User Research

One in 88 children in the US has autism spectrum disorder, and many of these children have neurotypical siblings. Studies have shown that sibling interaction has many benefits for developing children, but autistic children need to learn how to interact with their neurotypical siblings in order to improve their social interactions in and out of the home environment.

We began our project with the intent of designing a product to help children with autism, but we were unable to find enough children with ASD who were willing to participate in our research and testing. We decided to keep children with autism as a user group, but also opened our research up to all sibling pairs under age 10.

We interviewed about half a dozen parents of multiple children and talked to their kids as well. This pool of families was instrumental in not only our user research, but our testing and iterating as well. From our initial interviews, we gleaned the following insight:

Interactive play has lots of proven benefits for both siblings, ASD or not, but it’s hard to get young children motivated to play with their ASD sibling if the ASD child doesn’t give his sibling attention. The most benefit comes from when the ASD child plays with neurotypical children, and such interactions begin within the home (with siblings).

User Personas

Ideation

During our first brainstorming session, we decided to design a type of block that would be large, foamy, and safe for children with ASD. After visiting and interviewing more families, we found that most families already had blocks of some sort, and didn’t necessarily need more. We brainstormed some more and landed on a transparent, collaborative art board toy.

Prototyping

I was the sole Product Designer for this project, so I was in charge of all the prototyping and the creation of the physical product.

I made at least 10 prototypes, ranging from low-fi cardboard to machine-milled acrylic to dovetailed wood. Through each iteration, I learned what designs were most sensible and what didn’t work at all. When designing for kids there are certain considerations I had to keep in mind: there couldn’t be any small pieces that could pose a choking hazard; the product had to be sturdy enough to take a beating from a rambunctious child; the toy had to be easy enough for someone with limited fine motor skills and tiny hands to use. Keeping these things in mind, as well as the insights we learned through interviews, I iterated until we landed on a final prototype. Click through the slideshow below to see the progression of prototypes.

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Testing & Iterating

Throughout the prototyping process, we were constantly visiting families to test each version of our toy. Each testing session was extremely valuable and provided us with the feedback we needed to iterate and improve our product.

Prototype 1

Our first prototype had a large wooden platform and a conveyor mechanism that moved a plastic sheet across the artboard to change the scene. We realized the moving pieces were too complicated and the whole prototype was too big.

Prototype 2

Next, we prototyped a simple sheet of transparent acrylic on a small stand. Kids could use wet erase markers to draw on the artboard and stick laser-cut vinyl shapes to the screen. We created felt shapes with magnets inside to encourage collaboration; the magnets would only stick if both children applied them together.

Prototype 3

We decided we needed a way to store all of our accessories and props for play. Parents also indicated to us that it would be nice if the toy was portable and compact for travel and storage. I designed a base with storage for the accessories. In the closed position, the clear art board serves as a lid for the box; in the open position, it fits into a slot in the middle of the box, which serves as its base.

Prototype 4

For our final product, we wanted to use materials that were study but safe. Our acrylic box had chipped during a drop test, and the sharp corners would be dangerous to young children. We also wanted a natural look and feel; many parents mentioned they were attracted to the “old-fashioned” style of toys like Melissa & Doug, so we manufactured our toy with a wooden base and kept it as simple as possible.

Final Design & Manufacture

Once we were happy with the performance of our final prototype, it was time to produce it for resale. We sent our CAD designs overseas to have a few samples manufactured.

Final Thoughts