Lessons Learned on Designing for Kids

Children are imaginative, energetic and can cause quite some trouble.

Tim Dekker

Published in

The Startup

4 min readJun 18, 2019

After 30+ interviews, workshops, usability tests, co-design sessions and playing with kids I wrote down my insights.

Hopefully they will help you.

This is all based on my experience in creating TAQA, a smart object (PoC) helping refugee children with PTSD improve resiliency.

If you prefer listening over reading, this podcast from the Dallas Design Sprint talks about the details of this article.

Play breeds discussion / Turning tasks into games

Be prepared to walk away with play-doh all over your shirt.

Especially the younger and shy kids are very reserved. Regular interview questions won’t cut it. To help them feel comfortable, try to lead by example start building/drawing something and let them play along.

Give clear tasks with enough freedom. Long explanations? Sleepy. Too much constraints? Boring!

Don’t ask them to build a three stage rocket with a fusion jet, just ask them to think of something that flies. Some younger kids asked for examples first. The next sessions I made sure I had those prepared.

After giving them something to do and play with, I learned that they are more likely to share their thoughts and feelings. Talking about their drawings/creations is easier than talking directly.

So dust off your old LEGOs and bring lots of toys & arts and craft materials.

one of the co-designing sessions with plenty of materials

Interacting over interviewing & testing

Words are just one way to communicate right? Crayons are excellent replacements for mouths.

Don’t just let the kids play, play together. Again, lead by example. It helps getting in their mindset and bridge the gap between researcher and participant. Kids need a bit more follow up questions than adults because they are not that self aware yet.

What usually helps, but can be quite tiring, is pairing them up with 1 or 2 friends. It helps feeling comfortable and they riff off each other while working, they just interview themselves. You don’t have to do a thing! (kidding of course) In one case I had 2 Syrian girls where only one spoke dutch, she was so kind to help translate everything.

Break the ice, set the mood

Strangers are scary.

Luckily you are a friend in disguise!

Most kids are uneasy at first. Putting a name to your face helps a lot. So before asking anything from them, start with a simple “Hi, My name is… “What’s yours?”

You get bonus points for crouching down to face them. I found it makes them see you as someone like minded. Some background music and of course some small snacks helps setting the right mood and make them open up more.

Also some self awareness exercises during introduction work wonders with setting the stage for the test. “What did you do today?” is enough to help them mindfully reflect, improving their self awareness.

Setting clear boundaries

A short attention span is great if you constantly have to explore the world around you.

Not that great for in depth interviews.

Especially the heavier traumatised boys are generally more impulsive and energetic. A clear goal and set boundaries are needed for a session with good results.

The first time I had two boys running after each others, ending up with me sweating my ass off chasing them. I realised I didn’t explain the boundaries well enough, when I did explain what the next steps were and after we would play, they were very happy to complete the excise and even surprised me with their enthusiasm and creativity.

Be mindful of child development stages

Children grow fast; some children develop faster than others in one aspect or all of them.

Age is a good general differentiator, but doesn’t work very well as an indicator of skill. A 6 year old child can be more experienced in motor skills than an 8 year old:

Motor skills (digital/ physical prowess)
Social Skills (language, relationships)
Cognitive Skills (memory)

The GDPR and DPA 2018 also specify that if you rely on consent for any aspects of your online service, you need to get parental authorisation for children under 13.

Source: age-appropriate-design-code-for-public-consultation

Have fun

Don’t take it all to seriously, leave some room to just play around. Maybe learn a thing or two from them, they have a very interesting worldview and are surprisingly aware of their social context:

Plus this is your chance to play with toys!

Key takeaways

The kids are surprisingly imaginative and optimistic even after all they’ve been through. Maybe precisely because of what they went through. They come up with things I couldn’t dream off, they just need a bit more stimulation and comfortability.

I believe most of the techniques I used also apply for adults. Getting comfortable, speaking the same language etc. They all help increase interactivity among designer and user.

Thanks Berit for your remarks, and Rory for your proofread