Proposed Idea
Outlet would provide families with a subscription box each month that comes with activities and crafts that help them in their own learning challenges. The box would have projects that build upon each other and do not put too much pressure on the child to be able to complete something immediately.
About Liam & Emma
Liam is five years old. His mom, Emma, stays at home with him while also keeping up with her own freelance work. Emma had been noticing some learning difficulties in Liam and had him tested for autism. When she discovered that this was the cause, she wanted to find resources for Liam to begin some positive development.
Journey Map Insights
Liam and Emma typically have good mornings. The routine is simple and the family can easily keep up each other. Main pain points in this map appear first when Emma and Liam are painting and decorating ornaments. This shows how the intervention is for both people, because although Liam does not feel that anything is going wrong as he mashes into the paint, Emma is getting frustrated because the goal of the activity is not being completed. Mid-day when they go out to lunch, it is unknown what might trigger Liam, and he unexpectedly has a bad reaction to something he ate that has caused a meltdown. Emma does not know the best way to calm this down and everything she tries is pretty unsuccessful. Things balance out as the day begins to end, as Liam and his sister, Lilly play.
After Research
After my research about how art therapists are already interacting with autistic children, I had a better understanding of what kinds of projects would eventually be included in our boxes. This project focuses on the website and app interfaces and how they introduce the subscription box. An extension of this project would begin to prototype the artifacts within the box.
Feeling Associated to Colors
Through research, I found that a lot of children with autism become disturbed or get uncomfortable around certain colors or lights. So, the original idea with the different color palettes, is that the parent could change the color in case it was one they knew did not work for the child. This also provides the opportunity to make the system more customizable and unique for each person. The colors are meant to be complimentary, cohesive, colorful, and add some nice contrast to each other.
iPad App
The app interface allows for easy understanding on the child’s part, so they can navigate without constant help from a parent. The parents corner is where parents can see how the child is doing and alter what games and activities are available to the child. There would be coloring pages as well as a music page that connects their favorite songs and sounds.
Noise-cancelling headphones
The noise-cancelling headphones are an add on that assist when the environments noises are too overwhelming for the child. They also can be used with the app to play the child’s favorite music and sounds.
Changes After User Testing
After I did the testing with friends and family who are unfamiliar with prototyping websites, I found the problems that appear from someone who is just used to using websites and not designing them. This helping mainly in the navigation of the site and the abilities to click through pages opposed to scrolling through. The comprehension did not seem to be a problem, and understanding where to go next worked.