Amazon Kids+

Overview

Amazon Kids+ is an entertainment subscription that gives kids access to thousands of books, movies, TV shows, and games.

I worked with the Amazon Kids+ Head of Product to improve discoverability on tablets in a 6 week sprint. My challenge was to make the app easier to navigate and more attractive to kids ages 6-12. This was the first of multiple projects that I worked on as a design consultant with the Amazon Kids+ team.

Final Designs

Play, Watch, Read, Listen

Content categories and icons that kids can understand.

Amazon home photo.png

Familiar faces make it easier to find what to watch

characters channels.png

Favorite characters and channels aid discovery

Adding likes 👍🏼 to increase engagement

Kids like their content tailored to them, adding a like feature is an easy way to increase engagement.

like dislike frame.png

User Research

Kids browse by visuals and gestures

I interviewed four kids ages 6-12, analyzed 8 major competitors and read extensive research reports by Dubit, Blink, and ResearchNow, that surveyed 1,000 parents with children ages 3 to 12.

Here are the top findings:

  • Kids read even less than adults

  • Kids are drawn to big icons

  • Kids are gesture focused in search and interaction

  • Kids know what they like to watch and make decisions quickly

Process Highlights

Feeling based categories

wireframes.png

I designed our categories around the main activity kids want to do when they log in to Amazon FreeTime. This allows them to be prompted by how they are feeling in the moment.

Kids focus on the center of the page

I tested our new navigation on seven kids and found that most kids understood that the icons on the content blocks signified what category they belong in, but they did not notice or interact with the categories on the top navigation bar.

So, I moved the categories down toward the center of the page and added large icons to draw their attention.

Play watch read listen.png

Kids want content they recognize

Content.png

“Oh I love Call of Duty!” - Ryder, Age 6

Kids are more likely to use a platform if they see games, movies, and TV shows that they already know of and consume.

This informed design decisions around how to prioritize the categories of content and sparked the idea for a like/dislike feature.

Kids know how to “like”

like process.png

Currently, Amazon FreeTime does not have any kind of rating system.

I think that adding a like feature will increase engagement and allow content on the homepage to become more tailored to kids’ interests over time.

See it in action

Thanks for reading!