Duration:August - November 2025
Role:End-to-end UX/UI designer
Scope:Research, interaction design, visual design, usability testing, and prototyping
The idea for Preggy Prog began with a conversation with a friend who works as a labor and delivery nurse. She shared a frustrating scenario she encounters regularly: the hospital cannot discharge new parents unless they have a crib and car seat to safely take their baby home.
"You'd be surprised how many couples show up to deliver without these basics," she told me. "We have to delay discharge while they scramble to order something online or send family members out shopping. It's stressful for everyone—the parents, family, our staff, and maybe even the baby."
This conversation sparked a question: What if expecting parents had a tool that guided them through preparation milestones before these last-minute emergencies? That question became the foundation for Preggy Prog.
First-time expecting parents face overwhelming information overload when preparing for their baby's arrival. With countless products to research, appointments to schedule, and milestones to track, couples often feel stressed, unprepared, and disconnected during what should be an exciting journey. Without clear guidance on when to complete essential tasks, parents risk arriving at critical moments—like hospital discharge—unprepared.
Preggy Prog is designed for first-time expecting parents and their partners—tech-savvy millennials (ages 25-35) who value evidence-based information, collaborative planning, and want to feel confident and prepared without the overwhelm.
Traditional pregnancy apps focus primarily on the pregnant individual, leaving partners feeling excluded and uncertain about how to help. Meanwhile, the expecting parent drowns in conflicting product reviews and endless to-do lists without clear prioritization. This gap leads to relationship strain, duplicated research efforts, and anxiety about being unprepared.
Preggy Prog transforms pregnancy preparation from an overwhelming solo mission into a guided, collaborative journey. Through week-by-week task breakdowns, AI-powered product recommendations, and partner-inclusive features, couples can feel organized, supported, and confident as they prepare for parenthood together.
To understand the real challenges expecting parents face, I conducted qualitative research through:
Insight #1: Information Overload is Paralyzing
Expecting parents spend hours researching products online, only to feel more confused by conflicting reviews and endless options. One participant shared: "I had 47 browser tabs open just trying to pick a car seat. I ended up crying because I couldn't make a decision."
Insight #2: Partners Want to Help But Don't Know How
Non-pregnant partners expressed frustration about feeling sidelined or useless. They want concrete ways to contribute but often receive vague guidance or get rejected when offering help. As one partner put it: "I kept asking 'what can I do?' and she'd say 'I don't know' because she was overwhelmed too."
Insight #3: Preparation Feels Like an Endless, Unorganized List
Without clear milestones or prioritization, parents struggle to know what needs to be done when. They worry about missing critical tasks while also feeling pressured to complete everything at once.
Insight #4: Existing Apps Focus Only on Fetal Development
Current pregnancy apps provide week-by-week baby growth information but lack actionable preparation guidance. Users wanted an app that helped them do things, not just know things.
After conducting interviews, I organized findings into an affinity map to identify patterns and themes. Initially, I struggled to group insights without repeating the interview structure categories I'd created. However, focusing on app implications from couples helped narrow broad ideas into actionable design opportunities. This process revealed three core user needs: collaborative tools, curated information, and milestone-based organization.
In between interviews, I spent my time working on a detailed Competitive Analysis which can be found in the link below.
In-Depth Competitive Analysis using SWOT
I took an iterative approach throughout this project—creating deliverables, gathering feedback, and refining based on insights. This meant circling back to adjust features and flows as I learned more about user needs through testing.
I created two journey maps—one for the expecting individual (Mamma Mia) and one for the partner (Papa Pookie)—to understand their parallel but distinct experiences. These maps revealed:
Customer Journey Maps in full resolution
To visualize how Preggy Prog would solve real problems, I created a storyboard showing Mamma Mia's journey from overwhelmed researcher to organized, collaborative parent-to-be.
Initially, I planned to create a second storyboard from Papa Pookie's perspective. However, I figured it would be repetitive since both personas' solutions converged on the same app features. I decided to focus energy on refining the single storyboard to tell a compelling narrative rather than duplicating the story.
Based on research insights, I defined three core problems:
Note: I initially felt uncertain about Problem Statement #3, as the couples I interviewed didn't explicitly report struggling with role assignments. However, I recognized this as a preventative feature—even if couples aren't currently experiencing this pain point, shared planning tools would keep them organized and prevent future confusion. This assumption felt worth validating through testing.
Using the MoSCoW method, I prioritized features based on research insights and technical feasibility:
Must Have:
Should Have:
Could Have:
Won't Have (This Version):
Features marked with asterisks overlap with others: curated essentials could fall into the AI recommendation engine, and partner education modules could be part of the educational content library. These may be consolidated in future iterations.
Mamma Mia - The Thoughtful Planner
A 29-year-old expecting parent who loves deep research but gets overwhelmed by information overload. She values evidence-based decisions and wants her partner involved but doesn't always know how to delegate effectively.
Papa Pookie - The Hands-On Supporter
A 31-year-old partner who expresses love through action rather than research. He wants concrete tasks to contribute but feels sidelined by pregnancy apps that ignore his role.
Initially, I struggled to give the personas more personality—their characteristics felt clinical and objective rather than capturing quirks or hobbies. After refining them, I created more unique personas that feel like real people with distinct motivations and communication styles, not just demographic statistics.
Sitemap
Creating the sitemap required careful consideration of where the timeline would live in the app's hierarchy. Since week-by-week guidance is the core feature, I ultimately decided to keep the timeline front and center on the homepage rather than burying it in a separate section. This ensures users immediately see their current week and tasks upon opening the app.
Task Flows
I mapped out three critical user flows:
While I designed three task flows, I only had time to prototype two for this project (flows #1 and #3). The second flow would be valuable to prototype in future iterations to validate the collaborative elements.
