Introduction
Kitchen & Manners is a playful and educational app designed from scratch to teach children table manners, healthy eating habits, and basic cooking skills through interactive gameplay. By combining fun challenges, engaging characters, and a user-friendly interface, the app makes learning an enjoyable experience while reinforcing values like responsibility, teamwork, and respect.
This project aims to provide parents and educators with a valuable digital tool to help children develop essential life skills in an engaging and effective way.
Software
Problematic
The development of Kitchen & Manners faced significant challenges from both a design and usability perspective.
-
High Design and Visual Requirements: A substantial investment in design and visuals was needed to meet client expectations and create an engaging experience for children.
-
Usability and Game Integration Issues: The team struggled with effectively introducing gameplay elements and educational content in a way that felt natural and enjoyable for users.
Balancing aesthetics with functionality was crucial to ensure both client satisfaction and an intuitive, engaging experience for children.
My Role
I was responsible for defining the visual guidelines of the application, ensuring a cohesive and engaging design. My key contributions included:
-
Creating usability components and a structured design system.
-
Establishing the color hierarchy to enhance visual clarity and appeal.
-
Identifying and analyzing user persona data to align the experience with user needs.
-
Designing game illustrations to enrich the storytelling and interaction.
-
Maintaining close collaboration with the client to ensure their vision was met.
-
Working closely with the development team to integrate design seamlessly into the app.
My role focused on balancing aesthetics, usability, and functionality to deliver an intuitive and visually compelling experience.
Objective
The goal of the Kitchen & Manners project is to create an interactive and educational app that teaches children essential life skills, including table manners and cooking knowledge, all while making the learning process fun and engaging.
Solution
To achieve this, we developed a user-friendly app with a visually appealing design, incorporating gamified elements that allow children to learn through play. The app features interactive challenges, engaging challenges, and educational content that is integrated into the gameplay, ensuring an enjoyable experience while promoting valuable life skills.
Design Thinking
To create an engaging and effective app for children, we applied the Design Thinking methodology, which focuses on understanding users' needs, defining problems, ideating solutions, prototyping, and testing. This user-centered approach ensured that we developed an app that was not only fun but also educational and easy to use.
By applying Design Thinking, we created a thoughtful, user-centered solution that blends learning and fun in a way that captivates young users while promoting important life skills.
Design System
Game Assets
Conclusion
The Kitchen & Manners project successfully brought together education and entertainment through a well-designed, interactive app that teaches children essential life skills, such as table manners, healthy eating habits, and basic cooking knowledge. By implementing the Design Thinking methodology, we ensured that the app was user-centered, addressing the needs of children, parents, and educators, while creating an enjoyable learning experience.