Back to list

BE YOURSELF FIRST, THEN BE A MOTHER

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

Date

May 2023 - Aug 2023

Service

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 🙋🏻‍♀️

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

Cross Scenarios

Accompany & Records

Pressure Relief

Time & Efficiency

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.

Planning for insights involves focusing on the importance and realisability of insights based on user requirements.

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

Working mothers' lifestyle platform design

In the midst of a busy and high-pressure parenting and working life, BeMe is committed to providing functional and convenient parenting support for young working mothers with children aged 6 years old and below, combining an online platform design with appropriate supporting service system.

[Fig 8]

Value Stream

[Fig 9]

Value Proposal

Take two step and find the best of BeMe

The Design Directions are focused, but the design solutions are multifaceted. BeMe will serve young working mothers with an online multifunctional platform and supporting service system. Therefore there are two phases (two steps) to build the complete BeMe platform

SOLUTION

Online Platform

More projects

Kollab

HAVE YOU EVER COMPLAINT AND SOUGHT NEW WAYS OF COLLABORATION?

Apr - Jul, 2023

Kollab

HAVE YOU EVER COMPLAINT AND SOUGHT NEW WAYS OF COLLABORATION?

Apr - Jul, 2023

Kollab

HAVE YOU EVER COMPLAINT AND SOUGHT NEW WAYS OF COLLABORATION?

Apr - Jul, 2023

MoodZen

HAS A SCENT EVER WHISPERED YOU BACK TO A MOMENT IN TIME?

Jun - Sep, 2023

MoodZen

HAS A SCENT EVER WHISPERED YOU BACK TO A MOMENT IN TIME?

Jun - Sep, 2023

MoodZen

HAS A SCENT EVER WHISPERED YOU BACK TO A MOMENT IN TIME?

Jun - Sep, 2023

All projects