FARFARIA
Brief: Back in 2011, iPad was just launched. We had this idea to combine Netflix, children's book, and iPad together. Our mission was to create a kid's friendly reading app.
Timeline: 4 months
Process: User Interview, User flow, User Interface, Book Illustration, Front End Engineering, User Testing, Product Launching
My Role: Worked closely with CCO to create wireframe and user interface. Beside UI/UX, I also illustrated 1 children's book with 12 pages and helped with the tech team for front end programming using Objective-C.
User Interview
Even though this product is for kids, but parents are the one to decide whether they want to let their kids use the product or not. So we interviewed some parents with children around 4-12 years old about their reading habits.
"Every night I read my son a book before he go to bed"
- mother with a 4-year-old son
Insight: Read together, iPad is the good size for reading together
"I usually take my children to the library and we'll spend half days there, they can read whatever they want."
- mother with one 7-year-old and one 9-year-old
Insight: Interesting genres for kids to explore
"I read to my son almost 3 books a day, but if I have time I'd love to read more to him"
- mother with one 5-year-old
Insight: Have someone read to his son
Brainstorming
After getting some insight from the users, we decided to have some features in our MVP.
One: iPad version first
Two: Fun UI for kids to explore
Three: "Read to me"
Four: 200 children's books
With the goals in mind, I started to sketch out some ideas about the world for kids to explore.
Our team really liked the idea of turning the genres into a world map.
After few more rounds of sketching and brainstorming, we were getting clear about the flow and how the product would be.
User Flow
When users open FARFARIA, we want them to feel like they are entering a magic world, and in this magic world, there are different islands(genre) you can explore. Inside each island, there are lots of stories waiting for you. So I started to work on the flow and the interface and worked with engineers to bring the magic world alive.
I also illustrated 1 children's book before we launched the product. "Jump Down Jammie Boy"
After Launching
After launching our product, we started to work on the iPhone version, landing page, created more fantastic books, and work with schools to get more kids read more books.
