Sunny schedule
Research
Based on the interview, two potential tracks for the design were found – a track focused on mother-daughter bonding and spending time together, and another one focused on time management. We did not have a preference from the participant’s side yet, so both fields were researched. The goal was to get a better understanding of both areas to then ideate on them and later get the participant’s opinion during the first co-design session. More information about the interview can be found in the co-design section.
Time management
With this research, the goal was getting a better understanding of how chore division and their completion works in a household of two adults with a child/children.
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Key insights:
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Value of chores: Women value completion of tasks for the fact that it is an act of caring for others (Mederer, H. J., 1993)
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Division of tasks: Housework can be divided in three categories – caring for the home, for the household members and for the financial matters (Mederer, H. J., 1993)
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Child's participation in household tasks: Child engagement in self- and house-care chores can improve executive functioning (Tepper, D. L., Howell, T. J., Bennett, P. C., May 2022)
Mother-daughter bond
The goal of this research was to find key elements of healthy and development-supporting actives shared between children and their parents.
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Key insights:
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Improving development: Time spent together can improve the child’s development of important traits, such as confidence, competence, honesty, generocity, connecting to others or ability to master the environment (Awopetu, A. V., 2024)
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Emotional significance Child-driven play allows for more creativity, decompression and reflection (Awopetu, A. V., 2024)
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Bonding activities: Listening, caring, guiding and quality time together are great tools for parents to guide their children towards a happy, successful future (Awopetu, A. V., 2024)
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Socialising: Around 30-36 months old, children tend to move towards cooperative play (Awopetu, A. V., 2024)
These research findings became guidelines for initial ideation. Based on the acquired information, it was easier to come uo with suitable ideas.
In a session dedicated to feedback on the progress that had been made, a presentation was given in which all of the beforementioned steps (literature research and the interview) and their results were presented to other groups. You can find more detailed summary of the feedback here.
Most of the received feedback advised narrowing the research to only one field and fully focusing on it. As that was an important design decision, a decision was made to wait for a next meeting with the case owner to get her input on it. This turned out to be a good choice, as our own judgement was far from the participant's opinion.
Based on the case owner’s feedback, the time management track was chosen. Surprisingly, it did not mean helping with management of the participant’s tasks. For the participant, it was important to find a way to communicate to her daughter her own daily routine. Thus, more literature research was needed.
Routine communication
The goal of the new research was to explore design options to help a three-year-old and her mother with visualizing her daughter's daily routine and tasks. By research, the study aims to find out what approaches are most effective. And what the influence of visual tools is on how young children understand their tasks.​
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Key insights:
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Importance of engagement: Findings show that hands-on play and interactive tasks help children develop essential skills.
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Routine visualization: Some studies discuss visual schedules, but most focus on children with disabilities rather than three-year olds in general.
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The role of parents: Research suggests that parental support is crucial in helping children establish routines, but there are few design solutions aimed at making this process easier.
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Cognitive improvement: Research provides evidence on how structured routines improve engagement, independence, and participation in daily tasks.
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In the research a gap was found in studies on how visual tools can support young children in understanding their daily routines. While interactive and engaging designs can help toddlers become more independent, more research is needed to develop effective visual solutions. Future product designs should focus on making daily routines easier to understand through visual factors, ensuring that young children can follow tasks independently.
Ideation
With the different design directions in mind, different ideas were generated on what a product that goes along with certain design directions could eventually look like. The following ideation process would be used in the co-design session, for our case owner to gain a better understanding of what directions we could go in, and what that entails.
These concepts can be seen on the documents that were used in the first co-design session.
Design Challenge
How can we design an object that helps the case-owner her daughter understand her daily routine and know when the tasks are finished through analogue interactions.
List of Requirements
To proceed towards more detailed and thought-through designs, more guidelines and instructions were necessary. Based on the interview, first co-design meeting and literature research, an initial list of requirements was generated. The requirements were sorted by category and numbered. After that, each requirement was graded using the MoSCoW method and a weighing scale. This initial list of requirements was used to generate the six concepts shown further.
This grading was based only on the team's opinions, so checking with the participant was needed. this was done during the second co-design meeting, where the whole of the list of requirements was evaluated. The participant added some requirements, as well as graded the requirements on her own, which resulted in the final list of requirements.
Concepts
With the insights gained from the first co-design session, concepts could now be created for the user to evaluate. For in-depth information, click on the images.
Circular board
Wooden artwork
Task board
Task lights
Music board
Board game
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Concept choice
Internal decision
Having developed six different concepts, and with the second co-design session on the way, the decision was made to make a preliminary selection on which concept would best fit the requirements that had been set as followed from the first co-design session. Doing this would make it possible to have a better preparation for the upcoming co-design session. Thus, concept grading was conducted, where everyone graded each concept for each requirement. A weighed sum for each concept was then calculated and compared with others. Based on the preliminary grading, the winning concepts were the wooden artwork, task lights and music board.
Co-design session
In the second co-design session, it became clear that the final concept should combine the best of the selection of concepts that was made. Additionally, in terms of styling, it should connect with the image collage that was composed in this session.
