Bringing It To Life

It was time to create low-fidelity wireframes and conduct early user testing to understand user preferences

I conducted early-stage usability testing using low-fidelity wireframes to identify design flaws before high-fidelity development

Summary of User Feedback

  1. Users were confused by the sign-up page, which asked them to enter the number of kids at the top and then included an 'Add Another Child' button at the bottom

  1. Users said the navigation between screens was easy

  1. Three users pointed out that the bottom navigation bar looked simple and clean, without too many options

  1. Four users felt the sign-up flow seemed incomplete. They expected a welcome page or confirmation message to indicate successful completion

  1. Two users felt that the home page could be more personalized

  1. One user felt that the profile screen looked cluttered

  1. Overall, users felt the design looked good and was easy to navigate

High-Fidelity Wireframes

First Iteration

AFTERBELL

An app for parents to search, book, and manage after-school activities for elementary students

Role: End-to-End UX Designer

Duration: September 2025 - November 2025

Final Iteration

Final Prototype

Usability Testing

Conducted moderated and unmoderated usability tests and collected user feedback

Tasks:

#1:Open the app and set up your profile and a child's profile, then go to the home screen. (Don't worry—everything is pre-filled, so you just need to click through.)

#2: View the complete details for the Music Academy class

#3: Log in to the account, review both user profiles (parent and child), and then log out

#4: Log in and open the calendar to see what class/activity is scheduled for today."

Feedback

1. Perfect Task Completion

All 5 participants successfully completed every task, proving core functionality works well.

2. Strong Visual Design

Users loved the colorful, happy palette and clean, approachable layouts throughout the app.

3. Profile Switching Confusion

Multiple users struggled to switch between profiles and find the logout button (expected it on home screen, not Profile tab)

4. CTAs Need More Emphasis

"Book," "Try a Class," and "Add Child" buttons need to be more visually prominent.

5. Calendar Accessibility

Users wanted more than one way to access the calendar

6. More Visual Cues Needed

Users want instructor photos, age tags, larger avatars, and hover effects for better clarity.

7. Navigation Works Well

Sign-up flow and overall navigation were intuitive and easy to understand.

Branding and UI

To reflect the app's focus on children's after-school development, I selected colors and fonts that balance playfulness with an educational tone

Information Architecture

Using the project goals and feature set as my guide, I mapped out the app’s information architecture like a story of how parents naturally navigate their day. This helped create a clear, intuitive flow for every screen.

Based on the site architecture, here is the user flow I developed

App Flow Map

Project Goals

These goals guided the design toward improving clarity, reducing planning stress, and helping families feel confident and supported in their scheduling decisions.

Character Snapshots

Personas helped me capture the real needs, motivations, and frustrations of parents managing after-school activities, giving shape to the different types of users AfterBell aims to support

Knowing our Users

“I often feel like I’m piecing information together from different places instead of having it all in one spot”

“Sometimes I book online, but I really trust recommendations more than random search results”

I interviewed 5 parents whose kids are in elementary school and actively participate in afterschool activities

Key Takeaways

1. Information is Fragmented and Scattered

Parents struggle to find activities across multiple sources—school flyers, WhatsApp groups, websites, and community boards—instead of having everything in one centralized platform.

2. Scheduling Conflicts Are a Major Pain Point

Parents frequently face overlapping activities, conflicting work schedules, and logistical challenges managing multiple children in different locations, often resulting in missed classes or dropouts.

3. Convenience and Time Are Critical Decision Factors

Busy working parents prioritize location proximity, scheduling flexibility, and online booking convenience. Distance from school/home and alignment with work hours are dealbreakers.

4. Trust Through Reviews and Child Interest Drive Choices

Parents rely heavily on other parents' reviews and recommendations to ensure program quality and safety. A child's genuine interest in the activity is the top priority, followed by program reputation.

5. Parents Want an All-in-One Solution

An ideal app would centralize activity discovery, scheduling with calendar views, payments, reminders, and personalized recommendations based on children's ages, interests, and family schedules—saving significant time and mental effort.

Discovery & Research

I started with a competitor analysis that revealed important insights about the current market and unmet needs

Research Goals

1. Current Behavior Mapping

Understand how parents currently discover and book after-school activities, including what tools they use (online and offline) and their typical search process.

2. Pain Points and Unmet Needs

Identify challenges parents face when organizing multiple activities and managing schedules across different children.

3. Decision-Making Factors

Determine what matters most to parents when choosing activities, such as cost, location, child's interests, reviews, and quality.

4. Platform Expectations and Trust

Learn what features parents expect from an after-school activity app and what would make them trust and adopt a new platform.

Problem

Parents struggle to find and manage after-school activities due to fragmented information across flyers, websites, and word-of-mouth. No centralized platform exists to compare options by location, timing, cost, and reviews—making scheduling multiple children especially difficult

AfterBell provides a centralized platform where parents can search, compare, and plan after-school activities in one place. With personalized recommendations and a built-in scheduler, it reduces stress and decision fatigue while connecting families with quality programs

Solution

AfterBell provides a centralized platform where parents can search, compare, and plan after-school activities in one place. With personalized recommendations and a built-in scheduler, it reduces stress and decision fatigue while connecting families with quality programs