YUNQING JI
RangerBuddies
Ranger Buddies empowers children to be heroes every day through fun and exciting missions. Little daily actions built into missions on the Ranger Buddies web app teach children C.O.U.R.A.G.E. and inspire them to care for themselves, others, and the Earth.
Click here to embark on an enthralling RB experience:
RangerBuddies official website:
iF Design Award 2023 winner:
This programme is presented by Mandai Wildlife Reserve, my role in this project is Product Designer and Assistant PM, deeply involved in the design and development process from ideation to implementation, including subsequent product iterations.
We're planning to organize fun and engaging offline campaigns as well as partnering with schools to inspire and educate children in Singapore and beyond about environmental conservation. Our goal is to ignite a passion for environmentalism in young minds and empower them to take action for a sustainable future.
🚧 Challenge: RB started as an experimental MVP, the product prototype quickly validated its feasibility but also exposed many design shortcomings. It requires continuous iteration to improve the product to better suit the target users (kids aged 4-10), and to evolve th MVP into a full-fledged, gamified learning experience that could scale to national rollout.
🎯Objective:
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Increase engagement and retention.
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Ensure educational outcomes were being met in an age-appropriate way.
🛣️ Process: Using a two-week sprint cycle for rapid iteration, we adopted a dual-track approach of design and development.
🍎 Outcome: Since Nov 2021, cumulative registered family account: 20,000, reached out to 30,000 children, weekly retention rate: 21%.
Revamping after MVP
After the MVP launch, we redesigned RangerBuddies to improve user retention, gameplay, and UI/UX.
The original landing page showed only a list of missions, which led to low engagement and early drop-offs, as revealed through user research. We decided to revamp the app starting from the Home page.
Research
Initial Research:
We have conducted stakeholder interviews and reviewed competitor platforms like Khan Academy, Duolingo to understand their interaction models.
We also performed design audits on the MVP to identify usability gaps with stakeholders.
User Research with Children:
We conducted several observation sessions, inviting zoo visitors to try out the MVP product. We observed how children interacted with it and had brief conversations with them afterward.
Insights:
Children need frequent feedback and reward.
Clear iconography and minimal text to support diverse cognitive levels.
Tasks must align with short attention spans and multiple learning styles.
Concept Development and Usability Testing
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Introduced a badge system using the concept of collecting as incentive.
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Reimagined the Home page user flow into an open world structure with categorisation.
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Redesigned visual elements (and other micro feedback) to help users feel confident and competent while navigating and using the app.
Following the concept direction, we have designed an updated Home page prototype and bring it to stakeholder review. During review meeting, stakeholders feedback on the prototype and we decided to proceed with a usability testing.
The first usability testing was conducted between 4 participants, and they were ask to complete 3 tasks:
- Navigate on map
- Find an activity
- Complete an activity
All participants completed task successfully, and able to navigate in app confidently.
Refine design elements
Gathered and grouped feedbacks from usability test, we see opportunity points in our design while the overall design direction was correct. We then further enhanced and finalised the design elements.
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Simplified overall task completion flow.
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Enhanced animations and sound effect.
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Adjusted color contrast and icon design to ensure accessibility.
Deliver new design
Apply new design language to the application, consolidated design guide, and collaborate with development team to deliver new deign into production. After new design launched, user interaction rate and retention rate has increased significantly.
Old Design
New design
