HCDE Master's Capstone Sponsored by Google Cloud
Product Design - Visual Design - Interaction Design
The Problem - Reducing stress for a new generation of parents.
Becoming a parent can be one of the most rewarding experiences in a person’s life. However, being a parent can also be incredibly stressful. Properly coping with stress is not only important for a parents’ health, it is also essential for their children’s health.
The Solution - Vooey
Vooey is an assistant designed to help parents better understand and take charge of their mental health through recommendations and insights based on patterns of their dialogue. Vooey is designed with parents’ commutes in mind and can be integrated with other services such as, Google Home, Calendar, and Spotify.
The Process
Research
We pursued generative research to immerse ourselves in the problem space, identify user needs, uncover areas of opportunity, and understand requirements. We utilized a mixed-methods approach to understand the relationship between stress, parenting, and technology to inform our design.
Takeaways
The pursuit of perfection
and self-efficacy
- SME Interviews
Hyper-organization for
a sense of control
- User Interviews
Friends and family are the most important resources.
- Survey
Design Requirements
Design requirements were synthesized from our various research sources. These requirements lead the project forward as rules and principles of design.
1 Addresses & attempts to reduce stress.
2 Clearly articulates user feedback and leads to action.
3 Parents understand what’s going on: what’s tracked, when and how.
4 Parents are allowed to opt-out of any or all features.
5 The Solution should not involve distractions, or be primarily screen based.
Ideation
We used divergent and convergent methods of brainstorming using our synthesized design requirements as a rubric. From these processes, we moved forward with prototyping a voice user interface (VUI) and a companion app that we tested with users.
Diverging & Sketching
Converging & Brainstorming
Choosing Voice
Where can parents be alone and take time for themselves with out the guilt of not being present with their child? The commute surfaced as one stretch of time where parents can take time to reflect.
After converging on an audio driven application to be used primarily during a user’s commute to help parents talk through issues they may be having. We took to low-fi ideating what a system like that may look like. We invested heavily in scrappy voice design. We later decided on integrating a mobile interface as a companion application to help parents look deeper into patterns in their dialogue and help them develop their own insights.
Evaluation
Our evaluative stage included one round of concept testing and two rounds of iterative prototyping. Each round tested the voice assistant and companion mobile application together. We ensured our design was well received and iterated after identifying and resolving usability issues.
Companion App V1 - Paper Prototype
Evaluate basic usability and comprehension.
Companion App V2 - InVision Prototype
Evaluate core tasks, finer interactions, and new features. The test also included full integration between the voice assistant and companion app.
Voice V1 - Puppet
For testing voice we developed Puppet, a tool built on Google App Engine using Cloud Text to Speech and other services, to generate and deliver responses to a browser client in real time.
Voice V2 - Puppet
In our second round of testing we reworked the voice assistant to be more proactive and include questions surrounding, reflection, planning, and recommendations.
Takeaways
Planning and recommendation solutions resonated
- Concept Test
Participants wanted Vooey to be more proactive
- Usability Study 1
Managing privacy was not as simple as users expect
- Usability Study 2
Hi-Fidelity Design
Using the information gathered from our rounds of testing we implemented design changes and improvements to both the voice and mobile applications. After multiple iterations I decided to create a UI that fit within Google’s design language but maintained the unique personality of our brand. This way we could integrate the product into the Google Suite while maintaining our Vooey’s personality and values through visual design choices.
The Unveiling
We showcased the product by downloading our functional application to a set of mobile phones. Using a Wizard of Oz technique and our Puppet VUI application we were able use conversational data to gather and represent user insights in real time.
Product Video
Contribution to HCD
Proactive Conversational Agents
Today’s voice agents are reactive and transactional, designed around “question and answer” models. This project is modeled as a truly conversational agent and explored system-driven dialogue.
Making Data Collection Easier
Voice-based health data improves upon other mindfulness applications by collecting data in a non-manual and less laborious way for users.
Transitioning Through Experiences
Most technologies are either designed for a single context or no context. Vooey took on the complexity of managing the transition between multiple contexts: home to work, work to home, planning to reminders, etc.
Hyper-Focused Scenario
We identified a focused scenario (a parent’s commute), as that allowed for guilt-free self care in a setting conducive to reflection and mindfulness.