Meeko is tackling the mental health crisis faced by children and teens stemming from internet and social media use.
PROJECT SCOPE: Naming, Trademark Development, Art Direction, Design Research, UX/UI Design, Product Design, Web Design
PROJECT DURATION: September 2022–October 2022 (2 months)
TOOLS USED: Figma, Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Miro, Spline
Meeko is a solution to the widespread mental health crisis children and teens face which is due, at least in part, to internet and social media use. Meeko helps children and young teens learn how to be responsible and safe digital citizens and gives parents the ability to monitor their activities and enable parental controls.
WHAT I DID:
Art Direction
Design Research
Prototyping & Wireframing
UX/UI Design for Mobile App
Copywriting
Brand Identity
COLLABORATORS:
MARIA RODRIGUEZ ↗ & ISA ARMSTRONG: Design Research, UX/UI for Website, Copywriting
MIRIAM LISTIAK: Design Research, Trademark, Brand Identity, Ad Campaign, Product Video
KARSEN JONES: Design Research, Spline (3d) Illustrations, Extension UI Design
RECOGNITION:
DESIGN FOR GREATER GOOD AWARD—Fall 2022 Communication Design Exit Review, Local
BEST IN SHOW, Online/Interactive—AAF SA Addy’s 2023, Local
GOLD, Online/Interactive—AAF SA Addy’s 2023, Local
FINALIST, SXSW Innovation Lab 2023, Local
Meeko is a character based app and extension that supports children as they begin exploring the internet and guides them so they can become confident and informed digital citizens.
Think of Meeko as your child’s internet training wheels.
DESIGN RESEARCH
To conduct preliminary user research, my team and I used a combination of IDEO’s Field Guide to Human Centered Design and IBM Enterprise Design Thinking Methodology to help us better understand the users and their needs. This process allowed us to uncover insights that informed the tone, messaging and design of the product.
ART DIRECTION & BRANDING
Our research showed us that there is a need for a product that not only helps parents monitor their children’s behaviors, but also instills healthy and productive internet habits in children and teens. We chose to go with a mascot character for our service that would act as a supportive friend and teacher to our users. Knowing that our target audience will be both boys and girls, and their age will be somewhat broad (7 to 13 years old), we wanted to keep the character amorphous and ungendered so as to appeal to as many of these users as possible.
ONBOARDING
Once the parent has signed up for the service, they will be instructed to download the Meeko app on their child’s phone. Meeko will then introduce himself to the child, explain his purpose, how the app works and give a brief tour of his environment. Our ideal scenario would be for a parent to install the Meeko app on their child’s first phone before they begin using it.
GETTING TIPS AND SUPPORT WHILE THE USER IS BROWSING THE INTERNET
The primary function of the Meeko service is it’s ability to monitor children’s internet use in an interactive way. Using an extension, Meeko will be able to deliver tips, advice, hints and intervene if anything unsafe happens in the apps and internet browser children use in their day to day lives.
TIP ARCHIVE
Every tip the user receives will then be cataloged in the Tips page of the app. Here the user can go back and read more about the information contained in the tip. It is encouraged that parents go over these tips with their children frequently in order to ensure the deep learning from their child. Every time a tip is opened Meeko gives rewards points.
EARNING AND REDEEMING REWARDS POINTS
One way we wanted to keep engagement with the app high was developing a points system and figuring out several ways users can earn those points. First, the app encourages the user to open the app daily and keeps track of how many days they’ve visited Meeko. Points are given everyday the app is opened and point amounts increase as the streak of days opened increases. Secondly, every time the user opens and reads a tip in their tip archive or completes a level in our built in educational games, the user amasses points. These points can be used to “buy” Meeko accessories in his home environment.
BUILT IN GAMES TO FURTHER ENCOURAGE LEARNING
The app also has educational games based on the four pillars of responsible digital citizenship, these are called ‘The plains of Going Safe’, ‘The canyons of Going Kind’, ‘The isles of Going Aware’, and ‘The forest of Speaking Out’. Here users can partake in challenges, connect with friends, and participate in weekly leadership and achievement boards.
PROTOTYPE
Meeko makes learning internet safety and digital citizenship simple. See him in action with the prototype.
WHAT I LEARNED
This project taught me that you must be agile and flexible when pursuing a creative idea and developing a product design. Our initial goal was to make social media platforms themselves safer for teens. After much research and a good deal of frustration, we found the solutions to this problem were either not in the spirit of what we wanted to create (it would have been a lot of content restriction, blocking and filtering) or unattainable (we can’t change laws or change how platforms are run). Instead of abandoning the goal altogether, we pivoted and focused more on instilling healthy behaviors in younger children with the hope that it would prevent mental illness from reaching a crisis level as they grow into teenage hood. Now that we are finished with this project, I like the outcome more than the original vision.
WITH MORE TIME AND RESOURCES
I understand not every child has access to their own phone. For that reason, I would like to think more about how an interactive campaign could help make this service more accessible.