Nutshell
Build a custom parental leave plan to get the most out of your state and employer’s benefits, so you can spend more time bonding with your newborn.
The Problem
Expecting parents face a ton of challenges when determining how they’re going to take time off post-birth. While FMLA protects parents from losing their jobs for up to 12 weeks, parents still expect some level of income loss during that period unless their employer provides coverage otherwise.
Parents who wish to maximize the amount of time with their newborn, while still being able to pay the bills, have to navigate a messy web of regulations from their employer, city, and state.
Users & Audience
Nutshell’s early target users are young professionals. They have a strong preference for efficiency and productivity, looking to plan for upcoming events months in advance.
A key differentiator of this group discovered during research is that they are excited by finishing a checklist. They love to use apps like Evernote and To-Do to manage their entire lives.
Team & Role
Given my experience validating the customer problem and concept solution, I was brought in to design the app experience and lead the development process.
I coordinated and led all facets of design including: information architecture, user task flows, interaction, visual, product, and prototyping. I also conducted user research using methodologies such as interviews, surveys, landing page A/B tests, and participatory design in order to address both user behavior and attitudes.
Design Process
Our team first ran through a series of experiments to prove both the business viability as well as consumer desirability. We used landing pages, surveys, and interviews in conjunction with a lightweight mobile prototype to identify MVP requirements and features.
Although we knew there were more features that could be built, we prioritized these features to develop first.
A detailed onboarding questionnaire around the specific components of a person’s expected and desired leave.
A visualized roadmap of income (and corresponding sources) for the leave period
A checklist of items ranging from the must do (file your leave with your state) to the suggested.
We then mapped out user flows based on these features. At this point, we began to test simple wireframes with our most passionate and vocal early users. These users mapped out ideal flows and we incorporated those in the final design.
User Interface Design
Our objective was to get users using the plan and checklist as quickly as possible in order to get the most feedback.
We also kept the interface simple to help our developers as they took this from mockup to MVP in just 10 weeks.
