Educational app & puzzles for kids
Client: ImagiRation
Role: Senior UX Designer / Motion Graphics Specialist
Technology: Balsamiq, Unity, Adobe Creative Suite, Omnigraffle
Launch Project: ImagiRation.com, POOZA on iTunes
Project Description
There is broad scientific consensus that early and intensive behavioral intervention has the greatest chance of positive impact on an individual with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, the availability, quality, and general funding for early intervention programs is often lacking, leaving newly diagnosed children without adequate therapy during the most critical period of their development.
Parent-administered digital therapy has the potential to reduce the gap between the amount of therapy recommended for children with ASD and the amount they receive.
In early 2014 I became one of the founding members of ImagiRation, a company that develops brain-training puzzles for toddlers and preschoolers.
Our first app, POOZA, is a collection of brain-training digital puzzles organized into age-appropriate bundles for ages 2-6+. Each bundle features 120 puzzles within a range of categories, including pattern detection, picture completion, matrix reasoning, logic & categorization, and sorting & classifying. The puzzles gradually increase in difficulty to facilitate optimal brain training.
Simple drag-and-drop mechanism makes it easy for toddlers and kids to touch and move objects. Animated characters and rewards make the experience engaging and fun as kids learn and develop vital cognitive skills.
I lead the UX design efforts for all ImagiRation projects, collaborating with a team of artists, developers, parents, educators and researchers who are dedicated to exploring early cognitive development in kids. In addition, I do most of the motion-graphics design in our apps using Unity and with the help of our brilliant developers.
Oh, and I get to test the product along the way with some cute little user testers ages 2-10… that’s often the most rewarding part of the process.
Project Contribution:
User Experience Design
Designed overall user experience of the application with an interface that’s intuitive for both kids and parents. The application architecture makes it easy to navigate between puzzles and age bundles. Designed optimal parental controls to keep children from accidentally navigating away from desired screens or from making unwanted in-app purchases.
Documentation
Created full set of project documentation, including application map, user flows and wireframes. The documentation was crucial in finalizing decisions between all team members, including designers, developers, and stakeholders.
Motion Graphics in Unity
Work with developers and artists to create motion graphics for application. This includes animating Mr. Smiley, the whimsical animated character who provides kids with feedback on whether they answered puzzle questions correctly or not. In addition, this also includes developing numerous particle systems in Unity that act as a transition between each puzzle.
Sample Wireframes:
Feedback logic for animated character in Unity:
Simple sound-toggle button animation:
(original done in Unity):
