Having looked at what SDG content was already out there, I noticed there was a real lack of content aimed at children by the UN. While the Infographics weren’t particularly engaging content, they were at least usable for the secondary school age range. I decided because of this to focus on the second half of the primary age range, around P4-P7. This is something I may narrow down later but it’s at least a starting point, as I think this age range is mature enough to learn about the SDGs but not through the content already out there.
As I hadn’t any experience designing for children before, I wanted to look into this. I started by reading Big Motive’s “Kids First” report, which is essentially a guide of how to design digital experiences for children.
There’s a lot in this report, some of which aren’t particularly relevant to the project, so I’ve picked out some of the key things I’ve learnt that I think will help me in this project.
Not All Children Are The Same - Children develop at shorter intervals than adults. You may design for adults in the age range of 30-40, and you may design for children in the age range of 6-9. Trying to cover all child ages in a design won’t work.
<aside> 💭 This was really interesting to me as I wasn’t sure about the exact age range I wanted my project to focus on. From this, I think it’ll be best for me to focus on the 8-11, which is mainly P5-P7.
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Consider Developmental Moments - Children will have limitations based on their age. For example, they may not understand intuitive actions the same way an adult might.
<aside> 💭 I hadn’t considered this before, but can see it is something really important. I’ll need to make sure my product is easily understandable as some children may not understand certain conventions in interfaces, so it’s vital to make sure everything is as clear as possible.
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Don’t Underestimate Young Users - Children are smarter than adults think they are. A child now is smarter than you when you were that age. Don’t underestimate them.
<aside> 💭 This is something I was conscious of going into this project, as I remember how boring a lot of educational apps and games were when I was a child. I really want to make sure my product doesn’t speak down to the users while still being understandable.
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I found this to be a good resource for the fundamentals of designing experiences for experiences that are engaging for children.
Learn 5 proven tips for designing for children
The points here are really useful and things I definitely want to think about for this project.
Create a Character - Children engage more when there’s a tangible face to relate to.
<aside> 💭 This is something I want to consider carefully as it’s not just enough to use a character but it needs to be a character that appeals to children. I think this will really help to engage the children into the SDGs.
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