Overview

Raede is an informational website that provides and their parents resources that can help prepare them for planning for the future.

My Role

User Research, UX Design, UI Design, Usability Tester

Timeline

January - July 2023

The Problem

The primary source of eldercare in the US is adult children but only 1 out of 5 take any steps to prepare.

As I’ve gotten older, a common conversation topic had with friends have been concerns about parents or grandparents as they get older. Many people feel unprepared and lost on what to do. It’s a very sensitive and emotional topic from both sides so this poses as an issue for people as well.

The Solution

Provide a resource for people to use that address all their concerns

Raede is a platform that allows users to learn about planning for the future as well as customize their experience.

Having an account allows for customization of resources

A newsletter keeps users who aren’t frequent website visitors informed

Booking an Article Flow

There is a wide array of resources to access and save.

Secondary Research

For my research I looked into the relationship between Adult Children and their Parents and the impact it can have on Future Planning

Adult children are generally inclined to help their parents as a majority have a great relationship with their parents. There is no direct impact on future planning, however the issue seems to be starting the process. There aren’t any resources that provide any details

“80% of children have emotionally close relationships with their parents.”

User Interviews

In user interviews, I got to ask adult children about their relationship with their parents as well as their thoughts on future planning.

Questions Asked Include:

  1. Have you thought about any plans for your parents’ future?

  2. Are there any factors that play a role in your thoughts on planning for the future?

  3. Are there any resources you’ve been using?

  4. How much time do you put into planning for the future?

From these interviews, the takeaway was that due to lack of resources many adults didn’t consider how to prepare for the future. This leads to adults leaving future planning in the hands of their parents. There is a motivation behind wanting to help but again due to lack of compiled resources the thought ends there.

Insight

Identifying the How Might We’s:

  1. How might we help users compile resources of future planning?

  2. How might we educate users on financials related to future planning?

  3. How might we provide users with a helpful timeline for future planning?

  4. How might we make users prepare for emotional conversations?

  5. How might we support users collaborating with their parents?

Raede

A user friendly platform that provides resources for users to become comfortable and ready for future planning.

Design Process

Key User Flows:

Wireframes:

Accessing “My Resources” Flow

Moodboard & Style Guide

READY — READE

from Old English ræde (meaning arrange, prepare)

Initial Screens and Changes

1. Homepage

From user feedback, the original homepage didn’t address the main concern of the platform which was to provide resources. It seemed like a landing page that didn’t lead anywhere or was interactive with users

2. Login

As the 2nd most frequented page, the original login page gave users too many actions on one page. This lead to making a simple login page that also incorporated registering and kept it clean and simple to look at.

Usability Testing

Feedback from Testers:

1. Homepage Changes

1. The purpose of the hamburger menu

2. The functionality of the the drop down menu

3. If the page was intriguing enough to users

2. Newsletter Changes

1. What sets it apart from any other article on the website?

2. Why is there a separate tab for Newsletter?

3. Login Page

1. The use of empty space on the page,

2. More of an aesthetic change to use the space more wisely

Reflections

1. I would love to have interviewed the parents of the people I interviewed in order to get a more in depth view of Future Planning from both sides. I think this would allow me to expand more on this idea and be more specific to both adults and their parents together.

2. This was all designed for Desktop and I would have liked to see how this outcome would be presented as an app. I think the difference between Desktop and Mobile App is very interesting and it would be great to see what other features and functionalities a Mobile App would have compared to Desktop.

3. More Testing! From both rounds of testing there was always more things to learn about how the platform was percieved and used. It would be a good learning experience to have a couple more rounds of testing in order to see what a complete final iteration would look like.