Design Inspiration
Before wireframing, I gathered reference images from health apps and mobile games I use regularly. I wanted to implement UI patterns from established, successful apps since users would find them familiar and intuitive.
For the homepage, I was particularly drawn to examples where the interface is built around a mascot character within an environment (like a pond or nature scene) rather than barebones layouts. This environmental approach would make the app feel more engaging and less clinical.
For navigation, I studied mobile games that keep the home page front and center with a dynamic background that subtly moves with user interaction. This creates visual interest without being distracting.
My mentor provided crucial feedback here: for mid-fi, I needed a clear vision of how the environmental illustrations would actually work. I had to think through how imagery could change based on context to give users feedback—for example, how the pond environment might reflect different pregnancy stages or task completion.
Moodboard
I created a mood board to establish the visual direction for Preggy Prog. While initial explorations included pink tones (commonly associated with pregnancy apps), I decided to lean toward cool-toned/gender neutral colors—to better fit the pond theme and differentiate from competitors.
The mood board included:
The visual design embodies four core values:
Logo Design
The logo features a friendly frog mascot—the "Frog" AI assistant that helps users navigate product research.
The logo development process had an important ethical moment: I was initially inspired to create a design very similar to an artist I discovered while making the mood board. However, it did not feel right to have an imitation of her design without asking permission to use her art, so for this reason I will not be sharing the initial design in this case study out of courtesy for the artist.
Because of this, I went back to the drawing board, sketched my own designs, gathered feedback from others on their favorite characteristics, and created the final mascot version.
I developed both vertical and horizontal logo lockups, plus app icons with different background treatments to test which worked best at small sizes.
Testing Setup
I conducted remote moderated usability testing with 4 participants (the 5th participant had a last-minute cancellation). Before testing began, I asked participants to be as brutally honest as possible—even as the designer, I didn't feel this was my best work yet, and I genuinely wanted candid feedback to improve for hi-fi.
Test Tasks
Link to Interactive Mid-Fidelity Prototype
What Worked well:
Critical Issues to Address
Prioritized Changes for High Fidelity
High Priority
Medium Priority
Future Enhancements:
To maintain consistency across screens and enable efficient iteration, I developed a component library containing:
Interactive States:
Several button components include "pressed" states to provide tactile feedback. One interaction I particularly enjoyed designing was a splash animation effect on future weeks in the timeline. When users tap on future weeks in the second or third trimester, droplets appear from the water ripples.While this animation wasn't necessary for the two prototyped task flows (completing Week 13 tasks and researching a car seat), I added it because:
Component Organization
I'll be honest—organizing the UI kit revealed some ambiguity in what I learned through DesignLab about component structure. Some components remain unpictured in the kit, including older versions and unused explorations. There doesn't seem to be one "right" way to organize design systems, and I found myself uncertain about:
Testing Setup
I conducted remote moderated usability testing with 5 participants and similar to Mid-Fi testing, I once again asked participants for their honesty and to explain their thoughts as we work through each task.
Test Tasks
Method
Results Summary
All 5 participants successfully completed both core tasks, with an average satisfaction rating of 4.6 out of 5. Users praised the app's detailed weekly information, intuitive AI chat flow, and organized checklist structure. The calm, non-punitive tone particularly resonated with participants who noted that many pregnancy apps feel stressful or overwhelming. However, testing revealed critical usability issues around visual consistency and hierarchy. Icon styles varied across the interface, the current week indicator lacked prominence, and spacing issues in the AI chat led to accidental mis-taps. These findings directly informed the high-priority revisions for the final design.
What Worked well:
Critical Issues Addressed
Notable User Quotes
"I appreciate the calm, non-punitive tone—pregnancy apps can feel stressful."
"For something as important as a car seat, I'd want to do more research beyond just the AI recommendations."
"The organization makes sense, I can see myself using this weekly."
"The week indicator could be more obvious—maybe an arrow or bigger icon?"
Applying Hi-Fi Revisions
Following hi-fi usability testing with 5 participants, I prioritized the most critical revisions that would have the greatest impact on user experience and task completion.
High-Priority Changes Implemented:
Deliberate Design Decisions:
Not all feedback was implemented in this iteration. For example, there was some discussion around adding illustrations to individual timeline/week pages to make them more visually engaging. While I appreciated this suggestion and hope to add it in the future, I chose not to implement it for this version because:
This is an area I'd like to explore further in future iterations—finding the right balance between visual interest and functional clarity.
Link to interactive High-Fidelity Prototype
Preggy Prog transforms overwhelming pregnancy preparation into an organized, collaborative journey. Starting from a conversation with a labor & delivery nurse about parents arriving unprepared at hospitals, I designed an app that guides couples through week-by-week tasks and AI-powered recommendations. With a 4.6/5 satisfaction rating in testing, all participants successfully completed core tasks.
Avoiding Plagiarism - Nearly imitated another artist's mascot design. Stopped, restarted with original sketches, and created a unique design that preserved my integrity.
Balancing Features with Scope - Used MoSCoW prioritization to focus on core features (timeline, AI recommendations, collaboration) rather than trying to solve everything at once.
Making Personas Human - Transformed clinical demographic reports into authentic characters with hobbies and personalities, making empathy easier throughout the design process.
Knowing When to Ship - Learned to differentiate "must fix now" from "nice to have eventually" by implementing high-priority revisions while documenting others for future iterations.
Key Learnings
What I'd Do Differently
Future Developments
Preggy Prog transforms overwhelming pregnancy preparation into an organized, collaborative journey. Starting from a conversation with a labor & delivery nurse about parents arriving unprepared at hospitals, I designed an app that guides couples through week-by-week tasks and AI-powered recommendations. With a 4.6/5 satisfaction rating in testing, all participants successfully completed core tasks.
