
Project 1
4 weeks
Brand Identity Designer
Understanding Our User:
Meet Emily!
Emily Johnson
36, Stay-at-home parent
Columbus, OH
"I'm managing everything—I just need something that keeps it all in one place."
Goals
- Organize daily routines, school events, and activities
- Plan meals, errands, and appointments
- Keep the whole family informed
- Reduce mental load
Frustrations
- Managing multiple kids' schedules mentally
- Kids forgetting responsibilities
- Too many disconnected tools (paper, apps, texts)
- Repeating the same reminders
Scenario
Emily is a mother of 3 (ages 5, 9, 12) and the central coordinator of the household. She constantly juggles schedules in her head and through sticky notes. She needs a single system where everything lives and updates automatically.
User Stories
"As a stay-at-home mom, I want to create and assign events to each child so that everyone knows what they need to do."
How Might We...
How might we create a single source of truth for the entire family's schedule?
How might we make schedules easy to understand at a glance for all ages?
How might we reduce coordination friction between multiple people?
User Journey & Design Opportunities
View family schedule
Pain points
Scattered information, no quick overview, hard to filter by person
Solutions
Shared dashboard, daily summary, color-coded schedules, role-based views
Add and organize events
Pain points
Manual entry is repetitive, recurring tasks are tedious, limited ownership
Solutions
Quick-add flow, recurring events, assign-by-person, personal event control
Share schedule with family
Pain points
Uneven coordination, too much responsibility on one parent, lack of role clarity
Solutions
Shared access, role-based permissions, personalized views
Receive reminders
Pain points
Constant verbal reminders, forgotten events, notification overload
Solutions
Smart reminders, leave alerts, personalized notification settings
Manage the day
Pain points
Stressful transitions, hard to know what's next, missing event details
Solutions
Live agenda, next-up cards, contact/location details, caregiver checklists