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"We live in a world designed by adults, for the convenience of adults, and the safety of children is often not considered. Parental supervision is often not sufficient to prevent injuries in kids, because it's not humanly possible for parents to be there 100 percent of the time. There are going to be lapses of supervision."
Dr. Gary Smith,
Director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
PROBLEM
Kids are curious about everything. Without being educated and lapses of parental supervision, kids may get hurt at home.
SOLUTION
Help parents to educate their kids on the dangers within their homes, but without letting kids touch the dangerous items.
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Safety Instruction
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See Real Dangerous Items
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No Touch
RESEARCH
There are 2 questionnaires, one is for parents, the other is for kids. In the end, 34 valid responses in total from parents were received. Meanwhile, 28 valid responses in total from parents were received.
For the parents, 30 (88.24%) responded YES to the question “Have your kids been hurt at home?” 28 (82.35%) responded YES to the question “Will you let him/her use any smart devices to learn or play in the future?” 23 (67.65%) responded TELL HIM/HER IN PATIENCE to the question “Which way do you educate your kids on the dangers at home?” Meanwhile, 19 (82.61%) responded NO to the question “Do you think it works or not?”
For the kids, all answered they have been hurt while at homes. And all answered they like playing video games. None of the kids like their parents telling something seriously to them.
FINDINGS
Based on the research, we can see that most parents are worried about the safety of their kids. And parents are using or will use smart devices to help them to let their kids learn about safety instructions. When kids get hurt, most parents will tell their kids in patience about the dangers. However, most of them do not think this works.
For kids, most kids answered they do not like reading and learning as well. Meanwhile, most of them like playing video games and watching cartoons. None of the kids like their parents telling something seriously to them. Compared to the real picture of an outlet, they prefer the cartoony one.
“ My boy often got him hurt just when I was busy doing my job. What's more, every time I tried to tell him what cannot touch in patience, he just can't listen to me carefully."
“ I don't like reading. I just like watching cartoons and playing games."
WHAT USERS NEED
Educating kids on the dangers at home in an effective, easy, fun & safe way.
For Parents
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Save time
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Educate kids on the dangers at homes
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Safety of kids
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Kids focus on something fun
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Kids learn safety instructions about surroundings
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Kids learn about items without touching them
For Kids
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Ease of using
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Fun
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Simple interaction
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Integrate learning while playing
THESIS OBJECTIVES
1. Animated Safety
Instruction
Kids like well-organized. Set up daily goals, and let kids learn safety instruction in a fun & easy way.
2. IR+AR
When holding smart devices in hands, kids can see dangerous items on the screen without touching them, which is very safe. So, leveraging Augmented Reality technology, combining with Image Recognition technology, let kids find those items at home, and learn about them.
3. Gamification
Kids like challenging. Let kids learn while playing in an effective and fun way.
APPLIED SOLUTION
Design an AR safety instruction app that could be launched on the iPad for letting kids learn about those dangerous items around them at their homes.
When Designing An App For Kids...
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Kids may not be strong readers yet
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Kids like challenging & well organized
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Using audios & visuals
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Set up goals to let kids automatically complete
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
1. Bark
What Have Done -
Bark monitors your child’s text messages, YouTube activity, emails, and 24+ different social networks for potential safety concerns.
What’s Not -
Just a tool for parents, no tutorials about what children could say, and what can be prevented.
2. Toca Boca
What Have Done -
Toca Boca captures the power of play. It creates digital toys and everyday products that are filled with fun and silliness that kids from any corner of the world can instantly relate to.
What’s Not -
Only a game for fun. Kids have no boundaries about everything it Toca Boca.
3. PBS Kids
What Have Done -
PBS KIDS offers all children the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television, digital platforms, and community-based programs.
What’s Not -
Kids have too many options, and kids could only play for fun. But how about we add some educational materials into the app?
GAPS IN THE MARKET
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Few apps could teach kids about how to react to emergencies
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Augmented Reality technology seldomly be a part of apps for kids
STEP 1
GET PERMISSION FROM PARENTS
Kids' safety is always the first. Parental supervision is required when getting started. Using Face ID or passwords set by parents could guarantee that the kids are under their parents' supervision.
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Face ID unlocked by parents
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Safety guarantee for kids
STEP 2
LEARN BY WATCHING ANIMATED SAFETY INSTRUCTION
After logging into the app, kids could see the daily goals set up for them which automatically causes them to complete.
Safety instruction can be boring. Make safety instructions like cartoons can easily draw kids' attention.
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Simple daily goals
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Cartoonish safety instruction
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Easy to learn
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Watch animation for fun
STEP 3
FIND THE ITEM AT HOME WITHIN AR TECHNOLOGY
After watching the animated safety instruction, kids can start finding the dangerous item indicated by the animation. Using Image Recognition technology to identify dangerous items at home for kids. Then create an AR scene, in which kids could play for fun & complete a mission.
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Interact within AR scene
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Better acknowledge danger items at home
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Play for fun
STEP 4
REVIEW THE PHOTOS TO ENHANCE MEMORY
Learning is a process. Learn about a new thing and revise for it could help kids to enhance their memory. After successfully finding the items and finish the AR game, kids could review the photos of those dangerous items, which could help them to enhance their memory of what they have found.
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Enhance memory of the danger items & where they are at home
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Sense of achievement
WIREFRAMES DESIGN
LEARNING PROCESS
Kids like well-organized things and challenging. So for kids to learn about the dangers at home better, we need to provide them with a set-up daily goals that could let them complete. Then watch animated safety instructions to perceive new knowledge. After watching the animation, kids can find dangerous items at their homes (IR+AR). In the end, they can revise for what they have learned by reviewing the pictures of the dangerous items. Based on this, we can design the user flow of this app.
