Role: Senior Designer
Note: This is just some of my work i have done at amplify.
UX Research Work
UI / UX Design Best Practices for kids
What are some of the best UI / UX elements that kids respond to well?
Users expect consistency
Children and adults both expect design patterns to be consistent. Contrary to popular belief, kids don’t like it when everything on their screen does something ‘cool.’
According to Gelman, both kids and adults get annoyed by design elements that seem random and unnecessary. Children like items on a screen to do cool stuff as long as there’s a method to the proverbial madness.
Related: Mobile UX and user expectations
Elements that get in the way or animate spontaneously or don’t contribute to the overall goal can frustrate kids and adults alike, and cause them to abandon a game or an app entirely,” Gelman says. “In addition, if everything on the screen moves, is brightly colored, or makes noise on the same level, kids and adults become confused about what is interactive and what isn’t, and this makes it very hard for them to use the site or app. A common design principle for adults is to keep interactions and feedback consistent so that users will be able to learn how use the site or app quickly. The same is true for kids.
Breaking down age groups
As with any UX consideration, you need to understand who your users are before diving into any design or research. It’s tempting to lump all children as anyone under the age of 12; after all, isn’t that the cut off to get on those “kiddie rides” at theme parks?
Usability for adults is not as dependent on age differences as it is for children, which means it’s necessary to break down the category of “children” into smaller age segments. The four years that separate a 34- and 38-year-old are not as significant to the cognitive, physical or social development as the four years that separate, for example, a 4- and 8-year-old. A 4-year-old’s basic reading level and motor skills will necessitate a different design from their older, more advanced, 8-year-old sibling. That’s why it’s paramount to identify what age group you will be dealing with.
UX specialists recommend segmenting children into at least three distinct age groups: ages 3-5; ages 6-8; and ages 9-12. Each age group has specific traits that need to be addressed in the design.
Ages 3-5
The youngest age group will have less-developed motor skills to manipulate a mouse or use gestures and will rely on larger photos and immediate visual and audio feedback of their selection. Including larger click targets will prevent users of this age group from accidentally tapping something they didn’t mean to.
The Thomas the Tank Engine site navigation below not only uses big, colorful pictures with text, but also includes an animation as well as an audio recording that reads the navigation item aloud. For older children, this may be overkill, but for the youngest age group, it provides the best feedback to convey what that menu item means.
Ages 6-8
Older age groups will be able to read, but it’s still important to adjust the vocabulary to reflect their level of education.
A study with children ages 6-8 found that certain terms, such as “sign-in” and “sign-up” are understandable, but “submit” and “username” caused confusion. “Submit” could be replaced by “start” or “go,” while “username” could be replaced by “nickname” to match the language of a 6-year-old. Just as with any other niche group of users, appropriately matching your site or app’s lingo (as well as reading level) will help to win them over.
Ages 9-12
By the time children reach this age group, they are most likely already veteran technology users. They’ll be more comfortable scrolling through pages, selecting smaller touch targets, and understanding call-to-action items than their younger counterparts.
Advanced levels of reading means that this age group is able to scan through content as well. Although they’ll be able to read content, they will still have a harder time than adults differentiating between promotions or ads and real content.
Helping test participants feel comfortable and confident
Creating rapport and tailoring your language to match the young tester’s will help to break through some of the shyness children may feel when speaking to an adult.
In some cases, conducting research in “friendship pairs” can encourage participants to come out of their shell by speaking to their friends about their experience using a site or app, instead of a stranger. Recruiting young users as pairs of friends is especially useful when testing out a game, letting them feed off of each other’s reactions like a real life situation.
Younger participants will often give one-word responses to questions or become nervous when there are probing questions. When they didn’t think they had responded in the “right” way, they would backtrack and change their answers. To coax kids to elaborate on their thoughts, we’ve found it helpful to word questions or describe scenarios in the context of what they or their friends would do in a situation. This helped to take the pressure off of the participant and let them speak with more ease.
Identifying which research method is best for each age segment will help you gain the insights you need to improve your product.
Other UX Research
Mini-game exploration
This is a mini-game exploration i put together for a new game for grades 1-3. The goal was to create a game that is more engaging. The games where created with mobile in mind, mainly using the ipad standard size of 1024 x 574.
Meta Game Curioso illustrations
Illustrations for mini game "Whats the big idea"
with logos for scenes.
Micro-comprehension showing a mental model forming.