Back to list

BE YOURSELF FIRST, THEN BE A MOTHER

Supporting new mothers, our system deeply understands and addresses postpartum emotional needs to provide meaningful guidance and care.

Date

May 2023 - Aug 2023

Type

Service System

Role

UX/UI Designer

Background

Soaring Working Moms

Navigating Career and Family

23.2% of women face career setbacks due to marriage and parenthood, compared to 10.7% of men. Half seek balance, 20% prioritize careers, yet working moms report higher anxiety, highlighting the need for stronger support systems.

· 77.2% working mothers spend more than two hours a day on housework.

70% of mother with children under 18 participating in the labor force

The Challenge

How might we help working mothers efficiently manage their time and responsibilities across work, family, and personal growth, while reducing stress and enhancing their overall well-being?

Our high level goal were to:

Thrive in Every Role, Effortlessly.

Relieve stress with real-time support and mindful moments.

Simplify daily tasks with smart, time-saving solutions.

Unlock personal growth through meaningful opportunities.

Strengthen bonds with your child, even in a busy life.

Share your journey and connect with a supportive community.

KICKOFF

From Who to They

At first, we weren’t sure who our target users were. To figure this out, we started with an survey to identify three user patterns. Then, we conducted semi-structured interviews and room tours to better understand their needs and focus on specific user profiles.

Questions: Work & Life*10, Childcare*29, Work & Childcare*12

56 effective responses

Survey

2 College Teachers at 30ish

1 Housewife at 40ish

1 Clerical at 30ish

Semi-structured interview

Career Firsts

1-3

3-6

0-1

Focus Work

Focus Home

Usefulness

Aesthetics

*Child’s age

Life Balancer

Family Firsts

Synthesis

Hi!

I’m Jessica 🙋🏻‍♀️

A Career Person

“I’m more focused on my career, which means sacrificing time with family and relying on their support for home...”

Biography:

Frustration:

- Looking for career success and there is no time to spend with the children.

- Willing to pay money for children's upbringing, but emotional absence

- Parenting ideas clash with elders, but there is no one to talk.

Age:

Collage teacher

Job:

3 years old boy

Child:

4-6 with parents

Family:

Judy

Family Person

“Some say i’m traditional, I am! Family always comes the first, I don’t want to miss it.”

Biography:

Behavior:

Do her best to be involved in her child's development and give up career opportunities

Age:

Housewife

Job:

Tina

Life Balancer

“I tried my best to live, caring my 2 years baby, working 996. It’s stressing...”

Biography:

Behavior:

Like any working woman, she is faced with the dual demands of working and caring for her family.

Age:

Finance Worker

Job:

Career First

Mom

Child

Family First

Balancer

Husband

Work

Manager

Husband

Parents

house

keepers

Social Media

Community

Traditional conceptual constraints

Negotiation of working hours

Ask for help with childcare

Economic support

Division of labour

Support Parenting

Economic Support

Parent-child fun and socialising

Childcare facilities support

Childcare and planning

Pay and get support for housework

Share and ask

[fig 1]

Stakeholder maps: constructed based on three types of user themes

DISCOVERY

User Needs Stratification

After constructing Persona by extracting key user characteristics through research, we further define key users: Career Firsts, perform hierarchical clustering based on scenarios, and mine key user needs and existing solutions.

Special Scenario

Accompany & Records

Cross Scenarios

Time & Efficiency

Pressure Relief

Personal Values & Growth

Parenting Community

Scenario Specificity

Scenario Frequency

[chart 1]

Scenario clusters: Click quadrant thumbnails for details; Blank area to return.

DEEPER DISCOVERY

Focused Insights

By organizing key user scenarios and behavioral needs, we identified five distinct user contexts and highlighted their core requirements. These findings were further analyzed to extract actionable insights.

[fig 2] A mother need to work and look after their children at the same time

Working mothers have to juggle work, family and personal life. They want to work more efficiently, and young mothers like smart tools to help!

「Streamlining mandates」

「Time Management」

Time & Efficiency

[fig 3] A tired mother after a busy day

Working mothers juggle careers and families, leaving little time for self-care, leading to increased and neglected stress and health problems.

「Health monitoring」

「Stress Relief」

「Pressure Alert」

Pressure Relief

[fig 4] A mum who misses her own life

Personal Values & Growth

Mothers are often overwhelmed with life and have little time for self-care. Despite social norms that require mothers to play multiple roles, they still need to realise their self-worth.

「Personal Interests」

「Enriching Experiences」

[fig 5] Remote video call between working mum and child

Accompany & Records

Working mothers struggle to balance and often have limited time to spend with their children. However, they often want to be able to communicate more.

「Growth Record」

「Child Safety」

「Fun Companion」

[fig 6] Generate with AI

Parenting Community

Mothers like to share their children's development and ask for advice online, which is known as ‘parenting social sharing’. For working mothers, this is fulfilling and helpful.

「Sharing Life」

「Seeking support」

「Record」

DEFINE

Hierarchy of Insight

After obtaining detailed insights, defining success as well as detailed planning the hierarchy of user-centered insights is essential to the final design output.

With the insights hierarchy in place, we effectively perform design sprints based on the hierarchy and determine the most feasible design solution.

Time & Efficiency

Conveniently and intelligently helps users to plan their time and tasks, leaving more room for life and self.

Self-health concerns and stress relief appear important.

Pressure Relief

Providing mums with tools to communicate with children in ways that is both aesthetically pleasing as well as child friendly.

Accompany

Social media communication features and online communities

Parenting Community

Efficient time management and multi-channel platforms ensure time and information for personal growth

Personal Value & Growth

[Fig 7]

Hierachy Diagram of Insights .

