Family Pulse

Family Pulse is a concept app designed during the Google UX Certificate program. It explores how families can use a shared calendar and simple communication features to reduce stress and stay better organized.

Client

Google UX Certificate

Services

UX Research Wireframing & Prototyping UI Design Usability Testing

Industries

Lifestyle / Family

Date

2024

At first, I thought the app would be mainly for families with school-aged children. But research showed that many different families could use it - including those who live in separate households. In later interviews, people said they often struggle with unclear communication, problems syncing schedules, and the stress of managing a busy family life.

Ana

She is a 40-year old primary school teacher. She loves her job, but preparing lessons after work makes it hard to manage family schedules. Her husband works remotely and often handles home responsibilities. Ana wishes she had more time for herself and a clearer overview of everyone's plans.

Problem statement

Ana is a busy primary school teacher who needs a clear, fast, and easy way to manage her and her family’s schedules because she keeps forgetting about plans, paper scheduling isn’t effective, and communication regarding sudden changes in the schedule is difficult.

Dominic

Dominic is a 19-year-old student preparing for final exams and university. With divorced parents and two households, planning is often messy. He wants clearer schedules, more independence, and balance between studying, friends, and time with his sister.

Problem statement

Dominic is a senior high school student who needs a better way to schedule his private and school life and keep his parents well informed because he is worried about the increasing number of responsibilities now and in the future and doesn't want to lose contact with his friends.

User journey

Goal: Create an account, organize her weekly schedule, and invite family members to join.

	Realizes she need a better control	Searches for a scheduling app	Creates an account & adds first events	Creates sub-accounts for children	Views full family schedule
Action	Struggles to manage family and work plans on paper.	Views full family schedule	Sets up her profile and adds initial weekly plans.	Adds profiles for her kids who don’t use smartphones.	Checks the shared calendar and organizes upcoming plans.
Emotion	😩 Overwhelmed and disorganized.	😬 Hopeful but worried it may be too complicated.	🤔 Becoming more confident, still unsure about details.	😌 Relieved and curious as she sees profiles connect.	😁 In control, informed, and optimistic.
Opportunity	Provide a simple, tech-friendly solution for busy parents.	Clear value explanation and easy onboarding.	Guide users with simple steps and helpful hints.	Make adding family members fast and intuitive.	Provide clear navigation, color-coded members, and zoom options.

Realizes she need a better control

Searches for a scheduling app

Creates an

account & adds first events

Creates

sub-accounts

for children

Views full family schedule

Action

Struggles to manage family and work plans on paper.

Views full family schedule

Sets up her profile and adds initial weekly plans.

Adds profiles for her kids who don’t use smartphones.

Checks the shared calendar and organizes

upcoming plans.

Emotion

😩

Overwhelmed and disorganized.

😬

Hopeful but

worried it may be too complicated.

🤔

Becoming more confident, still unsure about

details.

😌

Relieved and curious as she sees profiles connect.

😁

In control,

informed, and optimistic.

Opportunity

Provide a simple, tech-friendly solution for busy parents.

Clear value

explanation and easy onboarding.

Guide users with simple steps and helpful hints.

Make adding family members fast and intuitive.

Provide clear

navigation,

color-coded members, and zoom options.

Starting the design

I began with paper sketches and low-fidelity wireframes to explore flows such as creating accounts, adding events, and navigating a shared calendar.

The first prototype focused on making event creation fast and visible to everyone in the family.

I ran a usability test on a low-fidelity prototype with five participants aged 12 to 66. They were asked to complete key tasks such as creating an account, adding an event, changing the calendar view from week to three days, and finding the “My Account” section.

After the sessions, I grouped the findings using affinity mapping to identify common issues and patterns. Based on these insights, I made the first round of design improvements.

Key insights	Users prefer creating events directly by clicking on a calendar cell.	Action buttons (e.g. accept changes) need clearer and more consistent placement.	Some users expect the calendar view switch to be in the main menu — stronger visual cues are needed.	Copywriting should be simpler to reduce initial confusion.

Family Pulse

Family Pulse is a concept app designed during the Google UX Certificate program. It explores how families can use a shared calendar and simple communication features to reduce stress and stay better organized.

Ana

She is a 40-year old primary school teacher. She loves her job, but preparing lessons after work makes it hard to manage family schedules. Her husband works remotely and often handles home responsibilities. Ana wishes she had more time for herself and a clearer overview of everyone's plans.

Problem statement

Ana is a busy primary school teacher who needs a clear, fast, and easy way to manage her and her family’s schedules because she keeps forgetting about plans, paper scheduling isn’t effective, and communication regarding sudden changes in the schedule is difficult.

Dominic

Dominic is a 19-year-old student preparing for final exams and university. With divorced parents and two households, planning is often messy. He wants clearer schedules, more independence, and balance between studying, friends, and time with his sister.

Problem statement

Dominic is a senior high school student who needs a better way to schedule his private and school life and keep his parents well informed because he is worried about the increasing number of responsibilities now and in the future and doesn't want to lose contact with his friends.

User journey

Goal: Create an account, organize her weekly schedule, and invite family members to join.

Starting the design

I began with paper sketches and low-fidelity wireframes to explore flows such as creating accounts, adding events, and navigating a shared calendar.

The first prototype focused on making event creation fast and visible to everyone in the family.

I ran a usability test on a low-fidelity prototype with five participants aged 12 to 66. They were asked to complete key tasks such as creating an account, adding an event, changing the calendar view from week to three days, and finding the “My Account” section.

After the sessions, I grouped the findings using affinity mapping to identify common issues and patterns. Based on these insights, I made the first round of design improvements.

Branding colors

Main app

User colors