Designing an app to teach coding logic to children via games and missions

Miimo

Miimo AI wanted to create an app that could teach coding logic to children aged 4-10 through games and missions, with individualized learning paths to match each user’s progress. The app had to be easy to understand and fun to use, while still matching parents’ expectations. 

To help turn Miimo’s idea into a viable business strategy, we held design thinking workshops to brainstorm the main business goals, priorities and features, and create user personas. After extensive UX research and collaboration with our client’s designer, we created concept designs, wireframes, user flow charts that would meet the very niche needs of the users and the business.

Research-backed design

Conducted extensive research on competitors, game design, and the needs of young users

Gamified education

Created easy-to-understand user flows to keep children engaged and parents informed

Enabled launch and growth

Provided business validation and concepts for expanding user learning to additional subjects in the future

Our Process

We started by holding in-person design thinking workshops to better understand Miimo’s main goals, the features they wanted, and their key users. Following the brainstorm session, we conducted research into user behavior and competitors. After receiving feedback from Miimo, we created customer journey maps, user flows,  and concept and style guides. We also outlined guidelines for future growth and scalability.

Keeping kids engaged

Since the age range of users would be young children with short attention spans and who are prone to frustration, we needed to design an app that rewarded learning and had simple, clear onboarding. We researched user behavior, including the touch steadiness and dexterity of 4-10 year olds, and created concepts that suited these abilities.

The final concept incentivized learning by introducing the game’s character, Miimo, who could be looked after by using coins awarded for gameplay and daily log-ins to buy food, upgrades and other items.

Meeting the demands of parents

Another key user group are the parents of the kids learning to code, who have an additional set of needs and wants. We designed user flows for a parent dashboard, allowing parents to track their children’s progress through the lesson journey, review and limit time spent on the app, and see key achievements and success rates. 

Providing business validation

Miimo had a strong idea, but lacked the strategy to build an app that meets user needs and matches the market. After guiding workshops, brainstorming and research, we provided direction and business validation for the app design, user flows, and customer journeys from scratch. 

By the end of the project, we shaped Miimo’s innovative idea into a viable, user-centric product with planned stages for growth, scalability and localization.