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Changed the compass icon to a list icon to better inform users what action they were taking
Changed the nomenclature on the video menus to better explain what each action would do
Included the ability to manage YouTube Kids Parental Controls through the parents account menu
Throughout our wireframe process, we began to ideate further and come up with new ideas. The saying is, "it takes a village/community to raise a child." Therefore, we landed on the idea of taking the already existing community pages and using it to our advantage. By using this YouTube feature, we created a new way for parents to interact with each other. A page that allows parents to skim through pre-approved content that other parents share, in an effort to make monitoring easier.
To tie in with this, we envisioned YouTube implementing an algorithm similar to the way Spotify recommends new music. Therefore, encouraging prolonged use of the application due to specific recommendations based on watch patterns. Ultimately, addressing the problems our users voiced; disinteresting content.
It's Coming Together
As a team we began sketching different versions of the app to begin getting our ideas on paper. During this process, I suggested the idea of allowing parents to specifically send content to their children through YouTube's standard platform. Once the video is sent, it would be viewable on their child account through YouTube Kids. The team favored this idea as it would solve the two main user pain points; disinteresting content and parental supervision.
Through competitive analysis, we took inspiration from Netflix and considered having multiple profiles under one "master account." This would allow the creation of multiple YouTube Kids accounts that each parent could access and monitor.
Therefore, this created a seamless communication between parents/children and the content they're consuming.
Let's Sketch!
We began to look at the most popular children streaming services to gain further insights. We browsed through multiple apps such as, PBS Kids, Netflix, Apple TV and Disney+. We found that their UI was very simple and easy for children to navigate. As for the content provided, we quickly found that their content was regulated and scored based on official TV network guidelines. While YouTube's platforms are mainly filled with user produced content.
We also dove into the different ways these platforms aid parents in blocking and monitoring content. While also searching how regular social media companies handle the blocking of unwanted content for their users. Lastly, we researched the ways Spotify pushes new music out to users with their algorithm. This allowed us to take inspiration from them and apply it to our design processes.
How Are They Doing It?
Give parents better control over the content their child consumes?
Help ease the stress parents feel when monitoring content their child consumes?
Decrease the amount of inappropriate content present on the platform?
Make a wider variety of parent-approved content accessible on YouTube Kids?
How Might We?
8 Parent Interviews
2 Children Interviews
Our team began this process by conducting diverse research with parents and children who have experience using streaming platforms as a whole. One of the main goals of these interviews was to begin to understand how parents monitor their children's content consumption. While also gaining further insights on the overall experience users have while navigating YouTube Kids, and other streaming platforms. Therefore, we gathered 10 users to begin to understand what's working for them and what's not. This data was synthesized by use of affinity mapping through Miro, which led to the creation of 2 solid personas and 1 proto-persona. A busy mother, Gemma. A new dad, Eric. As well as Gemma's first grade son, Marco.
First Things First, Research
The data we collected from users had shown an overwhelming dissatisfaction with the YouTube Kids platform as a whole. Parents and children alike did not favor the content that YouTube was implementing on their stand alone application. Both parties felt the content lacked meaningful educational value and at times was just outright uninteresting to watch. Parents shared that they try their hardest to monitor the content their children consume, but can only do so much. They expressed that it's difficult to make safety a priority when YouTube's algorithm continuously pushes out worrisome content. Majority of the parents we spoke to recollected times in which they found the content to "not be kid friendly." While the children felt that they had seen everything that there was to see on the platform and became stagnant. Resulting in an increase of distrust between YouTube and its most venerable users. Therefore, this resulted in some of the users discontinuing use of the streaming platform and switching to competitor platforms. So, now that we've identified specific user pain points. Let's introduce you to our 3 user personas drafted from our research findings.
The Results Are In!
Towards the end of our design process we discussed wanting to make this new addition feel familiar. We decided to keep the same design patterns (excluding color and typography) throughout the app. We also added a new button to inform users of the merge between the two apps. Any other additions were met with detail to inform users on where they'd be navigating to next. Lastly, let's address the orange. We made the decision to implement orange as the main brand color for YouTube Kids based on color theory. While YouTube's staple is red, we also understand that red can signify different responses across cultures. Therefore, an orange hue was chosen, which is reds neighbor on the color wheel.
I Present The New YouTube Kids
To wrap up our design sprint we conducted 4 usability tests. Our expectations going into the tests were high. We assumed (our mistake) that users would succeed in our flows due to the design's similarity. To our surprise, that was not the case. Our users were presenting miss-clicks due to designs we didn't change. Designs that we transferred over from YouTube's standard design. Therefore, we made changes to their compass icon, and their overall nomenclature.
So, Does It Work?
While I would use this section for next steps, our ability for next steps is stunted. Two days before our deadline, our team all received e-mails from YouTube explaining an overhaul for their YouTube Kids platform. We were stunned as we continued to read through the e-mail, because their new design mirrored ours for the most part. They incorporated a toggle feature between profiles, allowed for cross sharing between both platforms to increase available content, and gave separate access for parental controls. This e-mail we all received in hindsight was the best thing that could've happened. It solidified our ideas and design decisions while confirming we made the right choice. I would also like to readdress that my team and I are not affiliated with YouTube in any way. This was just an insane, but perfectly timed coincidence.
Talk About A Confidence Boost!
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