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Our Guide to a Hands-on Approach to Designing for Kids
Dan Brohman • September 23, 2019
The pinnacle of designing a successful product lies in understanding its target market - be it for adults or children. On the latter, their cognitive skills are still a work-in-progress in comparison to a well-developed mental acuity of adults. For that reason, designing for them is no child’s play as it involves highlighting clear, specific instructions that spark a kid’s imagination.
In addition to having stimulating content, designers must need to analyze their playful habits and translate them into digital insights. It also involves conducting usability tests with children as they tend to have less consistent behaviour compared to an older demographic. To that end, here is what the age difference means to your design perspective:
Age isn’t just a Number
Designing for a four-year-old and a ten-year-old varies significantly as the overall development curve is steep. This means that one year can make a world of difference in their cognitive progress, which are generally divided into the following categories:
- Three to Five - With under-developed motor skills, designing for this age group requires immediate visual and audio stimulation. The content must be interactive as they don’t read or listen, but rather play with the elements happening within the screen. This is ideal for educational apps that focus on teaching kids through informational gameplay.
- Six to Eight - This age group can read, though their vocabulary remains limited and straightforward. The design must include instructions that are easy to digest for smooth navigation.
- Nine to Twelve - The group relatively close to the mental capacity of adults, kids that are in this age group are comfortable with technology. They can scan content fast as they know what they want to see.
Additionally, designers have more freedom to play around as they can learn how to do things in unique ways. The fast-paced world today means that they have shorter attention spans, so it’s best to stick to bite-sized information to keep your product engaging.
Children Need Instant Results
When kids interact with an interface, they tend to gravitate towards an active design that provides instant reactions in a game form. For instance, add audio and visual cues that can help explain the goal of the game and its playstyle. You can execute it by animating the instructions and the proper sequences to help the kids understand what to do.
Use Existing Mental Models to Help Kids Accomplish Tasks
While kids don’t have a fully developed cognitive capacity, most already have tacit knowledge of how the world works. This means they can relate to existing mental models, which can reduce the effort needed to help them navigate how the website or app works.
For example, using metaphors in drawing games can help kids connect individual images with specific interactions. In a colouring book, instead of having a “redo” and “undo” button, you can replace the words with an eraser to symbolize an action.
An effective design reduces the cognitive load needed to understand and interact with a particular system. Artists must have the ability to observe how each age group absorbs and reacts to your interface to achieve a transparent design for kids. To that end, a good design considers the cognitive capacity of kids to create an app or site that brings joy rather than frustration.
If you’re looking for a digital marketing & website design agency in Quebec, get in touch with us for a free consultation.
Tips & Tricks From The CAAD Team
If you’re looking for a digital marketing & website design agency in Quebec, get in touch with us for a free consultation.
If you’re looking for a digital marketing & website design agency in Quebec, get in touch with us for a free consultation.
Using good colour in web design is crucial. There's a ton of research that shows colours can influence a potential customer's mood, and frame of mind. A solid and coherent colour scheme can impact the effect of your website tremendously!
If you’re looking for a website designer in Quebec, get in touch with us for a free consultation.
If you’re looking for a digital marketing agency in Quebec, get in touch with us for a free consultation.
If you’re looking for a digital marketing & website design agency in Quebec, get in touch with us for a free consultation.
If you’re looking for a digital marketing & website design agency in Quebec, get in touch with us for a free consultation.
