Voot Kids

Kids Streaming Platform

Product & UX Design

Project Details

  • Client

    Viacom18 India

  • Team

    UxD & VootKids India

  • Date

    Summer 2017

Children's streaming platform that parents can love

Viacom18 needed to create a premium subscription product tailored exclusively for children, leveraging their extensive library of kids’ content spanning video, eBooks, and audiobooks. The goal was to design VootKids as a one-stop destination for entertainment and education, with a kid-friendly interface and gamified environment to engage young users while providing parents with tools to manage usage and ensure safety. By blending entertainment with learning and offering localized content in multiple languages, VootKids aimed to captivate children and convince parents of its value, setting a new benchmark for kids' digital experiences in India.

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Discovery

To understand how children interact with digital platforms, interviews were conducted with three children aged 4 to 8 years old, providing direct insights into their behaviors and preferences. Additionally, survey responses from 28 parents across India, Singapore, Australia, the UK, and North America highlighted diverse expectations and usage patterns in different regions. These studies helped pinpoint six strategic insight areas: Personalisation, Control, Discovery, and Engagement. Through competitive analysis and extensive conversations with both children and parents, key opportunities were identified. Children sought an experience that was instantly captivating and narrowly focused on their favorite content, while parents emphasized the importance of managing their children’s screen time and online activities effectively.

The culmination of this research led to a comprehensive concept for VootKids, blending immediate child appeal with the control Indian parents desired. The proposed experience allowed children to dive straight into their favorite shows and games while ensuring parents retained oversight of what their children engaged with online. This dual focus on entertainment and parental control became the foundation for the design process

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Research and content strategy presentation

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Interviews with kids aged 4–8

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Research findings and insights

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Sketching and prototping activities

Wireframing

Rapid prototyping in Sketch and Illustrator revealed an opportunity to structure the app into two distinct sections: Learn and Play. Each section was tailored to its purpose, with Learn focusing on education and Play designed for fun and exploration. Features such as recent activity tracking, an intuitive streaming interface, and child-friendly navigation were refined during this phase. Special attention was given to a Collaborative Play feature that enabled children to invite friends to join them in watching and playing together, facilitated by a playful timeline of videos.

To ensure appeal for both children and parents, this phase prioritized identifying and integrating features that catered to both groups. Novel methods were explored to weave these features together, creating an app that was as engaging for children as it was reassuring and functional for their parents.

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App Welcome and Learn sections

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Activity, collaborative Play, and navigation

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Post-video quiz and suggested learning

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Actions following a watching session

Meet Klik

Parental control emerged as a recurring theme during research, leading to the development of a character concept initially sketched during wireframing. This idea evolved into Klik, a friendly and educational guide who would engage children while supporting their learning journey. Klik was designed as a customizable character, growing alongside the child and fostering a sense of attachment and ongoing engagement with VootKids.

Klik’s presence served dual purposes: encouraging children to explore and learn while offering parents a helping hand in managing screen time and ensuring safe, productive interactions. Klik became a cornerstone of the app, creating an experience that balanced fun and learning, with the flexibility to adapt to each child’s unique needs.

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Character design for "Klik"

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Klik adapts to each child's age level

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Klik character follows the child throughout the onboarding process

Learn & Play

The visual design drew heavily from VootKids' existing brand identity, incorporating bright colors and familiar characters from popular children’s shows. The homepage was designed as an interactive and engaging surface, encouraging children to scroll and discover both familiar and new content. Theme and Search pages allowed for seamless exploration of educational themes, aligning with parental goals for structured learning experiences. Collaborative viewing was brought to life with playful animations, making the social aspect of the app a memorable and distinctive feature.

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App homepage with Learning paths

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Learning subjects and stamp achievements

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Subject groups with unlockable content

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Social watching with friends

Mentor App

The design of VootMentor catered to parents’ desire to ensure safe, educational usage while maintaining the app’s appeal for their children. VootMentor provided a separate interface for parents, offering insights into their child’s activity and tailored recommendations to balance play and learning. A control center-style interface enabled quick adjustments to screen time, along with features for tracking progress and creating curated lesson plans.

VootMentor extended beyond basic controls, allowing parents to collaborate within a network of other parents. By exploring lesson plans and suggestions from similar families, parents could inspire new learning experiences for their children. Additionally, the app was optimized for wearable devices, giving parents convenient access to monitoring and management tools on the go. This multi-platform approach ensured parents remained connected to their child’s learning journey while empowering them with actionable insights and tools.

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Mentor homepage with time limit settings

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Setting up a new Learning Plan

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Parental controls through a wearable app

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Benchmarking and habit analysis

I’m currently leading the User Experience team at Taoti in Washington, D.C.

As Director of UX Design I'm looking after (and growing) an innovative, lean and effective team that delivers value to our clients. Get in touch with me to discuss speaking engagements and other professional opportunities.

My full work history is available on LinkedIn at btiny.link/linkedin

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