Meta Family Center
Redesigned Meta Family Center to be inclusive of modern family dynamics, improving user experience through research and prototypes.
Team
UC Berkeley UMA Design Team
Sia Partners
DELIVERABLES
UX Research + Interactive Prototype
Year
Fall 2023
Role
UX Design Consultant
I Introductions
Background
My UMA Design team partnered with Sia Partners to conduct a comprehensive analysis and refinement of Meta Family Center's UX and inclusivity content strategies.
Meta Family Center (MFC)
Meta Family Center is a tool that allows guardians to manage their family's online experiences across Meta technologies like Instagram and Meta Quest. It provides monitoring tools and educational resources to promote digital safety and support responsible online behavior.
Problem
Meta Family Center's current emphasis on parental controls overlooks the diverse needs of modern families, particularly younger users, neglecting, for example, sibling supervision and direct media literacy education.
How might we expand Meta Family Center to better address the diverse needs of modern family dynamics?
This overview provides a glimpse into my project and valuable learning experience as project details are under NDA.
II Research
We began by evaluating the Meta Family Center (MFC) user experience via a UX audit, SWOT analysis, and user research (300+ surveys and usability tests). This uncovered initial impressions, pain points, and user personas representing diverse modern families. A major challenge identified was younger users' skepticism towards MFC providing monitoring tools and education resources due to Meta's brand image, a key threat that significantly influenced our design and content strategy.
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III Design
Solution
Following thorough research and brainstorming, my team translated our findings into low-fidelity wireframes, addressing key pain points identified in usability testing and audits for each Meta Family Center (MFC) page.
The Home Page was envisioned as a clear navigational hub providing immediate user orientation, addressing the original version's lack of guidance on MFC's functionality.
The Family Center Tools page was redesigned to include app-specific instructions with animated demonstrations, replacing a lengthy PDF to improve user engagement, with further resources linked.
The Education Hub was restructured with a refined information architecture, featuring clear topic categorization and typographic hierarchy, and incorporating the advisor board to build user credibility.
Further Recommendations included the need for more inclusive representation in MFC's content, integrating the 'Our Advisors' section directly into the landing page and Education Hub, and the potential for a community dashboard to foster peer support and resource sharing.
Process
Leveraging research and client feedback on our initial recommendation layout, my team developed a high-fidelity interactive prototype emphasizing animated Meta Family Center Tools demonstrations, a community dashboard, and examples of diverse and inclusive content.
IV Reflection
Wide Target Audience
This project was targetting a wide range of users, from kids to parents to non-traditional families. This was challenging because each demographic had different needs and user stories. User interviews provided valuable insights that helped us understand different perspectives, which was crucial for shaping our approach.
Next Steps
My next step for Meta Family Center would be to create a more interactive education hub, moving beyond text articles to offer structured courses and developed syllabi to empower guardians and young users. Meta's extensive resources could deliver comprehensive and engaging media literacy education.