GRAPHICS DESIGN
MOODBOARDS
This design is for kids, and kids love lollipop very much. So the pastel color could be the color palette.
Keywords
Colorful
Youth
Cute
Adorable
Zealous
Ebullient
STYLE BOARDS
Current visual solutions in the market all have lots of cartoony illustrations.
Keywords
Cartoony
Papercut
Lots of illustrations
Colorful
Baloo Thambi
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
TYPEFACE
The typeface should be easy to read. Meanwhile, the typeface could have a round corner and cartoony. So the Baloo Thambi could be the choice.
COLOR PALETTE
A series of colors from pastel color palette which could make kids feel playful and happy.
CHARACTER DESIGN
Considering that kids want feedback on everything, and consistency is very important for kids, so creating a cartoony pal to guide them and keep giving them consistent feedback is a good way. Combining with the name of the design, SAFECUB, a little cartoony monster character is designed.
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Bubbly
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Cute
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A little bit silliness
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Amiable
ANIMATED SAFETY INSTRUCTION DESIGN
WHY CHOOSE OUTLET AS AN EXAMPLE
According to the statistics, in 2017, in the United States, electric shocks are responsible for approximately 1,000 deaths or 1 percent of all deaths. And we can see that child electric shock injuries are extremely important for every single parent to prevent. So, in this design, the outlet or socket is being taken as an example.
CHARACTER DESIGN
Kids can easily be attracted by cartoons because they are fun and kids can easily learn many things from cartoons. And when we try to create a short cartoon, we need to create a character that can drive plots. So, taking the outlet as an example, we can personate the outlet and let it be the main character of our animated instruction. Because the outlet is responsible for all the appliances at home just like a strong man, so in this design, the outlet is designed as an amiable man, called Mr. Outlet.
ANIMATION DESIGN
Kids can easily be attracted by cartoons because they are fun and kids can easily learn many things from cartoons. And when we try to create a short cartoon, we need to create a character that can drive plots. So, taking the outlet as an example, we can personate the outlet and let it be the main character of our animated instruction. Because the outlet is responsible for all the appliances at home just like a strong man, so in this design, the outlet is designed as an amiable man, called Mr. Outlet.
Using audio when designing for children is almost a given because they may not be strong readers yet. So voice-over and fewer texts should be considered.
AR SCENE & GAME DESIGN
USING SCENARIO
The finding process within the AR scene should be quick, ease of use, and no finger interaction required.
AR SCENE DESIGN
This app is designed based on the marker-less tracking AR mode. This mode is premised on object recognition. AR applications that work based on marker-less tracking are triggered when they recognize certain real-world features. In the case of this design, the real-world features are the dangerous items themselves.
So, all the kids can do is to hold an iPad Pro and look around. Combining with the Image Recognition technology, the App will recognize the dangerous items, and automatically take photos of them. Based on this, a game is designed. It is a mission which is letting the kids use the yellow target point in the middle of the screen to connect TV and lamp with Mr. Outlet. By doing this, the kids could help the little monster (called Safecub, the main character of this design) to watch TV and turn on the lamp.
WHOLE PROCESS OF INTERACTION
RESEARCH & EVALUATION
USABILITY TESTING & QUESTIONNAIRE
8 volunteers were welcomed to participate in the usability testing of this design, whose ages are between 3-5 years old. The wireframes of the design were printed out for them to finish the usability testing, and the questionnaires were printed out as well. There are 2 tasks for the volunteers to accomplish. After watching the animated safety instruction, eight volunteers were required to answer several questions. What’s more, an iPad Pro (11 inches version) was required to be held in their hands and try to find an outlet on the wall.
STATISTICS
7 volunteers (87.50%) had successfully finished task 1 of usability testing, and 5 volunteers (62.50%) had finished task 2. 7 volunteers (87.50%) answered “Yes” to the question “Do you like the overall design of the App”. All 8 volunteers like to play a game within an AR scene. And all of the volunteers correctly answered the questions based on the animation they had watched. In the end, 5 volunteers (62.50%) can hold an iPad Pro (11 inches version) and successfully found an outlet on the wall, the other 3 of the volunteers (37.50%) cannot hold an iPad Pro in their hands (11 inches version).
CONCLUSION
According to the statistics, kids like the overall design of this App. The animated safety instruction could let kids learn about the key points which should be paid attention to. However, only 62.50% of the volunteers successfully found the “Capture” button, which means that the button’s function might not be easily understood by little kids. And another thing is that only 62.50% of the volunteers could hold an iPad Pro (11 inches version) in their hands, which reflects that it might not be a good way of letting little kids use such a big and heavy device to do the job.
In conclusion, the overall design of the app is succeeded. It could effectively let little kids learn about safety instruction. And what’s more, kids love playing games within an AR scene, which means that it is viable for us to keep studying on designing more apps with AR technology involved. However, the iPad Pro might be too big and heavy for a kid like 2-5 years old to hold up and walk around. So, the device can be switched to an iPhone or other smaller smart devices. Meanwhile, the “Captures” button could be modified to a more understandable button. One of the possible solutions is that it can be designed like a treasure box that could appeal more kids to tap it.
All in all, this design will be continually refined. Hope in the future, this design could help more kids to learn and try to avoid those potential dangers at their homes.
THANKS FOR WATCHING!
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