✺ EMi App (Tentative name)
Emotional Wellness Companion for
Young Learners
Assessment for Good (AFG) is a research and development program that creates asset-based formative assessment tools, known as EMi, for young learners.
Client
AFG (Assessment for Good)
Duration
June - Nov 2023
Tools
Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator,
Figjam, Miro
Responsibility
UX research →
Engineering handoff
My Role
Team
1x Senior product designer (Me)
1x Creative director
1x Product designer
1x Project manager
2x Illustrators
Learners enjoyed the app's friendly look and fun features, making emotional learning enjoyable.
Created a flexible design system and documentation to support future feature additions and updates.
Overview
Young learners use EMi as a wellness companion to help them understanding, tracking, and mastering their emotions.
This gamified self-monitoring tool empowers learners to develop emotional intelligence, leading to improved learning experiences and more informed decision-making by the adults in their lives.
Challenge
Existing assessment products are often extractive, focusing solely on gathering data to share with adults and peers. They do not provide a safe space for young learners to express how they actually feel.
EMI seeks to empower learners by providing control over their experience information and a safe space to express their feelings. This aids adults and peers in understanding them, fostering opportunities for success.
Goal
How might we create an engaging emotional assessment tool that helps young learners understand their growth and explore their environments safely?
More specifically:
✹ Develop Engaging Assessments
✹ Promote Emotional Awareness and Growth
✹ Encourage Continuous Engagement
✹ Foster Supportive Environments
✹ Ensure Accessibility and Inclusivity
Solution preview
Kivibe Check
A Simple Method to Understand Emotions
Homepage World Building
Stay engaged with Interactive World Building
Domain Assessment
Gain a Deeper Understanding of Emotions in Fun Ways
Progress Dashboard
Understand the Progress in Depth
UX Research and Findings
Discovering how to empower young learners to understand their emotions
As a team, we developed our UX research plan. This included conducting a competitive audit and a workshop to gather user insights from the research team, as well as creating user journeys, flows, and wireframes.
Competitive Audit
Analyzing the market
We conducted a competitive audit of wellness and emotional tracker apps to familiarize ourselves with the market. We identified multiple ways in which these competitors provide a better user experience than EMi:
Key Insight from competitive review:
✹ Interactive tutorials for confidence-building
✹ Animated transitions for rewarding navigation
✹ Evolving visuals to keep the app engaging
Target Users and Personas
Understanding who are we designing for
Although we didn't speak directly with users, we analyzed their information. We held a workshop with the client and research team to identify patterns, pain points, and ways to streamline user flows.
We create personas & empathy mapping based on the information from the workshop and research.
Key Takeaways
Learners
✹ Desire short assessments for understanding emotions without overwhelm.
✹ Seek fun activities for managing emotions in various situations.
Educators/Caregivers
✹ Need a dashboard for quick summaries of students' emotional well-being to identify those requiring extra support.
Ideation to Conception
Ways to Enhance the Fun in Emotion Check-ins
We developed five alternative concepts. We continually refined the story and ideas to resonate most with users in this age group. The 'World building' idea emerged as the winner.
Defining the feature set
Ensuring a Comprehensive Feature Set
✹ Core Features for Learners:
🙂 Tracking Emotions and Self-monitoring
📝 Guided Assessments
⚙️ Emotional Toolkit Activities
🕹️ Gamification Theme
✹Core Features for Educators and Parents:
📊 Intuitive Data Visualization
🗒️ Actionable Reporting
📢 Communication Channel
User flow
Collaboratively optimized core assessment flow
Together with the team, we conducted a workshop to develop a high-level user flow. We focus on creating a seamless flow from entering the platform, performing the assessment, to receiving feedback.
Gamification Design and Reward System
Engaging Learners Through Gamification and Rewards
We devoted time to planning the game loop and strategy to maintain a logical in-game currency economy. Here are some design artifacts related to the game loop and reward system.
Accessibility
Inclusive Design for All Learners
We conducted workshops to identify the required accessibility features. Below is the EMi assistant, which young learners can use to activate these features as needed.
Design Artifacts
Design Artifacts: Design System, Documentation, and Handoff to the Development Team
One of our primary focus is the design system. As a three-person design team, our responsibility is to maintain this system in a way that allows other team members to use it with ease. This also ensures a smooth and timely handoff to developers.
Learnings
Empathetic Design
One of the most important lessons was understanding the need to create a safe and supportive environment for young learners to express their feelings. We focused on integrating features that prioritize emotional safety and foster a sense of understanding. This meant designing with empathy, ensuring that every interaction felt nurturing and supportive.
Iterative Design and Flexibility
We learned the value of embracing an iterative design approach, where we continually refined our designs based on real user feedback. This flexibility allowed us to adapt and evolve the product to better meet the needs of our users. By staying responsive to insights and being willing to make changes, we ensured that the final product was both effective and engaging.
Gamification and Engagement Strategies
We discovered the power of gamification to boost engagement and make learning fun. By designing a balanced reward system, we motivated continuous interaction and created a positive user experience. Gamification elements helped keep young learners interested and encouraged them to keep exploring and learning.
