MamaMingle | Story Mapping
MILESTONE 3
Milestone 2 Feedback
Acting on the professor's feedback, we sat together and thought of features and functionalities that we could offer our user before requiring them to sign up. We then concluded that features that will not require the user's data or any input from the user could be offered to the user before asking them their credentials.
For example we are thinking of providing access to product page, general tracking, and allowing them to view content of the public community groups before asking the user for something of value (their credentials).
Milestone 2 Feedback
Acting on the professor's feedback, we sat together and thought of features and functionalities that we could offer our user before requiring them to sign up. We then concluded that features that will not require the user's data or any input from the user could be offered to the user before asking them their credentials.
For example we are thinking of providing access to product page, general tracking, and allowing them to view content of the public community groups before asking the user for something of value (their credentials).
Milestone 2 Feedback
Acting on the professor's feedback, we sat together and thought of features and functionalities that we could offer our user before requiring them to sign up. We then concluded that features that will not require the user's data or any input from the user could be offered to the user before asking them their credentials.
For example we are thinking of providing access to product page, general tracking, and allowing them to view content of the public community groups before asking the user for something of value (their credentials).
Milestone 2 Feedback
Acting on the professor's feedback, we sat together and thought of features and functionalities that we could offer our user before requiring them to sign up. We then concluded that features that will not require the user's data or any input from the user could be offered to the user before asking them their credentials.
For example we are thinking of providing access to product page, general tracking, and allowing them to view content of the public community groups before asking the user for something of value (their credentials).
To build on our initial lo-fi wireframes, we underwent an iterative story mapping process to expand our conceptualization of potential users of the MamaMingle application and update our prototypes with features and design elements to meet the needs of this range of potential users.
User Research
User Research
First, we expanded our user research by engaging with friends who are new mothers and searching academic literature for studies that conducted surveys, interviews, and focus groups with new mothers. We searched for issues that were top-of-mind for new mothers, such as their greatest challenges and biggest needs. We explored these issues within the context of each of the four main pages within our app: Home, Information, Community, and Products, recognizing that each page serves a different purpose for users with different, although certainly overlapping, priorities and needs.
User Research
User Research
Rachel with her friend Noémie who is a new mother.
User statements from Noémie:
"It is so important to have a community of other moms who know what you're going through"
"Breastfeeding has been the most challenging thing. I didn't know before how challenging it would be, I had to do a lot of learning, seeking out information about it"
"This stroller is the best brand, everyone has it that I've seen online, it's really amazing"
Rachel with her friend Noémie who is a new mother.
User statements from Noémie:
"It is so important to have a community of other moms who know what you're going through"
"Breastfeeding has been the most challenging thing. I didn't know before how challenging it would be, I had to do a lot of learning, seeking out information about it"
"This stroller is the best brand, everyone has it that I've seen online, it's really amazing"
To complete our story mapping, we divided the four pages among our group members to complete research and initial drafts of story maps given the specific functions of each page. After each working on a page individually, our group came together to discuss our ideas, suggest changes, and think about how different elements of each page within the app could connect.
The descriptions for each of our four pages below highlight updates that came from our research and story mapping process, and in particular, showcase ways that we tried to consider the needs of a wide range of users, while maintaining a focus on new mothers’ most pressing needs. We also incorporated feedback that emerged following the submission of our previous milestone– for example, in our current prototypes, users can access many app features without creating an account first.
Homepage
Homepage
The Home page allows mothers to keep track of a variety of metrics that are important to them during their pregnancy and after their baby is born. The app allows mothers to focus on tracking the things they want to track. They can search through a list of available metrics and select which ones they want to track. If the metrics that a user is tracking are flagged by the app for either seemingly a lack of necessary resources or a potential adverse health outcome (such as postpartum depression), the app will give the user the option to take a quiz to better understand their specific need, and then direct them to the most appropriate resources within the app on the Information, Community, or Products pages.
Information
Information
The Information page is designed to address mothers’ most pressing informational needs by providing relevant resources to every user and featuring topics on issues deemed most important to new mothers by community members and by research. The Information page allows mothers to easily find information that they are seeking by using filters in search, searching by topic, and by showing personalized content based on mothers’ previous searches. The page features information in many formats so that mothers can select whichever medium most accommodates their preferences and abilities. The available mediums for information in the app consider accessibility to a wide variety of users; for example, blogs include audio notes and videos include subtitles. Additionally, for all content within the Information page, the app allows mothers to contact the author/ creator through the Chat feature within the app. This fosters further community connections, which is one of the primary objectives behind the app.
