THE CHALLENGE

Stop, Breathe and Think the popular mindfulness app hired us to create a strategy for the next version of their children’s app. Together we asked; how can we make it easier for children (and their parents and caregivers) to develop the habit of mindfulness?

THE BIG IDEA

Let's make mindfulness part of an existing routine.

THE DESIGN PROCESS

We kickstarted the project with a user research phase to better understand what are the opportunities and obstacles when it comes to getting families and school communities to not only meditate but stick with it. Working closely with the Stop, Breathe and Think team we developed a research plan and recruited both existing users such as families and educators as well as new users who were not familiar with the app itself. During this phase we conducted 1:1 interviews and had users complete detailed journals every time they used the app to better understand what kind of content was most engaging. In addition to analyzing the user research insights we presented existing academic research in the field of SEL skills and the benefits of co-viewing. This greatly informed  and drove the strategy we developed with the SBT team for designing the next version of the app.

THE OUTCOME

By the end of the project, the humans who play team had created a visual strategy brief that outlined multiple suggestions for the design of the app itself as well as the video content and characters that are featured in it. The suggestions were designed to include both solutions that are easy to implement (what can we do now?) as well as solutions that might take more resources but eventually bring a larger ROI (what can we do in 1+ year) The SBT team has quickly implemented some of the “what can we do now” recommendations, such as meeting parents where they are and featuring more prominently bedtime content in their main app.