A platform for parents to research video games, read peer reviews, and contribute their own perspective on content and educational value.
RoleUX Researcher & Designer
CollaboratorAndre Adame
TypeUX Research & Design
ContextGraduate School
01 — The Problem
A difficult question for every parent
Video games are often a divisive media teetering on the line between a distracting activity and a learning opportunity. Identifying where specific game titles fall within that spectrum can be a challenge for parents as they decide how to manage their child's screen time.
Existing tools — publisher ratings, entertainment review sites — weren't designed with parents in mind. We set out to understand what parents actually need, then build for it.
"I worry no matter what... I even worry that we're limiting too much."
02 — Process
Research first, design second
We ran interviews and a survey before touching any prototypes, then iterated through two rounds of user testing — once with peers, once with an actual parent.
01
Interviews & Survey
3 semi-structured interviews, 30 survey responses
02
Mid-fi Prototype
Task analysis with peers, insights into navigation and review UX
03
Hi-fi Prototype
Task analysis with a parent, iterated to final design
03 — Key Finding
Parents trust other parents
Of all the sources we tested — publisher ratings, entertainment review sites, academic research, player walkthroughs — parents ranked testimonies from other parents as the most useful when evaluating whether a game is appropriate for their child.
That finding shaped the entire design. The core of the platform is a parent-written review system, organized by searchable content tags: Educational, Violence, Mature Language, Creative, Social, and more. Parents can filter reviews by tag to find exactly the perspective they're looking for.
04 — The Design
What we built
The final prototype covers three core flows: searching for a game, reading parent reviews filtered by content tag, and writing a review. A key iteration between hi-fi and final: users select content tags before rating them — a small change that made the flow significantly more intuitive.
