Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental disorders affecting children. Symptoms of ADHD include inattention (not being able to keep focus), hyperactivity (excess movement that is not fitting to the setting) and impulsivity (hasty acts that occur in the moment without thought). ADHD is considered a chronic and debilitating disorder and is known to impact the individual in many aspects of their life including academic and professional achievements, interpersonal relationships, and daily functioning. ADHD can lead to poor self-esteem and social function in children when not appropriately treated. ADHD is often first identified in school-aged children when it leads to disruption in the classroom or problems with schoolwork.

Purpose

There are three main types of ADHD - predominantly inattentive presentation, predominantly hyperactive/impulsive presentation, and combined presentation.

My goal is to focus on at least one ADHD condition to design a minimum viable product (MVP) that can help children better mange their routine, stay focused and complete their homework under the guidance of their legal guardians and community.

Design process

It was important to understand what users think and feel rather than assuming the solution right off the bat. I followed systematic step-by-step design thinking methodology of empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping and testing to find solution as it highly focuses on understanding user needs  which helps in making designs human-centered.

I wanted to seek clarity on what are the symptoms of ADHD, what are the challenges and how are users coping with ADHD. 

Problem

During research, I got below response from the user interviews.

79.8% users said they  would like to have frequent breaks when completing tasks.

53.2% users said they would like a mix of visual and text to make the activity interesting.

99.6% users said parents / legal guardians should pay special attention on kids with ADHD.

Research Goals:

To implement research learnings in creating a minimum viable product (MVP) reflecting at least one feature to manage their routine tasks with ease, help them stay focused and can be seamlessly navigated by a child with ADHD condition and their legal guardian/s.

Research Objectives:

1. Understand thoughts and experiences of users with ADHD condition.

2. Understand the problems, challenges and frustrations faced by children with ADHD.

3. Understand how the users coped up with ADHD as kids.

4. Learn if there are biases and pre-conceived notions.

5. Understand if the users are using any apps or resources to ease out ADHD conditions and improve their routine.

Research

For this project, I deep-dived into the lives of people who have been diagnosed with ADHD condition or know someone close with ADHD. I noticed most of the interviewees faced difficulty in completing their routine tasks and were frequently distracted. 

During the empathize stage, user interviews provided a foundation for me in building user personas and discover pain points for my focused user groups of kids with ADHD condition and their legal guardians.Synthesizing this data helped me in deriving problem and hypothesis statements. I analyzed competitors through SWOT and narrowed research findings through affinity mapping. This paved way for exploring ideas, deriving solutions and building wireframes. 

User interviews

In empathize stage, I conducted user interviews to understand what users actually thought, felt and wanted, and why? I chose 5 questions - qualitative and quantitative.

Number Duration Interview style

9 participants 30 minutes Structured

Research questions

1. Have you or anyone you know had difficulty in understanding concepts while learning online? If yes, could you describe the same.

2. Would you like to have more of visuals while learning to comprehend the content in an easy manner?

3. Have you or anyone you know with ADHD condition have tried seeking help from anyone to complete tasks on time.?

4. What according to you are most common problems faced by children or adults with ADHD condition?

5. Do you prefer desktop or mobile?

Understanding the users

In the define stage, I conducted thorough user research, including developing personas and user stories.Synthesizing the data from the interviews, I was able to form two distinct user personas and their pain points. This subsequently allowed me to write definitive problem and hypothesis statements, and formulate their user stories. The user stories helped me understand the problems Elle and Eva faced on their paths. It also helped reduce the impact of my own designer biases, by understanding how the users think and feel though every step.This new understanding allowed me to recognize roadblocks and pain points to correct, by identifying improvement opportunities. An example of this would be allowing them to share their struggles and frustrations coping up with ADHD condition on daily basis.And last but certainly not least, I was able to hone the idea of providing them with a feature that helps kids complete their homework by taking breaks and by making learning fun under the guidance of their legal guardian.

Persona

Eva and Elle's Story

Analyzing the competitors

Now that we begin with ideate stage, let's brainstorm solutions to our problem statements. For this reason, I have added Secondary research, SWOT analysis, and affinity mapping.

Secondary research

Data and Statistics about ADHD

By CDC - Centers for disease control and prevention

The Internet has woven its way into every aspect of society. It has become the foundation for instant and seamless communication. In recent years, the Internet has revolutionised learning. Schools have incorporated online tutorials, online quizzes and even educational phone applications to educate their students. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the way students learn. In response to lockdowns and heightened restrictions, schools have pivoted entirely to home-based online learning for their students. This brings about a new set of challenges for students with ADHD.

Challenges:

1. Distraction: A home environment can be far more distracting than a classroom. ADHDers have to contend with an array of distractions. Distractions can include noises made by pets or younger family members, the allure of a warm and comfortable bed, the aromas wafting from the neighbours’ cooking…the list is endless! However, it is worth noting that some ADHDers may find online learning to be more engaging, hands-on and novel than the usual pen-and-paper style of learning. In a classroom setting, a teacher will be able to keep students on task. However, home-based learning lacks the controlled supervision that teachers can provide. ADHDers may have parents who are working from home. However, these parents will likely be occupied by their own jobs. Thus, parents will usually be unable to provide the continued supervision that many ADHDers will need to focus.