SOLUTION

lifestyle manage platform centering working mom

In the midst of busy, high-pressure parenting and working lives, BeMe is committed to providing practical and convenient parenting support for young working mothers with children aged 6 and under.

Software-led interactive ecology for mothers' lives

APP

Intelligent time management integrating health resources, personal space, and an organic PUGC community for meaningful social interactions.

Accompany System

Mindful accompany system with meditation sphere for self-space and interactive blocks for remote bonding.”

BeME.

User

Children Store

Activity Platform

Meditation Resources

Physical health resources

Health monitor services

Consulting specialists

Government

Eating Well Resources

Arena

Internet

Service

Product Manufacturers

Society

personal info

Lifestyle

knowledge info

Accompany

Health Data

Ads

Product

Activities

Hardware Products

Funds

Diet Plan

Physical Plan

Knowledge Support

Reputation

Network Provider

Knowledge Support

Venue Information

Event Venue

Funds

Reputation

Meditation Resources

Funds

Schools

Community

socio-medical

[Fig 8]

Stakerholder Map

Stakeholders

Product & Service

Funds

Info

invisible value

EXPLORE

Usability Testing and Iteration

After completing the primary interaction prototype, we conducted a usability test to further validate its effectiveness. We recruited two working mothers in their early 30s, both holding a bachelor's degree, each with one child under the age of six.

[Fig 14]

Participants' interaction experience

Each session lasted approximately 30 minutes. Users were assigned five core tasks, one for each main feature module. Throughout the session, we asked them to Think-Aloud and closely observed every micro-interaction. Interaction times were precisely recorded to collect quantitative data.

[Fig 15]

Task Completion Timeline - P.1

[Fig 15]

Task Completion Timeline - P.2

Findings:

Interface Design:

Navigation Clarity: Navigation icons lacked semantic clarity, leading to misinterpretation (e.g., the “Explore” icon was associated with social media). Participants preferred paired text labels for better orientation.
Onboarding & Guidance: The meditation interface lacked onboarding cues and instructional content, resulting in confusion about its purpose.
Readability: Font size and visual hierarchy on the meditation homepage were insufficient, affecting readability.
Visual Differentiation: State transitions within the meditation flow (“Start,” “In Progress,” “End”) were visually too similar, reducing clarity.

Interface Design:

Navigation Clarity: Navigation icons lacked semantic clarity, leading to misinterpretation (e.g., the “Explore” icon was associated with social media). Participants preferred paired text labels for better orientation.
Onboarding & Guidance: The meditation interface lacked onboarding cues and instructional content, resulting in confusion about its purpose.
Readability: Font size and visual hierarchy on the meditation homepage were insufficient, affecting readability.
Visual Differentiation: State transitions within the meditation flow (“Start,” “In Progress,” “End”) were visually too similar, reducing clarity.

Interface Design:

Navigation Clarity: Navigation icons lacked semantic clarity, leading to misinterpretation (e.g., the “Explore” icon was associated with social media). Participants preferred paired text labels for better orientation.
Onboarding & Guidance: The meditation interface lacked onboarding cues and instructional content, resulting in confusion about its purpose.
Readability: Font size and visual hierarchy on the meditation homepage were insufficient, affecting readability.
Visual Differentiation: State transitions within the meditation flow (“Start,” “In Progress,” “End”) were visually too similar, reducing clarity.

Content Perception:

Target Audience Perception: Without clear positioning, users misinterpreted the app as a fitness tracker or postpartum health tool, highlighting the need for stronger user context.
Content Load: Participants found the app content-heavy, suggesting it might be better suited for highly structured or goal-oriented users.

SOLUTION

An Integrated App for Balance, Wellness, and Connection

Section 1

Time Management & Self Growth

Conveniently and intelligently helps users to plan their time and tasks, leaving more room for life and self.
Efficient time management and multi-channel platforms ensure time and information for personal growth

Tab: Plan

[Fig 9]

App Interface

Section 2

Pressure Relief

Self-health concerns and stress relief appear important.

Tab: HealthCare

[Fig 10]

App Interface

Tab: Meditation

Section 3

Parenting Community

Social media communication features and online communities

Tab: Explore

[Fig 11]

App Interface

Mindful Connections: A Companion System for Space and Bonding

Section 4

Breath Orb - Pressure Relief

[Fig 12]

Breath Orb Render

Section 5

Kinnect Bricks - Accompany

[Fig 13]

Kinnect Render & Interface

IMPACT

Recognized Excellence

Our design solutions have been well received by trial users, industry experts at SPOINT Design, and academic mentors at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Drawing on user feedback, our in-depth research into the target audience helped identify design elements that effectively addressed their needs. The ability to develop systems that meet complex requirements has been widely praised.

More projects

Platform design recentering working mothers' lives

BE YOURSELF FIRST, THEN BE A MOTHER

May 2023 - Aug 2023

Platform design recentering working mothers' lives

BE YOURSELF FIRST, THEN BE A MOTHER

May 2023 - Aug 2023

Platform design recentering working mothers' lives

BE YOURSELF FIRST, THEN BE A MOTHER

May 2023 - Aug 2023

Modular indoor play and storage product design

ENVISION KID-FRIENDLY PLAY STRUCTURES FOR COMPACT INDOOR SPACES

Sep 2024 - Dec 2024

Modular indoor play and storage product design

ENVISION KID-FRIENDLY PLAY STRUCTURES FOR COMPACT INDOOR SPACES

Sep 2024 - Dec 2024

Modular indoor play and storage product design

ENVISION KID-FRIENDLY PLAY STRUCTURES FOR COMPACT INDOOR SPACES

Sep 2024 - Dec 2024

All projects