Great, finally got the ideas! Let's bring them to life! 💡
We evaluated the system using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods to assess its effectiveness in helping student-parents prioritize tasks and facilitating support from family, peers, and experts.
Process: We conducted a discount evaluation using think-aloud and task scenarios for Focus Forest, simulating student-parent tasks. Participants completed the SUS and supplemental questions to assess design requirements.
Discussion of Results and Implications:
User Freedom and Features: Users want more features like color-coding, task ranking, and reminders for better prioritization.
Family Involvement: Clarify roles for spouses/children and add task assignment and emotional support features.
Onboarding Experience: Improve map guidance and onboarding, especially with Gus’s help.
Feature Clarity: Simplify icons and map elements with legends and tooltips.
Future Work:
Expand character customization for inclusivity.
Introduce flexible rewards (e.g., in-game currency).
Focus on time-efficient, user-friendly designs.
Quantitative Results
Task completion: 50%-79%, lowest on quest map tasks (Tasks 6-11).
Positive: 4/5 would use frequently, found functions well-integrated, and felt confident.
Negative: 2/5 found it cumbersome, needed assistance, and doubted quick learning.
Qualitative Results
Our team used Excel to code qualitative results from evaluations. The evaluator coded each session, and we later discussed as a team to highlight key findings in yellow.
Findings
Confusion: spouse/family onboarding, map elements (oranges, pop-ups), game rules.
Requests: intuitive icons, refresh button clarity, initial guidance.
Difficulty: distinguishing task types (shared, one-time, recurring).
Desire: inclusive character customization, clarity on inheritance/spouse roles, distinct base characters.
An example of one participant’s SUS responses.
Discount Evaluation SUS Scores
Participant 1’s coded evaluation
Discount Evaluation Affinity Map
Participant 2’s coded evaluation
Task Completion Rate
[Evaluation]
High-Fidelity Prototype
Design System
Accessibility: Clear typography, high contrast, and intuitive navigation ensure inclusivity.
Personalization: Features adapt to individual preferences for better engagement.
Minimalism: Clean, focused design improves usability and comprehension.
Microinteractions: Subtle animations and feedback enhance interactivity and delight.
[Moodboard]
[User Flow]
[Design]
Low-Fidelity Prototype
[Ideation]
As a group, we utilized 2 ideation techniques ———>
Crazy 8s
Brain Dump
One of our top ideas is
Task Adventure!
which is a game application that allows student-parents to input their tasks (either recurring or one-time) and track their task progress in a map.
Description
Throughout the day, the app challenges users to complete recurring or one-time tasks, earning rewards for avatar customization. It helps student-parents prioritize tasks, boost productivity, ensure consistency, foster family engagement, and support gender inclusivity through gamified interactions.
The system should assist student-parents in prioritizing and categorizing their tasks.
The system helps student-parents optimize productivity for more quality time at home.
The system should elicit joy in student-parents as they complete tasks.
[Design Requirement]
The system should actively involving the student-parent.
1
4
2
3
The system fosters emotional and practical support from family, peers, and experts.
5
The system should aid student-parents in improving their wellness.
6
The system enables student-parents to visualize tasks physically and digitally.
7
The system respects gender identity, inclusive of all student-parents.
8
The system offers speech-to-text for student-parents facing inconvenience.
9
HTA 1: Completing a Morning Routine
HTA 2: Completing an Evening Routine
Student-parents juggle most responsibilities in the morning and evening, with midday spent on campus. Understanding these peak activity periods helps identify key time management challenges and design better support solutions.
[Hierarchical Task Analysis]
They often feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities and struggle to maintain consistent task organization.
Struggle with time management and prioritization.
Student-parents frequently seek peer networks, mentors, and expert advice to navigate their academic and family obligations more effectively.
Support systems are essential for managing responsibilities.
💟 ⚖️
Childcare demands limit multitasking and productivity.
While student-parents seek efficiency, their physical engagement in childcare prevents them from managing other tasks simultaneously, leading to productivity challenges.
🤱🏻 📝
Existing scheduling tools lack seamless coordination.
Many rely on both physical and digital calendars but struggle to synchronize them effectively, often preferring visual tools to stay organized.
🕓 🧩
⏳ 🗓
⏳ 🗓
Our research findings, based on a survey, secondary research (including a literature review and observations), and semi-structured interviews,
We generated 4 research findings.
[Research Findings]
[Personas]
Affinity Mapping
[Research Synthesis]
We conducted semi-structured interviews with two student-parents (one mother, one father, 45 min each) and one subject matter expert (90 min) to explore their challenges and support systems.
Data Analysis:
Interview transcripts were coded in Excel by two researchers for inter-rater reliability, followed by an affinity mapping session to identify recurring themes.
[Semi-structured Interview]
👩🏻🎓👨👩👦 16 Student-parents
Survey
[Research methods]
[Research methods]
📝🧑🏻💻 3 Semi-structure
User Interview
[Survey]
We surveyed 16 student-parents to assess stressors, support systems, and recruit participants, analyzing data with Qualtrics Analytics.
Most student parents are male, working part-time, and undergraduates. Over 60% are married, while many rely on family for childcare support.
⭐️The survey revealed that the most significant stressor experienced by student-parents is Time Management.
[Understanding the Challenges Faced by Student Parents]
Our extensive literature survey and analysis of existing and legacy systems reveal key challenges faced by student parents, including financial strain, childcare access, academic stress, transportation, social isolation, and time management.
we developed an empathy map to capture their experiences and needs.
[The problem]
How can we create a solution that helps student parents effectively manage their time, balance academics and parenting, and build sustainable study routines in a supportive and engaging environment?
About this project
This project focuses on addressing the unique challenges faced by student parents who strive to balance their academic and parenting responsibilities.Task Adventure is a gamified app that helps student parents balance academics and parenting by turning tasks into engaging challenges, fostering effective routines, and reducing the stress of multitasking.
Roles and responsibilies
Duration
Project type
12 weeks
User research, leading user interviews, engaging in ideation sessions, creating storyboards, and developing wireframes
User Experience Design
UI/UX
Focus Forest
[Who are the stakeholders]
⭐️Key Stakeholders
Children: There's a strong link between parents' mental health and children's well-being.
Classmates: Peers provide essential academic and social support. Classmates who are also parents can offer a deeper sense of belonging. Improved practices can strengthen these connections.
Other Caregivers: Spouses, babysitters, and others sharing childcare duties with student-parents are directly impacted.
Final Design