go.
"I'm a first-time mom, I've always enjoyed going out and doing various activities, but things have gotten a bit trickier since having my baby. The hassle of bringing my 3-month-old along, especially when I'm alone, can be really overwhelming. Finding clean and convenient spots for breastfeeding and diaper changes, particularly in unfamiliar places, is a real challenge. Google isn't much help for this, and it's frustrating not to have an easy solution. I often find myself wishing there was an app to make parenting on the go a bit smoother.
Because being a parent shouldn't mean giving up on having a good time, right?" - CT
02
Solution
Bubba Map : Family-friendly spots just a click away
Bubba Map is a mobile application designed to help parents and child caregivers effortlessly locate baby and kids public facilities, with the goal of reducing the stress and hassle of traveling with little ones.
App Main Features:
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Convenient locating of nearby family-friendly public facilities.
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User-friendly reviews and up-to-date facility information.
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Real-time updates on facility availability.
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Intuitive one-handed interface for busy parents.
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User-friendly design for effortless navigation.
Get started
Search
Find
Review
03
Exploration
Step 1: Research & Identifying Opportunity
Methods: Research, 1 to 1 Interview & Online survey
To gain deeper insights into the concerns and challenges parents face when traveling without their baby, I interviewed fellow parents, most of whom have children aged 0 to 4. Additionally, I reached out to parenting groups and conducted online surveys to gather diverse perspectives.​
Research Objectives:
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Identify specific challenges parents face when traveling with babies and young children.
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Understand the strategies parents use to handle these challenges and reduce discomfort or stress.
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Explore parents' aspirations and desires for potential solutions to improve their travel experiences with their little ones.
It was fascinating to discover the diverse perspectives shared by fellow parents, especially considering the varying ages and stages of their children. I learned that parents often need to find different types of public facilities based on their child's age and developmental needs.
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Furthermore, while no comparable app exists in Australia, I conducted a comprehensive analysis utilizing data from Google Maps, similar applications from other countries, and curated reviews from Australian Instagram users. This analysis provided valuable insights into the functionalities and user experiences of similar platforms globally.
Step 2: Problem Exploration
Methods: Affinity mapping, Empathy mapping, User persona, Customer journey, How Might We statement.
After collecting data from surveys, interviews, and research, I organized it into Affinity and Empathy Maps to gain a deeper understanding of fellow parents' perspectives. This helped me generate ideas for designing an app that meets their needs.
I created user personas to provide me with a clearer visualization of who I am designing this app for. Then utilized customer journey mapping to understand user needs, improve user experience, increase user satisfaction, build strong relationships with user, enhance overall experience, and ensure sustained growth.
Meet Ivonne
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I gained a deeper understanding of the problems and challenges for this project and created 'How Might We' statements to focus on finding possible solutions to address these challenges.
Challenges:
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HOW MIGHT WE design an app that makes it easy for users to find and share baby public facilities and baby friendly places when they are on the go?
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HOW MIGHT WE create an engaging and user-friendly app that users will rely on for the consistent use?
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HOW MIGHT WE ensure the app has up-to-date information and real-time updates on the facilities?
04
Design Process
Step 1: Ideation
Methods: MVP, Crazy 8's & Story Board
I started my design ideation process by brainstorming some ideas and creating an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), showcasing the basic essential features of the app, followed by creative brainstorming sessions involving doodling quick Crazy 8 sketches.
Crazy 8's
MVP
After that, I made storyboards imagining how users would use the app while traveling with their kids. These storyboards showed what I hoped the app experience would be like once it's fully developed.
Story Board
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Step 2: Information Architecture
Methods: User Flow & Lo-Fi Wireframe
I intentionally designed the user flow to be simple and user-friendly, allowing our users to navigate effortlessly and reach their goals efficiently. The primary steps include app launch, search, finding, navigating, and reviewing.
Lo-Fi Wireframes
With guidance from the user flow, I developed low-fidelity wireframes and conducted early-stage testing with 3 individuals to gather potential user feedback and identify areas for improvement.
Feedbacks
Positive Highlight
Adjustment Needed
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Easy navigation from start to the end
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Neat and tidy layout
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One-handed navigation is working well
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Implement an easy access filter function to help users quickly find specific facilities
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Recommend adding more emoticon options to the review page.
Step 3: Design System
For the Bubba Map app design, I aim for a soft, smooth, and calm appearance, I leaning towards calming colors like yellow and green to create a natural and inclusive feel for all babies and kids.
Step 4: High Fidelity Prototype
Step 5: Usability Testing
I conducted user testing with six parents, having them interact with my hi-fi prototype, to ensure the app meets user satisfaction and identify areas for improvement.
6
User - Parents
Participants
Face-to-face user testing sessions
Test Objectives:
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User friendly experience assessment
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User friendly layout and graphic evaluation
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Icon and button familiarity evaluation
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User satisfaction review
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User feedback gathering session
Following feedback from my usability testing of the initial prototype, I recognized instances of user misclicks and uncertainty associated with certain icons. In response, I swiftly implemented adjustments to enhance the app's navigation, aligning with my user experience goals. Going forward, I will work on enhancing my app based on user suggestions and feedback to ensure an improved user experience.
Usability Test Outcome and Refinement
Positive Highlight
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Efficient UX and UI design with a strong initial success rate
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User friendly layout and UI design
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Easy to follow flow and process for locating facilities
Adjustment Made
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Replaced burger icon with utensils icon to better represent the restaurant icon.
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Added tap guidance to encourage user interaction with the quick find icon on the home page.
Growth Opportunities
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Implementing a community feature for parents to share tips, recommendations, and experiences related to baby care and activities
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Expanding the app's reach by adding support for multiple languages and accommodating to a diverse user base
05
Final Screen
Welcome to Bubba Map!
Your go-to app for finding baby and kids-friendly public facilities effortlessly
Explore Bubba Map Yourself!
06
Conclusion
After a long process of researching, testing, and constantly tweaking my designs, Bubba Map has finally produced a result. While it might seem like we're reaching the end, for me, it's just the beginning. There's still so much room for improvement to make Bubba Map even better. I'll definitely be back to give it a boost, making it an even cooler app to help all those parents and caregivers out there, and to make outings with little ones less stressful and more fun.
What I’ve learned
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Settling on the right words and design that everyone immediately understands isn't easy.
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Don't be shy to ask for help and opinions. Having extra eyes and brains to give you ideas, especially when you're really stuck, is fantastic.
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Everyone has their own unique way of solving problems, even if they're facing the same issue. Understanding these different perspectives is fascinating and helps create better universal solutions.
Something to improve on
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I'd like to improve more on the UI part, developing a strong visual and brand identity design for Bubba Map, including selecting colours, designing a logo, creating a brand character, incorporating animations, and much more.
Next stage
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Fully develop the features of every page and incorporate more animation and interaction.
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Introduce additional features that can potentially benefit users and public facility owners.
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Develop community features based on feedback received during the user testing stage.
And since there is not any similar apps available in Australia yet, I really hope that one day I'll be able to bring Bubba Map to life as a real-life app, helping countless parents out there.
Wish me luck on this journey!
