MyBuddy
MyBuddy is a mobile app designed to support children with expressive language disorder on their journey of self-expression. With a variety of gamified art activities and a supportive online community, MyBuddy helps children build their language skills, boosts their confidence, and creates a sense of belonging.
MyBuddy is a mobile app designed during CreateSC 2023, a 24-hour designathon hosted by Innovative Design at USC in May 2023 .
duration
24 Hours
type
Mobile App Design
my role
Conduct user research
Built user journeys & flows
Created style guide
Designed high-fi wireframes
Prototyping
team
Sophia Yang
Jasmine Lee
Marissa Meng
tools
Figma
Procreate
Background
Communication disorders affect over 10% of children in the world, making it one of the most prevalent disabilities among kids.
Children grappling with communication disorders often face difficulties in self-expression, but sourcing suitable visual aids for communication is vexing and time-intensive.
Competitive Audit
Existing speech therapy platforms focus mainly on connecting patients and speech therapists, but they overlook the emotional impact on children.
Expressive language disorder significantly hampers coherent communication in children, affecting connections with others and hampering academics, including reading, writing, and presentations. To address these challenges, interventions are needed to bolster communication skills and confidence.
So, we decided to…
Deviating from conventional methods, MyBuddy adopts art therapy.
This technique has proven effective in linking language pathways, alleviating anxiety, and promoting communication, resulting in enhancing children’s confidence and self-esteem.
Design Process
To dive into the product features we may involve, I created user personas and user journeys with my team.
User Persona
To define product features and user flows, I envisioned a user persona, Ryan Tran, a 5th grader with expressive language disorder.
The persona inspired us to create an inclusive and engaging platform that empowers children to express themselves through art, overcome isolation, and develop meaningful relationships while improving language skills and boosting confidence.
User Journey
I also created the user journey where Ryan transitions through three stages — initiation, frustration, and awareness.
I aimed to enhance her ability to express herself and foster connections with others.
User Flow
I turned Ryan’s journey into a user flow that showcases her experience with MyBuddy.
Sketching Wireframes
Based on the user flows I created, we sketched key features in low-fidelity wireframes.
Solution
Onboarding
Answer a few guided questions and be directed to a personalized home screen.
Tutorial
Practice communication by creating personal daily entries and/or collaborative responses to story prompts.
Community
View daily entries from other children in the community and respond to their stories.
Style Guide
Purple fosters a sense of balance between the mind and emotions.
Enhancing mental stability and tranquillity and serving as a bridge connecting the spiritual and physical realms and between thought and activity.
I chose Plus Jakarta Sans for typography.
A geometric sans serif style that captures the beauty of diversity in typography.
Future Steps
Empathetic and accessible design philosophy
It is important to merge empathy with inclusivity to create designs that are inclusive and accessible, particularly for those with disabilities. For MyBuddy, this means considering non-verbal forms of communication and ensuring the app explicitly caters to children with expressive language disorders. It required me to deeply empathize with users, putting myself in their shoes to develop solutions that genuinely addressed their needs.
Customized user experience
Designing for individuals with disabilities requires a tailored approach that addresses specific challenges and needs. It is essential to create an interface and features that are engaging and easy to navigate for children who struggle with language and communication. This approach differs significantly from designing for the general population, where such specific needs might not be as prominent.
Deepening user research and iterations
If given more time, I would delve deeper into user research, such as interviewing children with expressive language disorders and their parents. This expanded research would provide a more concrete understanding of their needs and challenges. They are also valuable resources for user feedback, which is crucial for iterations to ensure the app evolves to serve its users’ needs better.