Community
Community
The community page is ultimately designed to support one of new mothers’ greatest needs– fostering a community. Research continually indicates that strong ties to either groups or other new mothers, is something that new mothers long for and often lack, especially given high rates of social isolation and postpartum depression early in motherhood (Postpartum Depression, 2023). To address these needs, MamaMingle provides mothers with simple quizzes to help match them with groups to join through the app. Through these quizzes, mothers will be able to indicate what they hope to gain from joining such a group (for example, finding other new mothers who live locally, sharing expertise on a certain topic, etc.), as well as both what they feel they could contribute to a community group and where they feel they could use support and help from the community. Mothers will also be able to take a quiz to be paired with a single peer “mentor”, or volunteer to serve as a mentor for other new mothers. Through conversations with fellow community members in the Chat feature of the app, mothers will also be able to automatically send “encouragement messages”, featuring a range of pre-written encouraging messages that users can customize, as well as uplifting images. These features address needs that are prominent in literature on new motherhood, such as the benefit of receiving encouraging messages (Lupton, 2020) and the benefit of having a role model (or “mentor”, in the app) to connect with early on in motherhood (De Sousa Machado et al., 2020).
Product
Products
The Products page is designed to easily connect mothers to products that they might need or want based on information that they encounter elsewhere within the app. Products can be linked to resources on the Information page, such as an article on “what to pack in your hospital bag.” The Products page also strongly features community and community input by showcasing reviews, comments, and ratings from other mothers on MamaMingle. Additionally, the Products section helps to ensure mothers have the information and resources they need by providing tips and advice related to specific products after they have made a purchase.
REFERENCES
De Sousa Machado, T., Chur-Hansen, A., and Due, C. (2020). First-time mothers’ perceptions of social support: Recommendations and best practices. Health Psychology Open (1-10).
Lupton, D. (2020). Caring dataveillance: Women’s use of apps to monitor pregnancy and children. In L. Green, D. Holloway, K. Stevenson, L. Haddon, & T. Leaver (Eds.), The Routledge companion to digital media and children (pp. 393-402). Routledge.
Postpartum Depression. (2023). Postpartum Depression Statistics. https://www.postpartumdepression.org/resources/statistics/
Gibson, L. and Hanson, V. (2013). Digital motherhood: how does technology help new mothers? Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, p. 313-322.
Lupton, D. (2016b, July 19). The use and value of digital media for information about pregnancy and early motherhood: a focus group study. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth; BioMed Central. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-016-0971-3
McLeish, J., Harvey, M., Redshaw, M., & Alderdice, F. (2021, September 1). A qualitative study of first time mothers’ experiences of postnatal social support from health professionals in England. Women and Birth; Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2020.10.012
Osman, H., Chaaya, M., Zein, L. E., Naassan, G., & Wick, L. (2010, October 15). What do first-time mothers worry about? A study of usage patterns and content of calls made to a postpartum support telephone hotline. BMC Public Health; BioMed Central. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-611
Pålsson P, Kvist LJ, Ekelin M, Hallström IK, Persson EK. "I Didn't Know What to Ask About": First-Time Mothers' Conceptions of Prenatal Preparation for the Early Parenthood Period. J Perinat Educ. 2018 Jun;27(3):163-174. doi: 10.1891/1058-1243.27.3.163. PMID: 30364409; PMCID: PMC6193362.
Daughters surprise their moms with pregnancy announcements! (2022, November 18). TODAY.com. https://www.today.com/parents/pregnancy/best-pregnancy-apps-rcna30762
B. (2019, October 29). 17 helpful things to plan and track in your pregnancy journal. Bluebell. https://bluebellbabymonitor.com/learn/17-helpful-things-plan-and-track-your-pregnancy-journal
MamaMingle - Story Mapping
MILESTONE 3
REFERENCES
De Sousa Machado, T., Chur-Hansen, A., and Due, C. (2020). First-time mothers’ perceptions of social support: Recommendations and best practices. Health Psychology Open (1-10).
Lupton, D. (2020). Caring dataveillance: Women’s use of apps to monitor pregnancy and children. In L. Green, D. Holloway, K. Stevenson, L. Haddon, & T. Leaver (Eds.), The Routledge companion to digital media and children (pp. 393-402). Routledge.
Postpartum Depression. (2023). Postpartum Depression Statistics. https://www.postpartumdepression.org/resources/statistics/
Gibson, L. and Hanson, V. (2013). Digital motherhood: how does technology help new mothers? Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, p. 313-322.
