Coolpad Dyno Kids Smart Watch
The Coolpad Dyno, the premier 4G LTE smartwatch tailored for kids, offers seamless connectivity for parents and engaging learning experiences for children aged 4-9. As an assistant UI/UX designer, my pivotal contributions included collaborating with the HQ product team to localize the user interface and guide design adaptations, ensuring the product resonates with American consumers and enhances the user experience. My involvement was instrumental in refining the kid-friendly interface and animations, directly impacting user engagement and product adoption in the U.S. market.
The Challenges
• Determine the target consumer and understand the target consumer
• Look for the potential needs of smart wearable devices for children
• Capture the preferences and unmet needs of target customers
The Process
Research Methods.
• Desk Research
The goal of conducting desk research is to review previous research findings to gain a broad understanding of the field. This gives us valuable insight into what people have done in the past that relates to the field of wearables for children. We reviewed the research conducted by 360 kids Watch, Huawei and Nielsen.
• Surveys & Interviews
We interview a group of parents, teachers and kids ( at different age group ) to understand the demands of parents and teachers in the field of safe and healthy growth of children at different stages, and the communication and social demands of children with friends, parents, and teachers. Understand children's and parents' views, pain points and suggestions on existing children's wearable devices. Understand the functional requirements and priorities of the three roles for wearable devices, as well as the use scenarios corresponding to the needs, suitable wearable product forms, and explore the existing potential needs.
There are massive differences between a 5 and an 8-year-old yet most experiences try to cover ‘all kids’. It's important to understand what level your target audience is at. Through surveys and observations of 20 children ( San Diego local ) we explore the safety, educational, health, entertainment and social needs of children aged 2 to 12. ( Debra Levin Gelman talks about these age ranges in great detail in her book )
- Kids 2–4: Little People, Big Expectations
- Kids 4–6: The “Muddy Middle”
- Kids 6–8: The Big Kids
- Kids 8–10: The “Cool” Factor
- Kids 10–12: Growing Up
• Competitive Analysis
We wanted to understand the US market and how other kids' smartwatch brands are doing in terms of watch features, product marketing positioning, and branding. To that end, we looked at 4 direct competitors, LG GizmoPal 2, Gizmo Gadget, Flip and VTech Kidizoom.
Research Insights.
• As children get older and more independent, parents become increasingly concerned about their well being as they venture out of the house. The main functional requirements of consumers for the product: safety, healthy lifestyle, communication and education.
• The target age for children's watches is 4-9 years old. From the research, we found that older kids (10-12) think that the kids watch is for "babies". And parents also tend to think it's okay to give them their first mobile device. For a wearable product designed for kids this age, we want to focus on how we can perfectly combine education and entertainment to give them the kind of fun that will help them grow as individuals. The user interface and animations need to be intuitive and easy to use, and the watch itself needs to be durable and comfortable to wear.
• Pain point 1 - Parents liked the location tracking, but also had concerns about the data falling into the wrong hands. The most common question we were asked by parents was, "Who else can know where my kids are? Could hackers or pedophiles know where my child is?"
• Pain point 2 - Most elementary schools have restrictions on students bringing mobile devices to school. Teachers are concerned that students will be distracted by their watches if they text or talk on the phone during class..
Ideation.
• User Persona
Based on previous research, I created 2 personas to represent the HQ product team. Which helped our team clearly understand the project vision and guide our process by reminding us who and what we are designing for, users needs, frustrations, behaviors, and end goals.
• Dyno & Friends Characters
For the localization of Coolpad Dyno, the cartoon characters of Dyno Watch were redesigned to meet the needs of the American market. We conducted user surveys with the same group of kids to determine direction. The characters' personalities are fun, active, and cute.
Final Design.
App and watch user interface ( the final user flow and user interface update was done by the main product team in HQ, Shen Zhen )
Go-to-Market Design.
Translate design to business need and storytelling. Communicate with carriers and local team. I also worked on product logo, packaging, website, retail demo mode and all the Go-To-Market design deliverable.
• Branding
• Pre-launch Website Landing Page
Lead design the Coolpad Dyno Prelaunch landing page. Utilize survey form to research and understand what is the most desired features for kids smart watch.
Results.
• In Sep.2018, Coolpad announced the Coolpad Dyno on MWCA GSM Americas.
• In Jan.2019, Coolpad Dyno is available in the US market. Receiving a lot positive customer and tech reviews. Coolpad Dyno won Android Central Best of CES 2019.
Reflect.
As my first product project to be delivered to users, I learned a lot from the product team. By conducting user research, collecting reports, usability testing, etc., I was able to test my skills, which allowed me to identify my own UX process. I learned to push back on the importance of UX and advocate for user research. I understand there are a lot of things to learn along the way, I'm glad I found my passion for UI / UX Designer.