Overview
The client asked my team to explore the problem space of how parents connect with school activities in a virtual-first setting. We conducted user interviews to identify opportunity areas and built an MVP solution.
Support
2 dev consultants for design system implementaion
The Team
• Lead product designer
• 2 product designer
• Lead researcher
My Impact
•Leading design discussions for iterations
• Conduct user research
• Identifying branding strategy
•Producing design mockups for the MVP
Client
CDM PTA group
Time Frame
Mar 2025 - Sep 2025
Tools
Figma
Mural
Asana
Optimal Workshop
Let’s start from the top
From our conversation with the client, we learned that parents struggled to build a parent network and that nothing in the market currently meets their need to connect with other parents. I wanted to confirm and expand on this initial lead from the client, so we conducted 8 user interviews to better understand the opportunity area.
Facilitating informal digital communication between parents
Improving PTA membership onboarding and visibility of membership value
Increasing transparency and the ease of applying for PTA-funded projects
Different opportunity areas: What to do?
I found opportunity area #3 most compelling, but the client said another team was already exploring it and asked us to pause. Although disappointed, we shifted our focus to opportunity area #1 after reviewing the interviews.
The story of an everyday parent
In 2024, out of 32.7 million families in the U.S., 66.5% have both parents employed according to U.S department of labor.
That’s 21.7million couples working and raising a child.
Both parents working
66.5%
At least one parent working
91.4%
32.7M
Parent involvement is decreasing
Parent attendance at general school or PTA meetings has declined over time, from 89% in 2007 to 83% in 2023.(2)
2007
2023
-6%
The invisible burden of emails
A survey by Yahoo and Censuswide reveals parents receives around 800 emails in one school year are sent to parents.
I noticed during the qualitative interviews with parents and educators by far, the most common way parents receive information about their child is through email.
82304515
And 71% parents and caregivers feel like bad parents when they miss important information about their children from.
I know the school sends out emails but sometimes I miss them.
-Participant 2 from user interview
The question is how can design connect schools and parents to deliver meaningful, relevant information tailored to parents’ needs?
My design approach
The tight timeline for producing an MVP led to a rapid prototyping approach with iteration and testing across different fidelity phases.
Low-fidelity
Support
Decline
Mid-fidelity
High-fidelity
Branding: why penguins?
• Resilient parenthood: Emperor penguins spend about 65 days in -40°C Arctic weather protecting a single egg, which parallels the dedication of parents who want the best for their children.
• Working-class families: Emperor penguin couples take turns hunting in the ocean, which our brand used to represent busy working-class parents.
• Huddles: Emperor penguins form huddles to withstand the cold Arctic weather, which our brand used to represent the communal nature of parenting.
Branding: Logo design
The logo features the letter P representing the first letter of ParentPing, accompanied by a silhouette of an emperor penguin within the letter.
Design system
I wanted to avoid the common mistake of designing something impractical to implement within a short timeline and limited budget. To address this, I decided to use an open-source Ionic design system to:
Research
Design
Develop
Deliver
However, NOT everything was plug and play for the Ionic design system. I had to modify components to ensure better accessibility and address system needs. For example:
Maintain visual consistency
Developer friendliness
Licensing for development
I improved the component by adding a secondary color bar as a selection indicator and increasing the font size for better legibility.
Out of the box
With customizations
Final recommendations for MVP
PTA announcements, parent community content
A trusted newsfeed helps parents keep up-to-date with announcements and ask questions to other parents.
Why for MVP?
Qualitative interviews revealed centralized information helps busy parents get a clearer view of what’s happening in the school system.
Support new and existing parent groups
With the parent groups feature, parents can join smaller groups that touch on topics of interest, or support existing parent communities such as sports or arts. This feature could also be used to organize groups for PTA event planning.
Why for MVP?
Qualitative interviews demonstrated building a shared knowledge space encourage involvement and participation among new users.
Stronger parent communities
The new messaging and directory pages make communication easier than before, expanding parent individual networks to the whole community.
Why for MVP?
Qualitative interviews revealed parents wanted a direct channel where they can interact and elaborate on specific situations
Next steps
Additional research needs
I’ve identified these areas for further research due to their complexity or risk. Multi-school support and newsfeed filtering need more iteration to prove their value, while global search showed stronger usability and preference, so we recommend building it first. Content moderation poses the greatest risk since it affects safety and trust.
PTA meetings beyond in-person attendance support equity for busy parents, while membership payments and fundraising transparency build trust and smoother operations. We will study these further to ensure we address the right problems in the right way.
Multi-school support
Newsfeed filtering
Content moderation
PTA meetings beyond physical attendance
PTA membership payment
Transparency of PTA funds and projects
0
1
Time is scarce and parenthood is hectic
I built a 0-to-1 minimum viable product (MVP) in 20 weeks to reimagine how parents stay connected to their child’s education
