Motherload

Online platform for low income mothers to sell or trade items.

Overview of Project

Who

Claudia Castro

Braden King

Xiao Ling

Shelby Stephens

My Roles

Research

Prototyping

Testing

Documentation

Tech

Axure and Sketch

Marvel's POP!

Time Frame

November - December 2016

Assignment


Common Misconceptions

They love their baby less

They are lazy and do not work

They do not have smart phones

They lack a community

They want handouts

Primary Research

4 low-income mothers

Women and Children Shelter Director

Hannah Center Pregnancy Resource Center Director

Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard Outreach Coordinator


Predispositions

Low income mothers get access to less resources and less help from others.

Low income mothers live more difficult lives.

Main Insight

Exchanging items and favors, rather than money, allows low-income mothers to get the things they want and need while feeling safe and secure.

The Problem

Low income mothers do not have a safe platform with people of a similar demographic to trade for the essential items they need for them and their child(ren).

Our Solution

Leveling the playing field for low-income mothers by allowing them to exchange favors and objects within an online trading system.

We found out young single mothers feel lonely and they have formed their own communities to support one another and combat obstacles they face. One way they have created these groups, is through social media platforms. During our interviews and research process, we were directed to multiple Facebook groups and communities for mothers. From them, other more specialized groups originated. For instance, the Bloomington (Baby, Toddler, Kid) Junk Swap. Our solution was based on a sense of community and trust that was built exclusively between low-income mothers.

First Prototype

We began by sketching out our ideas on a whiteboard. Our first prototype became a mobile interface design of our online trading platform, Motherload. We moved from the whiteboard to paper sketches of which the 4 of us sketched together the screens of the user interface.



Usability Test

Sketch to POP

We transformed our papers sketches using the mobile application POP into an interactive format that could be tested just as it would be used, on a phone. We conducted two usability tests with different Indiana University undergraduate students to test the effectiveness of the interface flow.

Main Findings

The “Inbox” doesn’t show which requests are new.

The “potential item/favor” should include examples of what a user could write.

The drop-down menu to sort the pool was not intuitive.

The “Okay to Use” in the description didn’t represent the quality of the item.


Tiffany and Micah

Tiffany is a single mother and has a son, Micah, who just turned 10 months old. She is active in a Facebook mommy group that is full of mothers just like her seeking friendship and they engage in activities and plan outings so she does not feel isolated and alone. She considers herself lucky because she can take Micah to her job, thus she does not have to pay for childcare, which is a great advantage. However, money is still tight and Micah is growing at tremendous rate making it difficult to keep up with the different size clothing he needs along with toys and other objects.

Motherload Design



Exploring the Pool

The holidays are coming and Tiffany wants to get a Christmas tree. Money is tight being a single mother and a tree is not a necessity. She looks around and thinks of all the newborn to 9 month old items she has that she no longer needs. She's goes to her handy search engine and reads about Motherload.

Tiffany downloads the app Motherload from her phone's application store. She opens the app and is taking to the home screen.

She explores the pool to see if there are any Christmas trees available. She finds one that is being offered.

However, she wants to see more details so she click on the arrow that expands all the information about the post.

She navigates through the information available.

She then clicks on the profile icon and is able to view the person’s profile. Tiffany sees that Nancy has had 30 successful trades and 2 unsuccessful trades.

After reviewing Nancy’s profile, Tiffany may still have questions about the Christmas Tree and notices the chat icon. She clicks on it and sees that she can begin a direct message with the poster, Nancy, without having to make a request first.

After reviewing Nancy’s profile, Tiffany may want to request the Christmas Tree without messaging Nancy first. She clicks on the request button and is redirected to the request screen in which Tiffany can list items and/or favors she is willing to exchange for the Christmas Tree.

Posting

Next, Tiffany wants to contribute her own post to the rest of the pool. To do so, she clicks “Create Post.”

First she chooses if she is posting something she has or something she needs.

Next, she selects whether it is an item or a favor. Then, she will fill out the rest of the form. Note: If she has a favor to offer, she does not have to include the condition. Finally, she can state some items/favors that she is looking to receive in exchange for her item.

If she needed something, she would select “I Need.” Next, she would fill out a title, description and a photo if desired. She can then state potential items or favors that she could offer in exchange for what she needs.

Chat and Exchange

After posting her item/favor, she will eventually receive a request from another member of the community. This is represented by the red dot by the menu icon in the top right.

After clicking the menu, she sees a new request which is represented by the (1), meaning she has one new request.

Tiffany sees she has a message and can see it in the chat.

Tiffany can also see an overview of notifications she has as well.

After clicking requests, she sees that someone has recently offered her some cookies in exchange for her baby toy. She can view a picture of the cookies by pressing the picture icon. Also, she could start a chat with the person by clicking the message button. Or, she could simply accept the offer by clicking “ACCEPT.” She also has a request for dinner in exchange for her baby toy post but has already viewed it.

Conclusion




Learning Outcomes

This was the first project where I had the opportunity to meet and talk to the people we were designing for. I gained an appreciation for the power of empathy and how that can drive a design. Because at the core of it all, we are designing for a person and not just a user.

In this project, I had the opportunity to sketch interfaces. I also got to create digital versions in Sketch and Axure, which I had not really done before.

I learned about stock photos and how an image can supplement a presentation when describing a persona and setting a story.

Feedback

“I would love to use something like this, I even tried to get IU to implement something similar!”

Erin, 19, mother of 2 and stepmother of 2


“This is an awesome concept.”

Stacey, 33, single mother of 1


“I could really see this type of thing used in our center.”

Bethany, 39, director of Women and Children Shelter

Let's Get In Touch!

Want to know more or have any questions?

(812) 910-0949

shelbylizstephens@gmail.com