Better After Baby Mobile App
Role: Lead UX Designer / UX Researcher
Introduction
Better After Baby is an app that aids new mothers in all your postpartum needs. From understanding your new body, with nutrition tips and body basics, to encouraging positive growth with naptime workouts or access to a supportive social network - this is an all in one resource for understanding and enjoying your new life as a mother.
For this project, I worked closely with the owner and creator of the Mama Sagas and took the role as lead user experience researcher and lead product designer for the Better After Baby mobile app.
Research
I conducted 10 individual interviews with new moms to understand their specific struggles during postpartum. I also conducted competitive research with other apps to assist with postpartum such as Social.Mom, After Birth Exercise and New Mom Workouts to understand the scope of existing solutions.
Pain Points
From my research I recognized a trend with the following issues new mothers were experiencing:
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It’s hard to find time for mental and physical self-care, resulting in low self-esteem and negative emotions or destructive behavior.
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Seeking professional advice is expensive and often requires travel.
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Finding information or solutions on the Internet can overwhelming and misguiding.
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Connecting with other new moms is hard, but the camaraderie is desired. Previously established social networks don’t fit the needs of new moms.
Synthesis
I used our research to create 1 persona that represents the archetype of our target audience. I then created an emotional journey map for our working mom archetype to visualize the joys and frustrations that a new mother experiences throughout the day so that we can create a focal point for the app.
New mom persona
Journey map based off Sasha's typical weekday
Design Requirements
Using the journey map that illustrated the emotions that a new mother experiences throughout a typical day along with extensive research about new mom’s we summarized our findings with the following problem statement:
"Busy moms need an all-inclusive and available resource to understand their new bodies and minds that aids in pursuing a healthy lifestyle, both mentally and physically."
Design requirements to address the problem statement:
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Create a one-stop-shop for postpartum needs
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Provide accessible and curated education on postpartum nutrition
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Provide accessible and curated education on postpartum fitness
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Provide accessible and curated education on breastfeeding
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Help new mom’s gain access to workouts geared towards postpartum bodies that can be performed in a timely manner
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Assist with introducing new moms to a community
Ideation
Using our knowledge of postpartum mothers, I created several storylines and sketches to come up with potential solutions.
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I went through several different iterations of what our interface would look like and how it would function. Then bucketed the design requirements to come up with the information architecture for the app.
Wireframing, Prototyping & Testing
I used wireframes based on the information architecture to quickly test usability. I then used the information gained to eliminate any issues in the existing wireframes. Once wireframes were completed we conducted a/b tests with 2 groups to determine the most effective and user-friendly design.
Below are the wireframes of some key path scenarios to show the flow of interaction in the app.
1. Naptime Workouts
2. Goal Tracking & Calendar
3. Breastfeeding Homepage
Design
After several rounds of critiquing the wireframes, I created the final design for our app. The motivation for the final design was to create a modern, calm and inviting design that speaks to our target audience (Women 23-38). We used a peach as our primary color to evoke joy and positive emotions. The gray-scale alongside the people keeps the app looking modern yet timeless.
1. Naptime Workouts
2. Goal Tracking & Calendar
3. Breastfeeding Homepage
