How can Safety 1st appeal to parents as the go-to brand for mealtime fun with the family?
My role
Consultant at Pensa!, an industrial design firm; one of three user researchers
Plan and record ethnographic research
Develop personas
Identify user needs and goals
Goal
Show parents how choosing a booster seat can offer a mealtime bond rather than viewing it as yet another short-term item to buy at a cheap price.
Objectives
With this project, I set out to
Gain a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the needs of parents and children during mealtimes
Prioritize features
Identify opportunities for improvements and innovations
Approach
Immersion
Safety 1st brand tasked Pensa! with conducting research into the booster seat category. They wanted additional input as to how they could develop their brand as the one who will help parents and children have smoother, more enjoyable mealtimes.
Researched the pros and cons of different types of mealtime seating: high chairs, grow-with-child chairs, and booster seats
Evaluated competitors’ best-selling chairs
Compared how Safety 1st looked at retail compared to other brands
Analyzed trends in children’s gear and how Safety 1st could apply them to their products
Interviews
Mealtime can mean very different things to parents and children. We observed that when kids were seated in the booster chair, they would show off their latest abilities and assert independence. Meanwhile, parents wanted a chair that was easy to clean, portable, and worried that their kids were getting enough to eat.
Highlights
“Noah follows and imitates Ben. He wanted to be a big boy and took Ben’s booster. Whenever it was time to eat, he would rush up to the chair and not let his older brother sit in it.”
– Susanna B., mom of two sons
“It needs to be easy. I’m carrying the kid with one arm and grabbing the chair with the other.”
– Joan S., mom of one daughter and three sons
“I’m worried Julian doesn’t eat enough. He spends a lot of time moving food around. Putting food into the cup holder, then moving them somewhere else. I want my child to eat at least one big meal a day.”
– Carina R., mom of one son
Key insights
After conducting interviews, we saw that the booster seat was significant because it meant there was a certain rite of passage: the kids are able to sit with the grown-ups and parents are able to push the seat right up to the table—they could finally all eat together as a family.
Research findings
Recommendations
Brand positioning
The expert in helping parents feed their children
Offer solutions for the parent through each leap in the baby’s growth stage
Product positioning
Streamline offerings
Prioritize features that ease parents’ and childrens’ anxieties during mealtimes
Alleviate frustration over too many features at point of purchase; parents just want to get the shopping done
Provide children with room to wiggle
Ergonomic seating that adapts to movement yet still provides safety
Provide support: dangling feet lead to kicking
Make it easier for the parent
Minimal assembly required
Removable parts that are easy to clean
Compact and lightweight
Result
Pensa! made a presentation with all the findings including trend analysis, quotes, images, and personas, which led to a deeper understanding of what was going on in the market segment at that time.
After gaining a better view of the needs, features, and the people who use booster seats, Safety 1st returned to Pensa! for improved and new designs for chairs to better cater to parents’ and childrens’ needs.