Day by Day

An expression board game for kids

Background

Day By Day was a year long project designed through the national organization—Design for America UW.

Scope

Research, User Interviews, Compeitive Analysis, Ideation, Prototyping, Usability Testing, Final Mock-up, Pitch Presentation.

My Role

I worked as the Lead Product Designer on a 6-member team through user research to the final mock-up.

Tools

Paper Prototyping, Figma, Figjam, Photoshop, Illustrator.

Problem

Mental Health Crisis

Current resources for children's mental health aren't cutting it.

With a 49% adolescent mental disorder rate and rising adult COVID-19 anxiety, it's evident that current resources aren't effectively equipping children to communicate their emotions and discuss them openly.

Research

The Nitty-Gritty

DFA believes that the next generation can end the cycle.

We initiated our journey with in-depth research, laying a strong foundation for the project.

Ideation

How Might We . . . ?

Our research revealed the necessity to:
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• Gamify Learning. Subvert attention.

Clear objectives and rewards create an environment for effective, understated learning experiences.

• Open a discussion. Involve parents and friends.

Collaborative learning encourages the cross- pollination of ideas among users, fostering a dynamic exchange of knowledge and insights.
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• Unify senses. Tactile interaction.

Engaging in hands-on activities and physical actions can significantly enhance information retention.‍

1/3

How might we enhance engagment?

Solution #1
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Leveraging gamification, especially for intricate subjects like mental health, fuels users' external motivation to foster deeper learning, particularly effective with children

Mental health learning + Board game

Solution #2‍
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Redirecting attention by focusing on aiding a specific character with communication issues rather than making the story primarily about themselves.

The goal is for users to learn by advising and solving issues for the character.

Mental health learning + Board game

2/3

How might we foster communication?

Solution
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Encourage users to discuss each answer on situation cards, deciding if they offer helpful advice for the character.

This prompts users to teach each other the best responses for various scenarios.

Instructions

3/3

How might we include hands-on activities?

Solution
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In the course of our research, it became evident that integrating hands-on activities was essential.

This conclusion was drawn from children's feedback, where they consistently expressed a strong preference for tactile learning experiences.

Physical activity cards

Our team designing physical pieces

Testing

Measuring The Remedy

We prototyped an end-to-end experience that adhered to industry standards, encompassing our success measures, which consist of:

Task Success Rate

of over 80%, from learning the instructions to winning the game.

System Usability Scale

an average score of 72 points based on post-test questionaire.

Instruction Task Time

users successfully learned how to play the game within 15-20 minutes.

Each prototype that was tested

Reflection

What Now?

Our work on Day By Day has grown my ability to communicate effectively within a team. Our regular briefings, where we reviewed weekly accomplishments, clarified tasks for the upcoming week, and reinforced our timeline, transformed our collaboration. It taught me the power of structured communication in achieving shared goals.

Furthermore, our extensive research illuminated the pervasive impact of mental health challenges on individuals and society. Our work underscored the need for accessible tools like Day By Day to promote mental health awareness, especially among youth.

Looking ahead, our aim would be to expand Day By Day into more school settings, measuring its broader impact on fostering mental health understanding and communication skills among students and parents.