A Video Search Website for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

A Video Search Website for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Website Concept Date: 9/27/13 Design Concept: KidVid Finder Designer: Melissa Taylor OVERVIEW KidVid Finder is a video search website tailored to be easy-to-use for children, particularly those with Autism Spectrum Disorder. It is also designed to provide easy monitoring and rating of videos by the child's parents and care-givers. The main purpose of this website is to provide a more safe and censored entertainment video site where autistic children have clear access to the types of videos they are searching for without the inundation of advertisements or risk of stumbling accross inappropriate content. CONSIDERATIONS Children's user sensitivities that were taken into account were affinity for cartoon characters, bright colors, large typography, avoidence of all capitals, and simple and clear navigation. Autism-specific sensitivities that were considered during design include hypersensitivity to the following: too many colors and too high of contrast, blinking or flashing elements, pop-ups, unexpected results (music or sound elements); as well as a high affinity for tactility. An estimated 1 in 50 children is diagnosed with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder Children on the Mild to Moderate range have purposeful communication and can acquire reading skills Autism varies drastically from case to case so age is less of a deciding target factor than reading level and independence

Target Character Profile Millie is a 9 year old girl who has been diagnosed with mild to moderate Autism. She exhibits some typical symptoms including difficulty clearly expressing her wants or needs, understanding social cues, and has repetitive behaviors such as repeating words to herself. She reads at about a first grade level and is slow to improve. Millie has issues with eating certain textures and prefers to avoid hard or crunchy things. Her favorite foods are mashed potatoes, apple sauce, and macaroni and cheese. Millie's favorite toy is a stuffed Tinker Bell doll that she carries with her everywhere. When she sees something that looks fairy-related she will get excited and call it Tinker Bell repeatedly. She will happily watch any of the Tinker Bell movies over and over for an entire day if permitted. Millie's family has a desktop computer that she is allowed to use on occasion. Her father also has a tablet device that she gets to play with from time to time. Millie has been known to search for very basic things on the computer and knows how to go to YouTube and find videos of full-size Tinker Bells like the one she saw at Disney Land with her family.

Mood Board Creation The mood board theme is meant to be inviting and friendly with a lot of soft comforting textures to invoke a feeling of security. The color pallette was chosen in part for being soothing and mellow, and also to provide a logical environment for a character to reside in.

Site Map / Website Architecture As there are two different target users of the website, there are also two different navigational set-ups. The primary user (the child) has a very simple path set before them with limited options. The available pages and content targeted toward the parent provide some parallel functionality, but with more options and complexity. Home - Initial Home - Return or Child Navigation SEARCH Favorites Parental Navigation Search Results Video Display Information Parent Rating Help Contact What Makes KidVid Finder Special? Account How Does it Work? How Can I Customize it? Playlist SEARCH Viewed by Child Video Display Search Results Within Display of Parent Rating Page

Design Introduction OLIVER THE OWL Oliver was chosen as the character guide for KidVid for the association of owls with wisdom and knowledge as well as his simplistic shape that would be clear at large and small scales. YARN TREE Oliver's home had to be comforting and inviting; a nice place to relax and watch videos. Soft textures such as felt and yarn were manipulated and scanned to provide a visual tactile softness. TYPOGRAPHY The typeface chosen fit the desired criteria shown to be more legible and appealing to children including: rounded end strokes, long ascenders and descenders, distrinction between difficult characters such as 'o' and 'a', and a 'friendly, informal' feel. LAYOUT Primary user functions are oversized and centralized with few options. Secondary parental navigation is considerably smaller and tucked both at the very top and at the footer.

Computer Home Page for New User

Computer Home Page for Returning User

New User Home Page Text Box has pulsing type Indicator Parental Navigation Home Page Functionality Upon first visit to KidVid Finder, Oliver introduces himself on top of a welcome bubble, and asks the new user their name. After they enter their name a search bar will appear and they can start exploring Secondary Parental Navigation Time-Out Oliver Text: If you'd rather not tell me your name, I'll just call you 'Friend'. Would you like to search for some videos? Returning User Home Page Favorites Button Added A returning user will be recognized by Oliver (via cookies), and welcomed back. They will have immediate access to the search bar as well as a favorites button which stores videos they have starred as 'favorites' by rank of most watched, followed by other most-watched videos. If a returning user does not use the star function, the videos they watch the most will be automatically stored here in the rank of most watched to least. In both cases if nothing is entered after a period of time Oliver will acquire a pulsing glow to encourage clicking on him. When clicked he will offer helpful suggestions. Text Box has pulsing type Indicator Time-Out Oliver Text: You can search for anything you'd like in the box below, or go to the star button above to see videos you've watched before.

