Client
Master's Assesment
Sector
UX Design
Year
2024
SitSafe: A Community-Driven Approach to Childcare
SitSafe was created to address a common but often overlooked challenge, finding affordable and trustworthy childcare. Many parents struggle with the high cost of traditional babysitters, leaving them to rely on informal networks like WhatsApp groups, neighbourhood connections, and word-of-mouth referrals. These solutions, while useful, lack structure, reliability, and security.
Through research, I found that parents were not just looking for babysitting services; they wanted a trusted network of caregivers within their community. This insight led to the development of SitSafe, a platform where parents can exchange childcare time instead of paying for sitters, ensuring childcare is not only accessible but also built on mutual trust and shared responsibility.
My Role
As the sole designer, I led the project from research to final prototype, handling everything from user interviews and wire-framing to usability testing and iteration. My goal was to understand real user needs, validate assumptions through research, and design a simple yet effective platform that parents could rely on.
Since this was a university project, I worked independently to develop a solution that felt as real-world ready as possible, continuously refining the experience through user feedback.
Designing a Seamless Experience
Once the concept was validated, I moved into prototyping and testing, creating low-fidelity wireframes in Figma and gathering user feedback at every stage. The biggest priority was simplicity, parents needed an interface that was intuitive, required minimal effort to navigate, and made scheduling as easy as possible.
Early usability tests confirmed that transparency and ease of use were key priorities for parents. I refined the platform to ensure that they could quickly view available caregivers, set their own availability, and track their childcare credits effortlessly. This focus on usability helped create a seamless and frustration-free experience.
Iterating for Clarity and Trust
During usability testing, I identified several areas that needed improvement. One major issue was the session history page, where parents struggled to understand how given hours, taken hours, and remaining credits were tracked. This led to a redesigned session management system, making it easier to follow and reducing confusion.
Another challenge was flexibility in scheduling. Some parents found it frustrating that they couldn’t freely choose a time slot and had to follow the availability set by another parent. Since SitSafe was a time-based exchange system rather than a paid service, I couldn’t completely change this structure. Instead, I introduced a feature that allowed requesting parents to negotiate time slots when redeeming their childcare credits, creating a better balance between structure and flexibility.
Through multiple iterations and refinements, SitSafe evolved into a well-structured yet adaptable platform that worked for different parenting styles and schedules.
The Final Solution
By the final iteration, SitSafe had transformed into a trusted, community-driven babysitting network where parents could offer and receive childcare in a safe and structured way. The platform featured verified parent profiles, a peer review system, and a scheduling tool that made it easy to coordinate childcare exchanges.
The final design emphasised clarity, trust, and accessibility, ensuring that any parent could quickly understand how the platform worked and feel comfortable using it. The warm, inviting visual design reinforced the community-driven nature of the platform, making SitSafe feel less like a transaction-based service and more like a support network for parents.