Lupton, D. (2016b, July 19). The use and value of digital media for information about pregnancy and early motherhood: a focus group study. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth; BioMed Central. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-016-0971-3
McLeish, J., Harvey, M., Redshaw, M., & Alderdice, F. (2021, September 1). A qualitative study of first time mothers’ experiences of postnatal social support from health professionals in England. Women and Birth; Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2020.10.012
Osman, H., Chaaya, M., Zein, L. E., Naassan, G., & Wick, L. (2010, October 15). What do first-time mothers worry about? A study of usage patterns and content of calls made to a postpartum support telephone hotline. BMC Public Health; BioMed Central. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-611
Pålsson P, Kvist LJ, Ekelin M, Hallström IK, Persson EK. "I Didn't Know What to Ask About": First-Time Mothers' Conceptions of Prenatal Preparation for the Early Parenthood Period. J Perinat Educ. 2018 Jun;27(3):163-174. doi: 10.1891/1058-1243.27.3.163. PMID: 30364409; PMCID: PMC6193362.
Daughters surprise their moms with pregnancy announcements! (2022, November 18). TODAY.com. https://www.today.com/parents/pregnancy/best-pregnancy-apps-rcna30762
B. (2019, October 29). 17 helpful things to plan and track in your pregnancy journal. Bluebell. https://bluebellbabymonitor.com/learn/17-helpful-things-plan-and-track-your-pregnancy-journal
Figma File
View
To build on our initial lo-fi wireframes, we underwent an iterative story mapping process to expand our conceptualization of potential users of the MamaMingle application and update our prototypes with features and design elements to meet the needs of this range of potential users.
Rachel with her friend Noémie who is a new mother.
User statements from Noémie:
"It is so important to have a community of other moms who know what you're going through"
"Breastfeeding has been the most challenging thing. I didn't know before how challenging it would be, I had to do a lot of learning, seeking out information about it"
"This stroller is the best brand, everyone has it that I've seen online, it's really amazing"
To complete our story mapping, we divided the four pages among our group members to complete research and initial drafts of story maps given the specific functions of each page. After each working on a page individually, our group came together to discuss our ideas, suggest changes, and think about how different elements of each page within the app could connect.
The descriptions for each of our four pages below highlight updates that came from our research and story mapping process, and in particular, showcase ways that we tried to consider the needs of a wide range of users, while maintaining a focus on new mothers’ most pressing needs. We also incorporated feedback that emerged following the submission of our previous milestone– for example, in our current prototypes, users can access many app features without creating an account first.
The Home page allows mothers to keep track of a variety of metrics that are important to them during their pregnancy and after their baby is born. The app allows mothers to focus on tracking the things they want to track. They can search through a list of available metrics and select which ones they want to track. If the metrics that a user is tracking are flagged by the app for either seemingly a lack of necessary resources or a potential adverse health outcome (such as postpartum depression), the app will give the user the option to take a quiz to better understand their specific need, and then direct them to the most appropriate resources within the app on the Information, Community, or Products pages.
The Information page is designed to address mothers’ most pressing informational needs by providing relevant resources to every user and featuring topics on issues deemed most important to new mothers by community members and by research. The Information page allows mothers to easily find information that they are seeking by using filters in search, searching by topic, and by showing personalized content based on mothers’ previous searches. The page features information in many formats so that mothers can select whichever medium most accommodates their preferences and abilities. The available mediums for information in the app consider accessibility to a wide variety of users; for example, blogs include audio notes and videos include subtitles. Additionally, for all content within the Information page, the app allows mothers to contact the author/ creator through the Chat feature within the app. This fosters further community connections, which is one of the primary objectives behind the app.
The community page is ultimately designed to support one of new mothers’ greatest needs– fostering a community. Research continually indicates that strong ties to either groups or other new mothers, is something that new mothers long for and often lack, especially given high rates of social isolation and postpartum depression early in motherhood (Postpartum Depression, 2023). To address these needs, MamaMingle provides mothers with simple quizzes to help match them with groups to join through the app. Through these quizzes, mothers will be able to indicate what they hope to gain from joining such a group (for example, finding other new mothers who live locally, sharing expertise on a certain topic, etc.), as well as both what they feel they could contribute to a community group and where they feel they could use support and help from the community. Mothers will also be able to take a quiz to be paired with a single peer “mentor”, or volunteer to serve as a mentor for other new mothers. Through conversations with fellow community members in the Chat feature of the app, mothers will also be able to automatically send “encouragement messages”, featuring a range of pre-written encouraging messages that users can customize, as well as uplifting images. These features address needs that are prominent in literature on new motherhood, such as the benefit of receiving encouraging messages (Lupton, 2020) and the benefit of having a role model (or “mentor”, in the app) to connect with early on in motherhood (De Sousa Machado et al., 2020).
The Products page is designed to easily connect mothers to products that they might need or want based on information that they encounter elsewhere within the app. Products can be linked to resources on the Information page, such as an article on “what to pack in your hospital bag.” The Products page also strongly features community and community input by showcasing reviews, comments, and ratings from other mothers on MamaMingle. Additionally, the Products section helps to ensure mothers have the information and resources they need by providing tips and advice related to specific products after they have made a purchase.
Figma File
View