Next Chapter. Mom Life.
A Community platform for Supporting Young Mothers in their Transition to Motherhood.
Introduction
Next Chapter. Mom Life. is a supportive community platform designed to empower moms as they navigate the next phase of motherhood. It provides a space for connection, shared experiences, and valuable resources, fostering meaningful discussions on parenting, self-care, and personal growth.
With a focus on inclusivity and real-life support, the platform helps moms build relationships, access expert insights, and find inspiration for balancing motherhood with their evolving personal and professional journeys.
Challenge
Create an engaging community platform for young mothers who often face emotional challenges, including postpartum depression, and lack adequate support systems to help them cope with physical changes of becoming a mother.
Next Chapter. Mom Life.
Solution
To help first-time moms I created a comprehensive digital community to support and connect new mothers. A platform features a user-friendly interface where mothers can access valuable resources, such as articles, videos, and expert advice.
Process
It all began with research to design a solution: I conducted user interviews, created a questionnaire that allowed to guide the process and created a sitemap based on participants feedback on important points through their experience as a young mother. Young mothers often face emotional challenges, including postpartum depression, and lack adequate support systems to help them cope with physical changes of becoming a mother.
01 Research
For my user research, I recruited 5 participants from diverse backgrounds to ensure a comprehensive understanding of first-time mothers’ challenges. Participants’ age when they became a mother ranged from 21 to 31 years young.
For a deeper research I asked participants how they coped with transitioning to motherhood, what resources they explored during and after the pregnancy, and what support system they had through their journey.
02 Persona
Based on the insights gathered, I developed a persona to represent my target users. This persona helped guide the design process by keeping the users' needs and experiences at the forefront.​
About: Emily lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband,
Jake. They are expecting their first child in three months.
Emily has always been career-focused but is excited and a
bit anxious about the upcoming changes in her life.
Pain Points
• Overwhelmed by the vast amount of information about
pregnancy and childbirth
• Lack of support
• Anxious about physical and emotional changes ahead
“We are expecting our firstborn in 3 months, and I want to be prepared to what is to come. I want to have a support website where I can ask any question when I become a mom.”
Needs and Goals
• Trustworthy and clear information about pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn care.
• Supportive community to connect with other expectant
mothers who share similar experiences and challenges.
• Emotional support
• Encouragement
Emily
Age: 24
Occupation: Systems Administrator Marital Status: Married
Key Insights
Young mothers often suffer with postpartum depression and do not open up to their partners about their emotional struggles in transitioning to motherhood.
This led me to ask…
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How can I help young mother to locate accurate information on what to expect through pregnancy and after?
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How can I connect them to other mothers with similar experience and questions?
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How can I provide resources and support to young mothers through such pivotal transition?
02 Ideation
I brainstormed various features that could support new mothers. I used collaborative tools such as FigJam to visualize and prioritize these ideas ensuring they aligned with the key pain points identified during user research.
03 Design
I started with sketches of the features emphasized in my research and created a dozen variations of the website layout that would be easy to navigate.
04 Wireframes
After my research, ideation and sketches, I chose the best design for the website that best met user needs and began wireframing the pages. Shown below are the low-fidelity wireframes and then the high-fidelity version of the page's design.
Usability Testing
I conducted user testing sessions with three participants individually gathering feedback and suggestions for improvement.
Feedback & Improvement
Based on feedback from usability testing and participants’ review of the high-fidelity wireframes, I continued to iterate my designs.
Changed the products of the pregnancy to be first and then items relevant to babies
Based on feedback from usability testing, it was suggested to add a page for postpartum support since young mothers emphasize the lack of support after giving birth.
Brief description of Postpartum and how to begin a recovery journey
Articles on self-care that include emotional well-being and how to regain control over your life.
Result
I designed a community website for first time young mothers to have an ability to obtain support in a time of need. For users to have a support system through transitioning to motherhood. Each page provides a unique information and content for each phase of transitioning to motherhood.
