How do we create an interactive platform to help
kids safely explore the web?
The goal was to create a curated, interactive experience designed to empower parents with a new interface for their kids to explore content designed by a team of world-renowned experts on topics ranging from children's books, dinosaurs, wild animals, space, oceans, and sports. The iPad application and front end consisted of more than a dozen HTML5 templates for video, games, and interactives that were optimized for the iPad and young consumers with active minds and fingers.
Successfully lauching Happly
After launch, Happly was regularly promoted in iTunes’s "New & Noteworthy" and "Apps for Kids and Fun Learning", raised $1.5 million, and was chosen by Discovery Communications to power much of the Discovery Kids digital network. My team published new content daily using a custom CMS designed specifically for managing the app, scheduling content updates, and managing our robust library of HTML5 templates. The success of the app helped streamline partnerships with National Geographic photographers, The Humane Society of the United States, and Discovery Kids.
Publishing Happly updates
The first version of the Happly iPad App launched with twelve kid-friendly topics including Animals, Funny Video, and interactive Puzzles and Games. From previous experience working with top-tier brands like MSN and Discovery, we knew that we would need to establish a consistent flow of new and engaging content. To meet the publishing demand we built a custom content-management tool.
Since the iPad’s first appearance in 2010, families with young kids have been using tablets and other mobile devices to entertain and educate at home. With easy access to content and a touch-friendly screen, the devices have become common tools for learning in homes and schools. Happly was an opportunity to create a new platform for families with shared and safe educational experiences.
Happly allowed parents to administer the app by setting up PIN-protected profiles where they could customize content for their children. Happly topics, which included titles like Did you know?, How to do Stuff, Space & Beyond, Weird & Wacky, Dinos, Funny Videos, and more, could all be toggled on and off by the parent.
Rewards from Creating Content for Little Fingers
My favorite projects have been those where I’m able to use a range of skills, learn something new every day, have fun with the team building the product, and know that my product is bringing smiles to as many faces as possible. Happly stands out as one of my favorites because it provided a digital space for kids to engage with the type of print content I loved growing up. It was amazing to work with world-class photographers, children's book authors, inventors, and paleontologists to create an impressive collection of articles and interactive activities that were regularly promoted in the Apple app store.
Helping Curious Kids Safely Discover The Web
Test-user feedback and experimentation resulted in bold, colorful, and playful topics that included a design language and a unique identity for the final Happly iPad app.
2. Engage Parents Searching for Kid-Friendly Learning Alternatives
We wanted validation to make sure our adult minds weren't overcomplicating the concepts so that kids wouldn't love the application. During the course of development we implemented rapid prototyping and gave our own kids extra screen time with Happly. We watching to see what activities the kids were drawn to and how much time was spent on games, watching video or viewing slideshows. The testing helped with UI enhancements and gave our content editors better insights to what types of interactives were more appealing to the younger audience.
We also looked to industry experts to provide deeper understanding how our target age groups were using new technology at home and how parents were learning how to set screen time limits and guidelines.
3. Go to Industry Experts for Meaningful Data
Our research indicated that many parents were concerned that their children were spending too much time on mobile devices, so our product requirements included use cases for creating features that were informative and engaging, but easy to complete in a limited amount of time (connect and color, concentration, puzzles).
1. Learning from little kids
The Happly team had unlimited access to technically-literate families with young kids who preferred mobile devices over traditional video games. Our early research showed that kids were engaging with mobile content for several hours a day, but mostly with random mobile games and uncensored YouTube videos, and in many cases consuming risky, adult-themed content most parents found inappropriate.
Through many interviews with families with young kids, we identified a need for family-friendly learning tools and experiences in the mobile market with world-class content and a safe user experience for kids to interact with internet content.
On the back end, Happly was powered by a custom, easy-to-use content management system developed for organizing and publishing interactive content for the first generation iPad. The publishing platform included a variety of interactive templates based on activities kids love such as jigsaw puzzles, word find games, concentration games, mad lib games, hidden picture games, fun facts, and slideshows. The keys to creating and launching Happly included:
Greg P. Harris
UX Strategist & Product Designer