Computer Search Results Page

Computer Search Results Page Term(s) Searched for displayed here New Search if desired If any of these were starred by the user it would display here Number of Pages up to 5, then the last page number Back Button will appear next to 'More Button if user is on pager after '1' 6 Clickable Thumbnails at a time Oliver is clickable for hints The results page shows 6 result videos at a time with a title and indication of the duration of the video. There is a large 'More' button to see more results and after moving to the next page a back button will appear as well. There is also a search bar for doing a new search. Oliver is also clickable and will have a subtle pulsing glow if hovered over or if nothing is clicked after a certain period of time. If he is clicked a speech bubble will appear providing hints to the user. Time-Out Oliver Text: You can watch any of the videos displayed here by clicking on them. If you want to see other videos of [search term] click the arrow button above my head.

Computer Video Display Page

Computer Video Display Page Term(s) Searched for displayed here Progress Bar - Ball moves in time with video Star Button adds video to favorites Video Time Progression / Total Time Volume Buttons Standard Play Buttons New Search if desired Displays current video title The video display page keeps the essential functionality of standard video players, but leaves off overly complicating comments and functionality. A specifically different feature is the 'star' button which will store the video in the user's favorites as well as be displayed on the thumbnail of the video in search results. Time-Out Oliver Text: To watch the video click anywhere on the player screen, or hit the triangle play button above my ear.

Computer Parent Information Page

Computer Parent Information Page Further information options Back Button on all adult pages in case child accidentally comes here The Information Page gives a quick break-down of what the site is and whom it's designed for. Further information can be found in it's three sub-pages: What Makes KidVid Finder Special? (a more detailed explanation of the site's unique considerations and purpose), How Does it Work?, and How Can I Customize It?. The large back button remains on all adult pages in case the primary user accidentally clicked on that page.

Computer Parent Rating Page

Computer Parent Rating Page Basic Information about Parent Ratings Will hide paragraph and change to a down arrow that says 'Show Rating Infomation' Child User's Name Overall Rating by Parents using the website Parent User's rating (would be solid stars if rated) Star Icon if Child has starred Add to Playlist Button Flag as Inappropriate The Parent Rating page gives a brief overview of how the parent's participation helps to improve the website overall as well as how they can monitor and customize what their child sees. The page shows what videos have been watched by the child and what they have starred. The parent can watch and rate these videos or flag them for being inappropriate, or search for new videos they want to put in a playlist for their child. Some of these features would only be available if the parent creates an account. After the first visit to this page the basic information would be minimized with only the 'Show Rating Information button visible to show more video results.

Mobile Home Page for Returning User Vertical Orientation Horizontal Orientation

Mobile Home Page for Returning User Similar to the computer version, the mobile design for KidVid Finder opens with Oliver (prompting depending on whether the child is a new or returning user). Because the site is designed to be simplistic and have limited options there is little difference between the mobile and computer home pages. Oliver's time-out functionality carries over to mobile as well. Parental Navigation Favorites Button Text Box has pulsing type Indicator Time-Out Oliver Text: You can search for anything you'd like in the box below, or go to the star button above to see videos you've watched before.

Mobile Search Results Page

Mobile Search Results Page Term(s) Searched for displayed here New Search if desired Back Button will appear next to 'More Button if user is on pager after '1' If any of these were starred by the user it would display here 6 Clickable Thumbnails at a time The Main change in the mobile search results from the computer one is that Oliver is not present. There are still up to six search results per page, access to favorites and access to a new search. The search button in this case will bring up a separate page with a search bar rather than have the search bar available on the page.

Mobile Video Display Page

Mobile Video Display Page Displays current video title New Search if desired Volume Buttons Standard Play Buttons Star Button adds video to favorites Video Time Progression / Total Time The mobile video display page maintains the same functionality as the computer version, but again, without the aid of Oliver. The search term is no longer viewable, and instead the title of the video is at the top of the screen. As with the search result page the user can still create a new search but it will bring to a new search page, rather than having the search bar within this page.

Mobile Information Page

Mobile Information Page Further information options Back Button on all adult pages in case child accidentally comes here The mobile Information Page has little difference from the computer version except that the back button is smaller and the tree background and favorites star are no longer visible.

Mobile Parent Rating Page

Mobile Parent Rating Page Basic Information about Parent Ratings Will hide paragraph and change to a down arrow that says 'Show Rating Infomation' Star Icon if Child has starred Child User's Name Overall Rating by Parents using the website Parent User's rating (would be solid stars if rated) Add to Playlist Button Flag as Inappropriate The mobile parent rating page displays the same information as the computer version, but with less immediately visible results of what the child user has watched. As with the computer version the parent can watch and rate videos or flag them for being inappropriate, or search for new videos they want to put in a playlist for their child. If this page has been viewed before the text will automatically hide (with the option to expand and show the overview information) in order to show more video results.

Project Summary KidVid Finder is a video search website that offers a safe and friendly environment for children to be entertained and provides piece of mind to their parents and care-givers. Designed with children that have Autism Spectrum Disorder in mind, the site has many unique attributes to make it more inviting and easier to use including: Simple, limited navigation for children users Large easy-to-read and click buttons Friendly, tactile interface with a character guide Safe, censored video results to keep adult content and ads out No flashing, blinking, or sudden pop-ups Parental monitoring, rating, and customization options designed by 443.812.8006 melissaltaylor@gmail.com www.melissataylordesigns.com