Orangutan
Orangutan
An app for parents who don’t want to go bananas
BACKGROUND
The Problem
Raising a human being is stressful. If you have a child with special needs, parenting is really stressful.
Parents of special needs children feel angry, disappointed, and anxious about their kids needs. They need to process their emotions but feel stuck.
Feelings are a normal part of the human experience, but chronic anxiety, anger, and depression negatively impact parents and their children. Unprocessed emotions can led to a diminished parent child relationship, and poor long term outcomes for their children.
Fear + Anxiety
Parents worry about their kids future.
EMOTIONS
Parenting and Burnout
Parenting is emotional. Caregivers of children with special needs experience additional emotional weight, often earlier than parents of typically developing children. Self care is essential to keep them going.
Guilt
Their child/life isn’t what they imagined.
Grief
Parents feel inadequate.
Isolation
Parents feel excluded, and judged.
How might we help parents process the emotional stress of parenting?
Research + Discovery
BACKGROUND
The Big Idea
Observation, inquiry, and self-expression can transform parents relationship with their emotions. As a parent of a child with autism, I have intimate knowledge of this subject. Although all parents experience stress related to parenting, parents with neurodivergent children have to reframe their ideas about what normal is. In order to help their children grow, they have to navigate challenging behaviors and complicated systems. Like an orchid, these children require sensitive care in order to thrive.
I began this project with desk research, interviews with parent coaches, and competitive analysis. The competitive analysis focused on mindfulness apps, each with a different audience and methodology for reducing stress and improving mental health. Out of a field of many, I focused my analysis three: Headspace, a popular mindfulness app, MamaZen, an wellness app for parents, and Groodles, and art therapy app.
RESEARCH
User Interviews
Parents told me their stories. I conducted qualitative interviews with 5 moms and 1 dad. Each had at least 1 child between the ages of 3-12 with a special need. The conversations gave me insights into their day to day lives.
“Life would be easier if my kid would just do what I want.”
“I only sleep a few hours a night. I doom scroll on instagram and fall asleep watching ASMR videos.”
“By the time the kids go to bed, I am exhausted. I don’t have time to think about self care.”
DISCOVERY
User Insights
Parenting is a 24/7 job. Parents are tired. Their houses are a mess and they wish someone would make app that gives them real time parenting solutions when their kid is having a meltdown.
Parents stories echoed one another. There were 4 common, if unsurprising pain points.
LIMITED TIME makes it hard for parents to prioritize themselves.
NEVER ENDING TO DO LISTS keep parents wishing for Mary Poppins. They want someone to help lighten their load.
OVERWHELM is the overall feeling of too much-ness.
LACK OF REST decreases parents energy level and increases their irritability.
DISCOVERY
Stress Management
Parents have stress management solutions. They run to pick up their kids. They hike, draw, play piano, and nap. They do what they can when they can.
There is a pay off for managing stress. Parents have more patience when they have taken time for themselves. A parents ability to be calm helps a child learn how to self regulate.
Concept Evolution
I used these insights, combined with my background as a yoga therapist, meditation teacher, and art educator to define a solution.
CONCEPT EVOLUTION
User Insights
Expand Perspective
Parents need to accept what is. Resisting reality does not change it. As parents develop awareness of their lived experiences, they become more comfortable with discomfort. They can then turn discomfort into inquiry.
Nurture Restoration
The body needs rest in order to function optimally. Help parents calm their nervous system and sleep better.
Prioritize Joy
Parents need to prioritize self care. They can not care for their children well when they are running on empty. Joy is always available and can be integrated into life’s challenges, at any moment.
Support Connection
Parents want to enjoy their kids. They read books, join support groups, and talk to friends, and therpists to gain new insights.
CONCEPT EVOLUTION
Personas
I empathized with parents stories. Developing personas helped me outline distinct goals, tasks, and pain points for parents with and without children with special needs.
Persona 1 was Jane. Jane was a stay at home mom with 4 neurotypical kids. Jane wanted to sleep better and be more composed under pressure. She was tired of yelling. She wanted to deepen her somatic awareness and have more fun.
Persona 2 was Julie. Julie just wanted to get through the day. She was a single mom and working professional who recently learned her 4 year old daughter was autistic. Life was a little more than she bargained for. She needed to express her emotions and feel more confident about her parenting.
Journey Maps
Parents experience a range of emotions. Their feelings and energy rise and fall throughout the day and year. Weekdays are different from weekends. Summer is different from the school year. A parents’ tasks and challenges vary. While they love seeing their child learn new things, they also feel bored, angry, anxious and depressed.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
DESIGN
Daily Recommendations
Morning, afternoon, and evening micro practices encourage parents to pause and reset.
SOLUTIONS
Based on this research, I defined 4 objectives
Guided Meditations
Parents restore their energy by practicing meditations, gaining new perspectives and improving sleep.
Self Expression
Parents are prompted to reflect on and draw their emotions.
A Care Center
Parents connect with experts through a care center, if needed.
Visual Design
Research lead to design. From sketching to wireflows to wireframes, I designed with simplicity in mind.
Takeaways
From concept to making, I stretched the limits of my thinking and developed new skill sets. The project is not perfect. But it is a beginning.
TAKEAWAYS
Challenges
Big Picture
It’s hard to solve a problem if you don’t know the question. When you understand the user and plan for the scenario they are struggling with, design has a purpose. Storyboards, personas, and journey maps are the blueprint for what comes next.
Little Picture
Design work is something I would forget meals for. Color, layout, typography, and branding excite me but are not things I am formally trained in. In order to be more efficient, I need to experience with the tools of the trade.
Learnings
I learned 1,000,000 things, but here are 3 key takeaways.
Planning is essential. The beginning of the design process should involve strategic thought.
Design is collaborative. User interviews inform design and usability testing evolution it.
Emotion runs through every phase of design. Emotion is a part of storyboards, personas and journey maps. Emotion plays a part in color selection and brand identity. Emotion connects design to stakeholders and to end users. Emotion is why people talk so much about storytelling in design.
Design is narrative.
The Outcome
I created an app for caregivers. An app made with care. Something simple to help parents soften when trying harder isn’t working.
