Family Search Children's App
The designers at Family Search came to my class to propose us the challenge of creating a way to involve children into family history work and genealogy. So, my group of 10-11 and I began by throwing out ideas onto our Figma Jam collaborative board: how it would look like, the experience and functionality, tasks/rewards, parental controls, and the expectations we want from it. As we ideated, we decided to create a children's app and with that, divide our group into three more to conquer each part of the app: The Treehouse, Memory Book/Tasks and Social Media.
The Division
After we divided into these three sections of the group, my small group and I worked not the Social part of the application which involved everything that has to do with connecting and talking with family members, sharing special moments, memories and pictures. Our research and ideation included a lot of thought with the safety and fun experience for our main audience: children under edge of 8 and then their parents/guardians and family members.
Social Media
We developed a style guide, a media feed where you can see what you and other family members post and share, direct message, and even a trivia game you can connect and play with your family!
Treehouse
The Treehouse captivates the attention of the kids by giving them the chance to work on building their "family treehouse" as an adult would build their family tree in Family Search. They can work from the tasks to build and decorate their treehouse and avatar. The tasks include things such as posting their first picture, sharing a memory's writing in their memory book, etc. They will then earn points and rewards for their treehouse.
Memory Book
The Memory Book is all about recording thoughts, feelings and special moments we hope the kids will experience. It works a "Digital scrapbook" they can fill in and decorate with stickers, pictures, words, and other prints and patterns.
Final Prototype
Our final and functional prototype includes a complete walkthrough of the entire app from start to finish. Our social media part walks you through a posting of a special moment for a child: their baptism. Then the feature to send that to a family member and waiting. for parent approval. Lastly, you have the option of enjoying a fun trivia question/game with your family members where you can also see the rankings of who's winning!
