ACTIVE KIDS WEBSITE
I helped The Active Network improve the children's activity registration process in their existing ActiveNet software, as well as launch ActiveKids.com.
Role | User Research & Concept Development, Client | The Active Network
heuristic EVALUATION
In order to gain an understanding of the existing product and process, I conducted a heuristic evaluation of existing software. A major part of this consisted of auditing the activity registration checkout workflow. I combed through the workflow, noting which interactions violated Nielsen's Heuristics. I then narrowed down my findings to a set of major pain points and proposed a new workflow that would address said pain points.
EXPERIENCE MAPPING
I gained a greater understanding of the activity registration process, including aspects that were not addressed by the current interface, by interviewing parents and community center staff. I then mapped out the experience of signing a child up for an activity at a community center, using the currently available software. I paid particular attention to the channels that were currently being used that could be replaced by Active Software.
AFFINITY MAPPING
Once we had some context for our product, designers, user researchers, members of the product team, and potential users brainstormed a vision. We used a technique called affinity mapping, which consists of generating ideas and then organizing them by natural groupings.
Three main concepts arose from our affinity map:
- Usability & Convenience
- Children's Safety & Security
- "Living Pages" (Activity details pages that are easily customizable and change as activity occurs)
WIREFRAMES
After completing user research, I applied what I learned to an updated design. The wireframes below address prevailing usability issues.
Improvements to the experience of searching for and registering for an activity include:
- Parents can create a profile for each child, then use profile as search criteria to find appropriate activities
- Multiple sessions of same activity are clustered together in search results
- Parents can add their child to a wish list before registration opens
- Ticker shows countdown to event and updates when event is live
- Parents can create additional profiles to assure child will be able to attend activity with a sibling or friend
- Parents can register more than one child at a time
- Parents can add child to wait list when activity is full
- Social proof is mindful of children's safety
- User submitted pictures are not allowed for children's events
I then handed off materials to the Dallas, Texas Active UX team for completion.