Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Joe Pascavage

1-year-old(s).

How some babies taught me better design.

Several years ago when my twin boys, Noah & Milo, turned one I decided I would allow them to “share” my old iPad 2. There really wasn’t any motivation behind it other than having them possibly watch their favorite (and only) show, Thomas & Friends. My wife and I literally sang the theme song to that show in our sleep… “They’re two, they’re four, they’re six, they’re eight!” … catchy stuff.

Naturally, though, we tried downloading different baby apps that were more educational to see if they would even take any interest at all in this magical book, and more importantly learn. Many of the apps were a bit dull or had too many overly styled buttons to resemble drawings from a children’s story, and quite frankly were just too confusing even for an adult. Needless to say, the kids didn’t even care. All they wanted to do was smack or drool on the screen. Then, something happened…

We came across this series of children apps by the same brand, Originator. The one game in particular that we really loved was “Endless Reader”— it taught you how to spell, and read a variety of easy to beginner level words. The app was simple, and more importantly in tune with their user, small children. Nothing about them had overly flashy patterns, strangely styled buttons, or some blurry call to action in the corner to spend extra money with add-ons that looked like it was an after-thought.

For the most part, the apps were all white. Completely and totally white, along with some animated colorful monsters that would carry the letters on and off the screen, make funny noises when you poked them and threw glitter and stars when you spelled a word right. The twins knew instantly how to react without any guidance whatsoever. The tasks were simple; when the funny monsters jumbled the words you put them back into place. 9 times out of 10 the boys got them correct. I was astonished. They had no idea what they were spelling, but they were doing it!

Now I could just be an overly proud father, but it occurred to me just how smart the app designer was. There was no fluff! So simple, so direct, and engaging when it needed to be, and most of all reactive to a small child’s natural instinct to want to laugh, play, and learn. That designer paid attention and didn’t let too many extra details get in the way.

We could apply so much of this observation to designing better apps for us big kids. All the same rules apply, but when we lose sight of the story it reflects on the user too. It’s easy to fall into the trap where you just designed some super awesome element into your product and it does not have any true purpose. We need to be careful of this. I’ve been taking this example I learned from my kids to heart these days when designing just about anything. Simple tasks should be just that. Nothing more, nothing less.

Visually speaking I love simple design. It can be interpreted very differently from one person to the next. But when approached sometimes in it’s rawest form, in combination with such natural reactions… it’s just so beautiful. It sounds so easy, yet it’s so very hard to accomplish for most of us. It’s probably something every single designer will strive to achieve in their career. Some may never make it. But when you hit that moment you will know. Fight for it. Don’t add the fluff.

1 year old(s). was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

1 year old(s).

Cool stuff, every week

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