littleBits Base Inventor Kit
The littleBits Base Inventor Kit allows kids to explore and understand how technology works. Through the invention builds, learning content, and app connected play activities that come with the Base Inventor Kit, kids are guided through a STEAM based learning experience that challenges them to invent new ways to solve problems for their family, friends, and their community.
My Role
I was a Product Designer for this kit and worked with cross-functional teams within the littleBits company. I worked on nearly every aspect of the kit from concept, design, user experience, creation of modular templates, building play interactions & activities, user testing with over 80 children across NYC, to writing, filming, and directing a series of guided instruction videos for the littleBits App. I also developed and implemented the user flow with Software and Product teams for delivering all video instructions, which was later executed in the apps for two additional kits that I worked on in the littleBits Inventor series.
Research
We went through several rounds of the iterative design process. We began with research into kids who have created their own inventions. Then moved on to brainstorming, capturing all of our ideas through writing and drawing rough sketches. Once we grouped and matched the ideas into categories, we narrowed them down to a handful and started building out some very rough prototypes to see what took shape and stuck.
Iterative Prototyping
We created a new, more modular system of building templates for littleBits. We created a set of parameters to ensure that all three kits as well as future kits would have a cohesive and intuitive template design. Detailed video instructions are a part of the littleBits app experience, but a graphic number system on the templates allows kids to build without instructions. There are also directional arrows and color signifiers that provide further visual cues. This system was important to include, not only to make building the templates more intuitive, but to also capture kids that lack the attention span for video instructions.
User Testing & Feedback
Once simple prototypes were made, we started our first round of user interviews and testing. We workshopped the concept, interviewed our target age range, and user tested the prototypes with over 80 children at a range of schools across NYC. We took all of this feedback put it all back into our process, continuing to improve on our ideas and prototypes.
Instruction Set User Flow
From our user testing we found that kids wanted to build the templates and follow along with each activity, but they needed very clear instructions to accomplish the in app challenges. We realized we needed to come up with a unique way to deliver these instructions since we were dealing with an age range of kids at varied reading levels. I took lead on this part of the project and developed the instruction and learning content user flow for the mobile app, wrote the copy for each step of the instructions, executed and directed hundreds of videos, styled video content to create a cohesive look and feel across the kit.
