Role
User Experience
& User Interface Design
Client
A & M Childcare
Time Frame
1 month
Location
London
Website
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The Brief
A & M Childcare are a family owned, local childminders ran by three women, Marcia, Alison and assistant Andrea. I approached the business and offered to do a case study.
In the client interview I identified three main areas that could improve the business.
1
Update logo. Original logo was put together in 2013 using clip art.
2
Create content. Website content will need to be created from scratch including taking photos, creating illustrations and wording for each section.
Owners must be able to self manage content once website complete, so website should be non-coding friendly, ideally with an integrated web building system.
3
Create a responsive website. Their only digital presence is on the local authority’s website and childcare.co.uk. The information on these platforms can be limited as much of it is standardised.
Having no personal website their business relies almost entirely on word of mouth and returning customers.
Client Aims
1
Showcase their values, expertise and approachability.
2
Provide user with additional information and unique benefits of choosing them as their childminder, thus providing a professional advantage over competitors.
3
Maximise number of children in their care ensuring no long gaps in their calendar.
Conditions of Client:
• Design should not be landing page layout
• Must include combination of colours red, gold and green (inspired by their heritage)
Overall, in 2018, 75% of families in England with children aged 0 to 14 had used some form of childcare during their most recent term-time week. This equated to 4.2 million families or 6.0 million children.
Children and Early Years survey of parents in England 2018 by the Department of Education (UK)
Customer Interviews
According to the Department of Education, more families in the UK use a childcare setting than don't. It was important on behalf of my client to delve into why parents choose one childcare setting over another.
Remote Interviews
Aim:
- Better understand what customers are looking for in a childcare settings
- Find out what contributed most to their final decision.
Parmeters:
- 4-6 Participants
- Must have experience in choosing a childcare setting
Following the interviews I created a persona based on the parents I spoke with to help focus my project.
I found that the top topics that concerned parents were usually the following:
DESIGN SOLUTIONS
Following the insight and interviews with parents I began working on the design solutions:
1
Update logo.
The original logo had children playing with building blocks in its design which the client wanted to keep as a symbol of unity and working together. They felt the children's faces needed to be updated.
I also changed the colours to suit their theme of red, yellow and green.
2
Create Content
A&M Childcare are a private family owned business, as such it was important that their website have a feeling of warmth and personal touch permeate throughout the website.
I therefore created specially designed icons to 'subconsciously' support this feeling throughout the site.
Bespoke illustrations for curriculum
As the website was starting from scratch, the company did not have photos to depict the curriculum and free source photos for nurseries and childminders were at times impersonal. I therefore created these illustrations for the business which can be replaced in the future with real photos of interactions.
(Click on the image to bring it to the front. Be a kid, have a play!)
3
Create Responsive website
An early decision was made to use Squarespace to build the website answering the deliverables of a responsive, easy to use site that the client can self manage. Squarespace is known for being:
- Responsive (this feature is automated as you build the website)
- Extremely non-coder friendly (has an inbuilt drag and drop approach to website building)
The website
All of the ideas above where put together into a 1st draft of a website. The business has been successful with word of mouth however this site was created with my persona in mind Shanice and Noah. I imagine Shanice being told about A&M Childcare from a friend and going on to the site to find out out more, and being re-assured that this childcare setting is professional, caring and welcoming with the view of encouraging her to contact them and find out about visiting the space with Noah.
Or......Click this button to visit the prototype website yourself
Style Guide
The guide was created to present a unified design to parents/users. The design choices were made in response to the main concerns of the parents which were identified in my research:
Test and Prototype
I interviewed 3 participants after the first draft of the website was complete to get a quick reaction to ensure it was on the right track and provided a positive response and experience for the Users.
Summary and Next Steps
As the sites main purpose was to provide key additional information and a keen sense of the space, I believe it is a step in the right direction in terms of setting good expectations with parents for this business.
I also received the following positive feedback from my clients:
" We are all really happy with this initial draft of the website.
The colours, font and layout make it very easy on the eye and we find it very easy to navigate to each area of information. There is a good ratio of text to images and logos. We have viewed the website on both our phones and on a laptop and found both user-friendly. "
The Next steps would be to assist the client with the changes to the site along with the anomalies pointed out by the participants in the prototype test. Following this (and with more time) I would test the website again with existing clients to see if they find it easy to use, if this is reflective of their experience with A&M childcare and if they are aware of the full services that A&M provide.
I really enjoyed creating the illustrations for this project and the questions for testing. I feel that I learned so much and really enjoyed the interaction with the client. I believe I will know what I should be looking for in the future should I need childcare.