MCCP Location Finder
Company
Mellenger Interactive
Client
My Child Care Plan
Project Date
October 2023
My Role
Product Designer
Project Overview
My Child Care Plan (MCCP) is an online platform designed to help parents and caregivers in California easily find childcare options based on their location. The primary design challenge was to enhance the mobile user experience, particularly for the journey of entering a zip code and discovering nearby childcare facilities, including both centers and homes. Key requirements included developing an interactive map that highlights the exact and general locations of these facilities, as well as providing a list view for easier navigation. Additionally, we reimagined the filter system to improve the selection process and ensure a seamless display of chosen filters.
Project Goals
There were three main goals of this project:
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Refine the mobile experience of the location search to be more intuitive
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While redesigning, respect the requirement of not displaying the exact locations of 'Home' childcare facilities
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Rethink the filter system, as well as how to display the currently selected filters
Roles and Responsibilities
My role on this project was Lead UX and UI Designer. Although MCCP had an established brand and UI guidelines, the UI required updates to better align with the UX design changes we were implementing. I collaborated closely with a project manager and multiple stakeholders from the MCCP team, including their project manager, COO, and in-house engineer.
Scope and Constraints
The biggest constraint of this project was adhering to California state guidelines, which prohibit sharing the exact locations of childcare facilities held in private homes online. While childcare centers could display their exact locations, home-based facilities could not. This presented a unique design challenge: we needed to display the general location of these homes on the map while ensuring their exact locations remained concealed.
Design Outcomes
Below are the solutions we came up with for the project goals established above. Please note: due to strict guidelines regarding what could be retained from the initial audits of this project, I don’t have any initial visuals of the website prior to the redesign or any of the working wireframe files.
Design Challenge: Refine the Mobile Experience of the Childcare Location Search
While evaluating the mobile experience before the redesign, I noticed that it seemed like an afterthought compared to the desktop version. It felt clunky and difficult to use, leading to user frustration and a preference for switching to the desktop view. My primary goal for the redesign was to implement design patterns tailored to create a seamless, mobile-exclusive experience.
Below are some images and videos showcasing the new mobile map search designs.
General map view after location input
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Created a visual distance radius (orange circle) based on the mile radius inputted by the user
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Used similar circle radiuses to show the general location of Home childcare centres (red circles)
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Clear pins showing exact locations of childcare Centres
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Providing a pull up tab to display the results list
Design Challenge: Refine the Filter Selection and Visual Aspect of Currently Selected Filters
The biggest challenge in overhauling the filter experience was managing the vast number of filters available to users. These filters were categorized into umbrella groups, which also needed to be displayed. The sheer number of filters made it challenging to present them effectively on a mobile device.
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Additionally, we needed a clearer way to display selected filters and provide an easy method for users to clear all filters or remove them individually. Our solution was to convert the selected filters into pills, each with a clear call-to-action for removal.
Filter overhaul
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Create a clean UI to showcase a large number of filters available to the user
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Clearly show the filters the user already has selected
