Biba: Games to Get Kids Active on Playgrounds
Biba Games: One of a series of branded and unbranded Biba games made for parents and caretakers of kids aged 3-9.
Biba Play Tracker: An app that allows parents to track their kids' physical activity on the playground through Biba games
Design Director--Biba Ventures: Mobile Game and Product Design
Biba is a suite of mobile apps intended to get kids more active on playgrounds through a combination of imaginative role play and augmented reality markers.
My contribution here ran from user research to the development of our product's design philosophy to actualized design and testing--and everything in between. With a background in designing and researching for kids' digital educational experiences (see some prior published academic work here). Leading teams on multiple mobile projects, I've also had the opportunity to guide Biba projects in cooperation with multiple external partners and children's brands from across the age spectrum.
The project is chaired by Greg Zeschuk, formerly of BioWare, and Biba itself can already be found springing up at playground locations across North America. My talk on Biba's design philosophy was listed among the key trends from GDC 2015 at Pocket Gamer, and you can check out some press on the project here and here!
Products: 10+ Biba mobile games (iOS and Android), Biba Parents companion app (iOS and Android), Assorted Visualization
Had a great time delivering a design talk and panel at GDC 2015--and with Greg Z. to boot!
The joy of research! Above: a sample of the 100+ page Product Document I wrote (and try my hardest to keep up to date!) for Biba.
Tiny flows for tiny games! These flows evolve from paper sketches and come equipped with asset lists and references. I continue to populate these with proper assets as production carries on.
Research, then design, the more research! Above: a White Paper I wrote on Biba's research-grounded design philosophy. This would lead to my published research on Biba and heart rate activity (see Research for more).
Storyboards!
It's not all pretty docs. When dealing in new concepts/features, one needs to get quick and dirty to get the vision across. Fortunately, it doesn't take a masterpiece to communicate the basics of a design prior to getting buy-in. Everyone 'getting it' is the primary objective.
ALLFIT: Competition-Based Workout App for Gyms
Lead Product Designer--8 Leaf Digital Productions: ALLFIT LIFE
Provided the product and UX design for a simple fitness app intended to gamify exercise and good eating habits among small groups of friends. Scoring methodology was created by a series of trainers specializing in the field of health and fitness.
In collaboration with stakeholders, took design from basic UX states through prototype iteration to final design.
Product: ALLFIT Life App (iOS and Android)
A few screens from the app's wireframes w/notes.
Kids Educational Mobile Apps for Tablet
Tablet Wireframes: Education Box
Lead Product Designer--8 Leaf Digital Productions: EDUCATION BOX
Lead designer and UX for a unique project for kids that used tactile toys and blocks to interact with a touchscreen device in learning math and science. Unfortunately did not make it past the early stages, but definitely exemplary of the kinds of the MANY K-12 projects I've thoroughly enjoyed.
Online Resource Exchange Dashboard For the New Jersey State School Board
Lead Product Designer--8 Leaf Digital Productions: NEW JERSEY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE EXCHANGE
Was the Lead Product Designer for a tool facilitating educational resource sharing among teachers and students in the New Jersey school district. The tool was designed to be fully compliant with Common Core State Standards and is currently in a Phase 1 beta of its full roadmap deployment (njcore.org). Was responsible for feature development and UX design.
Wireframes for original NJExchange Inbox.
Wireframe-base comp for NJExchange Inbox