2. Lack of structure: ADHDers may also struggle with the lack of a schedule. Schools have timetables for students to organise their learning. However, some forms of home-based learning may lack these organised schedules. On the flip side, some ADHDers may find it a relief to have less rigid schedules. They may relish the ability to plan their day. For example, some may prefer to study later in the day as they can concentrate better in the afternoons.

3. Lack of motivation: ADHDers may struggle to find the motivation to study. ADHDers are especially affected by inertia when it comes to engaging in uninteresting tasks, such as studying subjects that they dislike. In school, supervision by teachers may give ADHDers the impetus to study. However, at home, this is not the case and the lack of motivation may affect their performance in school. On the other hand, for subjects that ADHDers like and excel in, online learning may allow them to learn at their own (potentially accelerated) pace. This could create renewed interest in the subject

Affinity mapping

This predictive analysis technique helped me with data mining and in highlighting insightful correlation between different variables based on their co-occurrence happening in between the individuals. Affinity mapping helped me understand my target users and their needs, recognize and define product requirements to plan product features that would be immensely helpful to them in coping up with ADHD condition, and identify the factors that could lead to users readily accepting my product or otherwise. 

Challenges:

• Prefer classroom learning.

• Limited attention span if task is not interesting

• Prefer group study over self study

• Require frequent breaks 

• Struggle with math and writing

• Procrastination and day dreaming 

• Hard to understand concepts in school 

• Struggle with homework and other tasks 

• ADHD medicine side effects 

• Anxiety, anger and forgetfulness 

• Decision paralysis and emotions imbalance

• Time management, distraction and insomnia

• Hard to accept criticisms 

• Online learning feels difficult 

• Rejection sensitivity, inattentiveness and impatience

• Strong sense of oneself 

• Hyper focused on one task at a time 

• Drug addiction

Drivers:

• Classroom learning with many students can be distracting.

• Some users find it hard to grasp concepts at school and like when they can learn at their own pace.

• Some users are already familiar with task management tools such as google calendar, Asana and few other calendars.

• Users are tech savvy

• Many users preferred online

• Many users preferred mobile learning

• Many users are willing to use an app for coping up with ADHD condition.

Identifying gaps and opportunities

1. How might we help kids with ADHD condition complete their homework on time, stay focused and motivated, and face their fears related to ADHD condition?2. How might we help legal guardians of the kids with ADHD condition track and supervise homework activity of their kids?

Following ideas were generated 

Design a feature that -

1. Provides easy login access to legal guardians and kids where adults can easily track and supervise kids' activities.

2. Is fun, interactive and easy to understand. It should help with time-management and keep kids motivated by adding animations and quizzes. 

3. Allows children to seek help from homework community consisting of well curated teachers and experts specially vetted for students with ADHD condition.

4. Allows students to earn awards for completing their tasks on time by thoroughly grasping concepts and without affecting quality.  

5. Allows kids to cope with ADHD condition by seeking help from experts and participating in activities helping them to face their fears.

Initiating product designing

In the design stage, I made sure user goals align with business goals while keeping technical considerations in mind. Card sorting activity results provided strong foundation for building information architecture consisting of sitemap, user flow and task flows. This was followed by low, mid and high fidelity wireframes.

Sitemap

User Flow

Digital wireframes

UI Component library

The design components included in this library were brainstormed based on user research data, affinity mapping, accessibility requirement, and to make app visually appealing. Kids being the primary users, I have tried to keep the app colorful while balancing the white space.

I have run an accessibility test for Nail it's color palette as I consider it to be an important element in designing. The color palette has passed the accessibility test.

Hi-fi wireframes

Usability testing parameters study

In testing stage, I focused on usability testing parameters, analyzed and prioritized results from the test and incorporated the same in my final design.

Usability testing parameters

Number Duration Type

6 participants 30 minutes Moderated

Analyzing test results

Analyzing the data from the usability test helped me identify problems and assess the relevancy of each usability issue. I tested four tasks with the participants and implemented iterations. 

Tasks

1.  Parent creates account and generates login code for the child.

2. Child logs in with the code for the first time and selects learning buddy

3. Child accesses homework assignment shared by parent and seeks help from     homework community

4. Child selects activity for break, completes the task and earns reward.

Prioritizing revisions

1. Changed earlier design to a standard login screen with more login options to minimize clicks and number of screens.

2.  Lengthy form in the previous design was broken down into two separate screens to reduce heavy scrolling. Created CTA for generating login code while providing an option to login with username and password to make it simpler for the user rather than making them decide if they want to opt for security code which could unnecessarily increase user time.

Final Product

Post priority revisions, this colorful app catered to the needs of the kids with ADHD condition was ready for product development.