Jamkids Music World
Jamkids Music World (Jamkids Musiikkimaailma) is a music education application released by the Finnish Jamkids Music School. The app is aimed towards children ages 6 and under. The app includes music class video episodes and musical games designed by professional music teachers.
UX Designer
UI designer, content development team, school principals
May 2023
Jamkids Music School
Music Education
Early childhood music education video lessons and games
Children under the age of 7 and their parents
Canva, Microsoft 365
Purpose & Context
After the release of the app Jamkids Music World it has been downloaded relatively often, but customers were not converting to the Premium version as often as the company had hoped. My role was to perform a heuristic evaluation in order to identify possible usability issues in the app that might be causing users to hesitate purchasing the upgrade.
Objective
The main objective of the project was to perform a heuristic evaluation and identify any possible points of friction in the app that would decrease user satisfaction, which might result in the user not upgrading to the Premium version.
Results
Found and suggested solutions for usability errors, made improvements to the upgrade process.
Process
Analysis
Conducting the heuristic evaluation based on Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics.
Present
Presenting my findings to stakeholders.
Implement
Brainstorming possible solutions with stakeholders.
Analysis
The first step in the project was to perform the heuristic evaluation of the app.
In order to conduct a heuristic evaluation I spent time using the app and comparing each aspect to Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics.
I started by analyzing the entire app to identify possible issues throughout the app, after which I paid special attention to the upgrade process.
I wanted to see if there were any major usability issues that would cause the users to be unsatisfied with the app in general and I also wanted to make sure that the users who decided to upgrade were able to do so without running into issues along the way. This way I could keep in mind both the needs of the user and the business.
Presentation
After the presentation, my employer discussed my notes with her colleagues and the development team. We also had a meeting with the UI designer. Possible solutions were brainstormed in a collaborative setting and were ranked according to severity and also cost and difficulty.
Positives
Overall I found many positive sides to the app:
High-quality content
Clarity and simplicity that make the app very easy to use
Navigation is very easy
Clear back- and exit-buttons visible at all times
It was not really possible for the user to make big mistakes or get stuck at any point using the app
Large touchpoints (although some include text when the main target audience cannot read yet.)
Fun and colorful imagery that inspires and supports the user
Very fast page load times
Upgrade Process Pop-ups
Where I found the most room for improvement was the upgrade process itself. Although technically the upgrade purchase was easy through the app store, some important information was missing from the flow:
It is unclear what is included in the monthly fee: what is currently included and how often will there be new material?
The cancellation policy is not visible and the user cannot undo the purchase.
The upgrade pop-up included a lot of text (potentially frustrating for the user who cannot read yet)
The upgrade pop-up had two buttons of equal importance: the other button was for restoring a previous purchase when switching to a new device. This could potentially lead to confusion among users.
Other suggestions
Besides suggestions to the upgrade process, I found a few other points to improve on:
There could be more separation between the view for the primary user group (children) and the secondary user group (adults).
Utilizing more images and avoiding text: The main user group cannot read yet, so touch points including text could be frustrating.
The games in the app did not keep score or show progress: Adding a process indicator to let the user know where they are in the game and how many correct answers they got so far.
One game had a technical issue and did not work correctly
After the presentation, my employer discussed my notes with her colleagues and the development team. We also had a meeting with the UI designer. Possible solutions were brainstormed in a collaborative setting and were ranked according to severity and also cost and difficulty.
Buttons
The text buttons in the main world were replaced with image buttons.
The text buttons in the lesson areas were changed to numbered buttons, as children are often recognize numbers. This way the app also guides the user to follow the correct order of the lessons
Upgrade Process Pop-ups
The busy pop-up was replaced with an initial pop-up geared towards the main user group and replaced with imagery. When clicking on the image, the pop-up changes to include more information about the app: the main CTA for the upgrade, information about the contents of the app, how to cancel and the billing cycle. The Restore Previous Purchase-button was changed to a secondary button.
Progress Indicators
The time and cost of adding visual process indicators would have been too high at this point, but a compromise was made by adding a simple text report with the number of turns, current score and high score. While not an ideal solution, the changing numbers provide some feedback on the progress of the game.
Other Changes
In addition, a theme song was added to the video lessons, a seasonal world was removed as was the indicator of a potential upcoming new world.
Retrospect
What Went Well?
My employer was very receptive to my findings and ideas. Some of my recommendations were implemented and have now been released to the public.
What Were the Challenges?
The main challenge was that my role as a UX designer was unclear and I was often asked to provide immediate answers to design problems (and often to marketing related questions), in collaborative meetings, with limited access to data or time for an actual design process. I had to be very mindful keeping a balanced approach and not offering immediate solutions and crossing over to marketing.
Next Steps
The new version of the app has now been released and the next step will involve monitoring the analytics of the app to see if the changes have an impact on user behavior. After this the app will be reviewed and iterated on again.
Final Thoughts
I hope that in the future I can take on a more active role and participate thoroughly in the research process and try different design solutions.
However, overall I’m happy with this project and how it turned out. It was a good experience in working with various stakeholders and a UI designer. I’m looking forward to seeing if the changes will have any effect on the overall user experience.