A VILLAGE
This project began as part of my masters program but has since been refined and revisioned based on my own experience as a new mother in Toronto. As a first-time mom I was struck by how difficult it was to find the resources that exist to help young families navigate the communities and services offered in my city. As a result I began fleshing out the idea for an app and online community to serve parents that are seeking community and services, including reliable, trustworthy childcare.
IDEATION
While at OCAD, I worked with a multidisciplinary team to brainstorm ideas based around the Future of Childhood in Toronto, The goal was to come up with inspiration for a product that would speak to the trends we highlighted in our research. My own priority was to develop an offering that would not only fulfill the project mandate but also one that would serve the community in a meaningful way with a focus on service and improving quality of life rather than pursuing profit as the main drivers.
BRAINSTORMING & TREND ANALYSIS
Our research highlighted a number of trends and a further STEEP trend analysis was used to isolate the most compelling opportunities connected to the focus area of the Future of Childhood. From this point forward the group parted ways to pursue different products connected to that central theme. The direct STEEP trends that A Village seeks to take advantage of are expanding access to technology, increasing population costs and greater desire for local connections. It further seeks to disrupt the cycle of pervasive inequality that results from a lack of affordable childcare options for low income families, thereby preventing mothers who are experiencing poverty from seeking out opportunities for meaningful work.
USER RESEARCH
A user survey was conducted with parent subjects as trend analysis was taking place. The survey collected opinions through a fairly diverse social media network. Based on responses I confirmed my hypothesis that there existed an opportunity for design based on the changing demographics and alternative childcare needs of the city. These circumstances create a possibility for programming that meets the needs of parents seeking low cost childcare alternatives and, concurrently, greater community connections. This solidified the end goal of enabling low-cost, quality childcare solutions while empowering parents to find local and community based support for their families.
PERSONAS
Several personas have informed the development of A Village. In addition to Joanna the New Mom other users of the product include Adam the New Dad, Sarah the Grandmother, Mary Elizabeth the Business Owner (children’s art workshop), Karen the Daycare Manager and Tara the Nanny & Babysitter. Each persona has been fleshed out to consider the problem scenarios and value propositions presented by A Village. All of this work is available upon request.
PRODUCT DESIGN
Building insights into a firm product design was both inspiring and disappointing, one can never keep all of the babies born in the ideation stages of a design. Many features were trimmed from the design as I considered the app and desktop experiences. What remains is an online community and listing service that aims to connect new parents to experienced parents and the community they live in while providing them with opportunities to save money as they build a life for their family.
Unlike Facebook parents groups or online discussion boards, A Village intends to encourage in person connection and fostering relationships in the real world. And unlike sites that focus purely on babysitting A Village features listings that are supplemented by references from parents that are active within the community in addition to confirmed qualifications like CPR and ECE training. It will further allow community groups and businesses to list their offerings, including discounts, on A Village for a small fee in order to keep the parent offering free of charge.
STORYTELLING
Outlining the story of each user through a storyboard was particularly useful in this project. In this case story boards were informed by user journey maps and SPICE persona analysis to clarify and explore the social, physical, identity, cultural and emotional needs of users. As with all good opportunities, there are many stakeholders and beneficiaries but parenting is an experience that is very heartfelt and individual so empathizing with users in a deep way was particularly important while developing the A Village offering. This board follows the journey of a role mama - an experienced mother who is looking to re-engage with the community and to share her wisdom with younger moms who may be looking for guidance or support.
THE RESULT
In the end, A Village has never been brought to life however engaging deeply in the design process has affirmed my belief that creative ideas combined with empathy focused research can work together with technology to find deeply human solutions to social issues. Though I've not created the app or site every time I revisit this documentation I am reinspired and reconnected to a passion for HCD and the potential of its tools to change the way we experience moments of humanity and the world around us.