Parental Controls for Smartphones

Projekt202, 2013

Problem - Our client realized that although there are parental-control products available for smartphones, many parents weren't using them. They asked us to find out what type of smartphone parental controls parents needed and would actually use while accounting for a variety of different parenting styles and allowing for customization in the severity of restrictions.

Solution - We repeatedly heard how busy parents are so we wanted to help empower them and not feel like their child having a smartphone was something else they needed to manage. Different concepts addressed various concerns such as a quick setup and usage notifications that help them stay ahead of issues that arise with technology like new trends, device over usage, profanity or bullying. Additionally, we explored ideas to help make their lives easier with features such as auto-notifications that integrate family calendars with group notifications and texting.

Documentation & Designs

Copy of Parenting Styles

Based on our research we identified three main parenting styles.

Copy of Scenario 1: Set-up

We imagined how parents could first encounter the parental control features when purchasing a smart phone for their child.

Copy of Simple Setup

A quick format set-up based on the child's age that could be further modified.

Copy of Scenario 1: Set-up Concepts (cont.)

To enable some of the features the system would need to track usage and location. Some parents felt uncomfortable with this and we wanted to make it clear that they had to opt-in.

Copy of Scenario 1: Set-Up FIndings

After presenting the parents with the set-up concept they filled out a survey about it and provided verbal feedback that we summarized and shared with the client.

Copy of Scenario 5: Adjust Settings

We heard repeatedly from parents how busy they are and that they can't get to all of the things they want to in a day. We explored a concept that would push notifications to parents when they were doing leisure activities and help provide guidance if a child was "abusing" their smart phone usage.

Copy of Senario 5: Adjust Settings Concepts

The system alerts the parents when behavior patterns for smartphones are observed based on the childs age.

Copy of Scenario 5: Adjust Settings Concepts (cont.)

The system coaches the parent on age appropriate setting based on research findings.

Copy of Scenario 5: Adjust Settings Findings

After presenting the parents with the set-up concept they filled out a survey about it and provided verbal feedback that we summarized and shared with the client.

Parent's really liked how this freed them up by letting them know when an issue was arising without them having to do research, check their child's device, phone bill, and other sources.

Copy of Scenario 7: Language Scrubber

We heard that parents were worried about how kids communicated on their smartphones vs in person.

Copy of Scenario 7: Language Scrubber Concepts

Parents could select terms they wanted to be alerted too.

Copy of Senario 7: Language Scrubber Findings

After presenting the parents with the set-up concept they filled out a survey about it and provided verbal feedback that we summarized and shared with the client.

Parents wern't really into this concept for cuss words but thought it could be good for bullying or sexual content or innuendos the parents might not pick up on.

Copy of Scenario 8: Dashboard, Device Usage

Parents wanted to be able to monitor their children's usage but also admitted to not always knowing what they should be looking for, the dashboard was intended to help call out concerning pieces of information and guide the parents if they wanted it.

Copy of Scenario 8: Dashboard, Device Usage

Patterns and trends are called out along with warnings in the event that smartphone usage "abuse" occurs.

Copy of Scenario 8: Dashboard, Device Usage Concepts (cont.)

When coaching occurs relevant information and graphs are displayed to help quickly inform the parents so they can make decisions and have healthy conversations with their children.

Copy of Scenario 8: Dashboard, Device Usage Findings

After presenting the parents with the set-up concept they filled out a survey about it and provided verbal feedback that we summarized and shared with the client.

Parents like how this put all the information they cared about in one place and requested to be able to add additional devices along with guidlines about what normal usage should be.

Copy of Seed Concept 2: Create Location and Schedule

The system could learn from patterns and help fill in important locations and calendar events.

Process Breakdown

Copy of Family Interviews

We interviewed parents and their children in their homes to really understand how they were using smart phones.

Copy of Synthesis

Using information from our interviews we created an afinity diagram and identified three key parenting types.

Copy of Affinity Diagrams Grouping

Insights were gathered and grouped allowing us to identify patterns.

Interviews, Analyzing Findings, & Identifying Personas

We visited parents and children at home to conduct contextual observations and interviews, asking about smartphone usage and the parents' concerns as to their children's use of them. We distilled key insights from our interviews and created an affinity diagram that helped us uncover different parent concerns. This included how parents felt about managing their children's smartphones, plus their own relationship with technology. While all parents want to protect their kids they all had different ideas about what they wanted to protect them from and how they wanted to do it. We identified three key parenting types based on our research.

Key Findings: Although many parents we met with were concerned their children's access to devices and set up parental controls for TVs and computers, most hadn't thought about parental controls for their kids' smartphones.

Copy of Quick Brainstorm

We brainstormed different ideas and grouped them together to identify common themes.

Copy of Concepting

Based on our quick brainstorm themes we created senarios and flushed out concepts.

Copy of Feedback and Concepting

We invited parents to participate in a feedback session sharing our concepts with them and having them fill out a survey. At the end, we conducted a concepting exercise with them.

Concepts & Focus Groups

Using our findings we brainstormed a variety of features, narrowing them down to those most helpful to parents. Using those features, we crafted a story with eight scenarios to test with the parents. We shared our designs and a questionnaire with a focus group made up of parents we had interviewed as well as some new asking them to rate how the different features made them feel. At the end of the testing, the parents participated in a design concepting activity.

Key Findings: Parents already felt they were pulled in too many directions, and the idea of managing their kids’ smartphones seemed overwhelming.

Copy of Copy of Parental Controls for Smart Devices- MORE IMAGES

Parental Controls for Smartphones

Projekt202, 2013

Documentation & Designs

Process Breakdown

Interviews, Analyzing Findings, & Identifying Personas

Concepts & Focus Groups