Concept finalization
Ideation
As the case owner had indicated, the final design should combine ‘the best of all worlds’. She indicated a preference for the circular board, although she saw flaws with it. Mainly, she was not sure that the child would be able to find order in the circular board. As she praised compactness in other concepts, this would have to be something that the final design attempts to incorporate as well. To discover ideas that embody the requirements that had been set, a final ideation meeting was held, in which several ideas were drawn.
In the ideation meeting, an idea arose in which the principle of the circular board was kept, except now, the solid metal board was changed into a mat, using Velcro instead of magnetism. This would allow the mat to be shrunk in size, as it could easily be transformed into a sack. This idea created the basis of the final product:
The final design is a Velcro mat featuring interchangeable velcro sections that symbolize the tasks that should be performed by the child. Depending on the task, tasks can be completed by sticking small Velcro parts that fit with the corresponding section. This is to help teach the child what steps each task requires. Once the child has correctly matched all the velcro parts to the tasks, they can then move on to performing the tasks. To help the child understand where they are in the routine, paw imprints, along with a cat that has to step on those, give the child a sense of direction in which tasks should be performed. Since the tasks are removable, the child can then take that individual task with them to help remind them of the steps. Once a task is complete, the guardian can place a check mark on it. These checkmarks, as well as unused tasks, are kept in a separate bag that the guardian holds.
Whenever the mat has to be carried around, ropes can be pulled to create a sack, allowing the child to take all of their tasks and Velcro parts with them. This makes for a product that is portable and small in size.
Detailing
With the final design reached, the next step was the detailing. In the second co-design session, the case owner mentioned the need for several activities that make up the basis of the child’s routine. Some categories, such as eating, require additional pieces (e.g. bread, egg, banana) that should be stuck on that section. This led to the following elements:
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Waking up
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Going to sleep
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Night sack instead of a blanket
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Dressing up
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Different clothes
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Eating
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Three parts of the meal
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Taking a bath
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Undressing
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Taking a bath
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Brushing teeth
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Take the brush
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Put toothpaste on
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Brush
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Reading
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Playing
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Dancing
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Walking
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Daycare time
Materials
As the case owner had mentioned in the first co-design session, the to-be-developed product should feature plastics as little as possible. Furthermore, because of the need of a small, portable design, the original idea of a solid magnetic board was abandoned, because it would be inconvenient to carry around and because making it smaller would lead to very small elements. In the ideation phase, the idea of using felt and Velcro was then raised. A circular ‘mat’ made of felt would allow Velcro pieces to be stuck on it, and it could be made smaller by simply pulling a rope; essentially turning it into a sack that could be carried around.
Colouring
In the second co-design session, a selection of images was made by the case owner that represented their preferred style best. From this followed that colours should not be too vibrant, but the case owner also noted that they did not particularly like beige, and monotone colouring. Following this, playful colors (pink, purple, blue) were chosen that were slightly muted, preventing the color selection from being too ‘screaming’.
On a chalkboard, an approximation of the size of a 3-year old’s hand was drawn. This way, it was possible to select an appropriate size for the Velcro elements. As followed from the co-design phase, the mat should be able to have 10 different activities on there simultaneously. Because the mat was circular, and the size of the Velcro elements was now known, it was calculated that a suitable size for the mat would be 50cm in diameter, taking into account some space that is needed for the rope, which is used for pulling the sack together.
Storyboard
Prototyping
As all of the required materials were available, and otherwise easily obtainable in the store, a concept could be made that resembles the real product to a very high degree. In that sense, the goal was to create a high-fidelity prototype. In two prototyping sessions, the mat, with all of the required sections and Velcro elements were cut and put together. On the spot, icons were made that were needed to depict the different sections and velcro elements. These were then glued on top of the disks. For an indication of the direction of movement, cat paw prints were painter around the mat.
Usability testing
Having developed the prototype, the next step was taken to test it with a potential user. For this, a child was chosen that was about the same age as the case owner's child. This would give results that are accurate to base future design recommendations on. As at this point, the final meeting with the case owner had not yet taken place. This usability test was conducted to gain preliminary insights on things that could be improved and used in the final co-design session.
Test setup
For the test, the product was introduced as a game to keep the child focused. They were first asked to match all the lose velcro parts to the tasks. This was done to test whether the iconography used had the correct associations.Next, the child was asked to go through the steps of the routine and name each task. This was done to see if the tasks and their steps were properly communicated.
Insights
From the usability test, several things stood out:
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The design of the product draws attention of the user
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Children understand the functionality of velcro
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Small velcro parts can be held and placed comfortably
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Velcro parts can fall off and cause confusion when falling on different sections on the prototype.
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Most category icons are intuitive to understand, although with some, except for a few:​
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Dancing
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Going to daycare​
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Plates (for eating)
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Some icons on the small velcro parts are unclear:
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Pasta​
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Salad
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Checkmarks
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Conclusions
The usability test proved useful in determining what goes well when using the product, but also specific problems can occur. In terms of ergonomics, velcro parts are sized well, and can be placed accurately by the child. The main complications lie in the field of iconography. To solve this, more research could be done to find out which icons speak to children in such a way that they are recognizable.
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