AOL Labs conducted research and analysis on its search query data to identify new business opportunities. We identified an opportunity to build an experience for families based on the following data points:
- Families are activity-dense social networks and their problems have not been directly addressed.
- To date, family coordination, location and communication has been fragmented across multiple devices and apps.
- Current players (LIFE 360, COZI,…) leave open opportunity to nail the heart of the matter: Coordination
- Market is ripe for a multi-functional utility that seamlessly addresses real user needs: Coordination, Location and Communication
- Potential business opportunity equates to $40MM+
Platforms: iOS and Android
Role: Product UX and Design
Tools and Processes:
- Competitive Analysis
- Analytics Review
- User Interviews
- Iterative Prototyping
- Synthesis
SKETCHING to PROTOTYPE
Multiple sketching and whiteboard sessions combined with iterative prototyping and user interviews allowed us to look at family coordination from the following multiple points of views:
- Group geographic coordination
- Group calendaring
- Group chat
The video above is a concept animation for gesture scheduling.
The video below is a product overview of the final user prototype.
FAMILY COORDINATION: FINDINGS
We leveraged AOL's parents group to talk with moms, dads, and teens about family coordination. Here's what we found out:
- In 9 out of 10 families, a single coordinator is responsible for keeping everyone where and when they are supposed to be.
- For 8 out of 10 families, this coordinator is mom.
- Few families have a found a digital solution to aid with this coordination. The majority of families store all important information required for coordination in one place (i.e. on the fridge, or a cork board in the kitchen or office.)
- With the exception of the coordinator, nobody pays attention to the organization of this information. This can be frustrating for the coordinator.
- When the family coordinator is not available (out of town on business travel, on vacation, etc.), chaos ensues.
final dashboard
Ultimately, the users preferred a light weight dashboard interface that allowed them to quickly see each family members daily calendar and easily navigate calendar, chat, and location in a consistent manner.
