Helping nursing mothers with a robust feeding app
Babyation
The start-up needed to redesign the first iteration of their app to improve the usability, functionality, and overall visual design. I refreshed the brand and created more intuitive workflows, as well as led product strategy, prioritizing features and partnering with the engineers through development, bug fixes, and release.
Overview
Role
UX designer
Brand & visual designer
Product owner
Babyation already had 75% of the app designed and built, but it wasn’t working. The technology was slow, the interface was clunky, and the overall aesthetic wasn’t in line with their desired brand. In order to create a launchable MVP, I revamped the visual brand, streamlined the navigational flows, and updated the functionality.
Key problems
Screens were too complicated, crowded, and disorganized
Lacked cohesive brand and UI patterns
Unclear typography hierarchy
Tasks and workflows weren’t grouped in logical way
Didn’t take advantage of new mobile phone features
Jammed with useless features
Very buggy
“The accompanying app is founder Rudolph’s favorite part of the pump, because it helps eliminate some of the mental load of breastfeeding with its history, inventory, tracking, and control tools.”
- St. Louis Business Journal
The solution
The original dashboard design made many of the faults of the first iteration very clear. The brand was brash, the colors non-accessible, and UX/UI conventions weren’t consistent.
Key improvements
Updated navigational flows, making it easy to get to key actions from any screen
Implemented strong UI conventions including disabled states, clickable patterns, tabs, data entry, and consistent layouts
Improved data integrity by eliminating optional fields that created huge issues downstream
Grouped related actions together — for example on the pumping screen, “set auto-timer” is related to duration time, but it’s nowhere near that data point
Created a content hierarchy that made the screens easier to scan
Used more white space and improved color usage (eliminated red text, which feels negative)
Fixed confusing or inaccurate controls (binary controls that needed to be multi-select)
Results
The updated design was more refined and calming, employing a single color family for each group of actions to reinforce consistency and easy way-finding. It exposed all the actions a mom could take without being overwhelming or confusing, letting them jump exactly where they wanted to go without having to search through hidden menus.
Old designs
Original history screen
Original pumping screen
Original dashboard
New designs
Updated dashboard
Updated pumping screen
Updated history screen
