Skip Hop is a global lifestyle brand for parents, babies, and toddlers. Skip Hop asked our team at Tack Mobile to create an iPhone app, which would allow parents to control a sleep and routine training device. Young children might have trouble reading a standard clock or setting an alarm, but alerts with sounds or lights are great ways to build better habits.
The Skip Hop app would allow parents to control this device and manage custom routines. This required the settings to be completely customizable since habits can be so different between children. The app needed to be intuitive and easy to set up for parents allowing them to adjust routines adapted for children of different ages.
Skip Hop already had an existing basic sleep trainer without a companion app to set routines. This device was successful, but some of the feedback was to expand this to other types of routines and also to allow for more customization. A phone app would allow for more settings than a physical device and would be much easier to navigate flows. We also researched sleep phases and how different light and sound settings could improve sleep cycles.
Before we started any design work, we asked the Skip Hop team for a list of features they were interested in implementing. One way to evaluate what was most valuable to users was to generate some user story maps. Visualizing interactions in the app with cards allowed us to determine what features were the highest priority.
Once features were more established, we were able to start giving structure by creating a sitemap. I worked collaboratively with developers to make sure the onboarding and device pairing process would work with the hardware on the physical device. We wanted the app navigation to be simple for parents to manage and make changes because figuring out complex settings would probably not be a high priority for most parents with young kids. We wanted the app navigation to be simple to manage and make changes since complex settings could be burdensome for parents with young children.
The app has both a light and dark mode so it's more subtle if modifying settings in a dark room. From the Dashboard, parents can see the status of each device with details, such as color, sound, and mode. We created a stylized icon for the device which shows the current light settings at a glance.
The physical device has four rows of lights that can all display different colors and effects. Users can select from a selection of preset colors and effects and also choose sounds or alerts. The wide range of options give parents the ability to cover a wide range of routines and ambiance settings.
The routine flow was the most complex feature from a user experience perspective. Users needed the ability to choose between preset routines they could modify or create a completely custom option. Routines provided the ability to have different modes that could be used for things like getting ready for bed, bedtime, staying in room, or when it's ok to leave room. All modes are customizable with different light and sound options.
To validate designs we began a test group to send early builds. Through a few rounds of testing, we made some discoveries. Routines were initially part of device settings, but we determined this made more sense to users as a top level item with more visibility. We also modified some of the control icons, as well as, adding description text to make them more clear. Skip Hop has launched the final product and it's now available in stores. We will continue to gather feedback and refine the app now that it will be out in the real world.
