THE BIRTH STORY
A micro-app proposal helping parents navigate the chaos of labor and delivery
Challenge
Childbirth moves quickly, leaving parents little time to record important medical details or emotional moments. Research done with the University of Pittsburgh showed that parents want a complete record of their birth, but in-the-moment documentation must be quick and effortless.
The Birth Story is a micro-app proposal that helps parents capture their childbirth journey through a timeline of moments, medical details, and reflections.
My Role
Made in collaboration with Eindra Lin, I contributed to all stages of the design process including wireframing, prototyping, and user testing.
This project was completed as part of an Interaction Design Studio course at CMU, designed to conceptually fit within Myana, a postpartum support app developed by Dezudio. While we received client feedback, the work was not done professionally with Dezudio. Special thanks to Ashley Deal and Raelynn O’Leary, and our clients, Sarah Burns, MSW, LSW and Tamar Krishnamurti, PhD.
PROBLEM SPACE
Intense emotion and medical urgency make it hard for parents to capture details in real time
Our clients’ research showed that parents often struggle to remember and share their birth story. Without a simple and supportive system, key memories and context are often lost.
With this, we asked:
How might we support memory and reflection without overwhelming parents in the moment?
SOLUTION HIGHLIGHTS
A simplified, emotionally sensitive experience that adapts to the user's need in the moment
Parents can add a journal, moment, or medical entry fast and easy right on a chronological timeline. They can freely add thoughts and feelings on the back of cards whenever they are ready.
Parents can add a journal, moment, or medical entry fast and easy right on a chronological timeline.
Parents can freely add thoughts and feelings on the back of cards whenever they’re ready.
Parents are provided helpful suggestions to simplify recording medical details.
Parents can visualize their story, sharing it through a printable export.
PROTOTYPING AND EVALUATIVE RESEARCH
Testing revealed that even well-intentioned features can overwhelm users in moments of vulnerability
Our early wireframes, informed by our client's generative research, consisted of a timeline with journal entries, medical details, and quick “moments” for capturing memories. Feedback from two new mothers showed the experience felt too demanding during labor, highlighting the need for a simpler, more intuitive, and motivating design.
FINAL DESIGN
Design that balances empathy with measurable impact
The final design focuses on simple, intuitive interactions that make it easier for parents to capture their story without added stress. If developed further, I would evaluate impact through measures like ease of use, engagement, and completeness of birth stories, and collaborate closely with developers to ensure accessible, lightweight interactions, smooth data entry, and secure storage of sensitive information.
See how these features work within The Birth Story micro-app below:
Reflections
Creating Across Perspectives
The Birth Story project pushed me to design for and manage real-life complexity. It challenged me to think not just about what users need, but when and how they’re able to engage.
Preparing for Development
I had to think in terms of development, which included labeling prototypes with annotations, creating compositions in terms of sections and divisions, and providing options in the event of programming limitations.