Herd

Herd

Mobile UI/UX

Physical Product

UX Designer

UX Researcher

Herd

Helping d/Deaf kids hear and be heard.

A concept project developed as a senior capstone, Herd is a holistic, conceptual service tto support children in their auditory and oral language journey. Blending accessibility, encouragement, and joyful interaction, Herd explores how thoughtful design can bridge the gap between therapy and everyday life—making speech practice feel empowering, engaging, and part of being a kid.

View more working details

Project Type

Conceptual product design

Duration

20 weeks, Winter-Spring 2020

Tools

Figma, Illustrator

Team

4 UX designers

Design Digest

Designing for developmental difference starts with listening.

Our team began this project with a shared sense of care and responsibility for children navigating the world with cochlear implants. We wanted to design something that didn’t just meet clinical goals, but truly supported kids emotionally and playfully in their growth.

Introducing Herd

Listen. Play. Be Heard.

Herd is a holistic service concept developed as part of my senior capstone, designed to support children with cochlear implants in their auditory and oral development. Blending accessibility, encouragement, and playful interaction, Herd empowers kids to practice hearing and speaking in a way that feels natural, supported, and engaging—at home, in therapy, and everywhere in between.

Listen. Play. Be Heard.

Click to view the vision video

Awards & Features

Recognized as an honorable mention for the Education & Teaching Aids category at the European Product Design Awards!

Recognized as a Prototype for Humanity

Recognized as a notable honoree for the Health And Wellness category at the 2021 Core77 Design Awards!

Discover

To begin, we immersed myself in understanding the real-world experiences of children with cochlear implants—and the families, educators, and therapists who support them. We conducted secondary research on auditory/oral therapy, developmental psychology, and assistive hearing technologies, and reviewed existing tools on the market. This phase helped surface key challenges, emotional pain points, and opportunities for more human-centered, inclusive design as we discovered the problem space and initial opportunities.

Problem Statement

For any child, learning to listen and speak can be incredibly challenging. For children with cochlear implants, it can be even more difficult. To make matters worse, there is a lack specialized learning tools for children with cochlear implants.

Problem Statement

What is Auditory/Oral Communication Therapy?

It is a specialized form of educational based therapy meant to assist in the development of spoke language through listening and visual cues. Unfortunately, schools that offer this specialized support are few and far between.

What is Auditory/Oral Communication Therapy?

Discovery to Direction

As part of a two quarter UX senior studio course, my team and I were tasked with researching, ideating, and developing a product with a companion app for an audience of our choosing. Passionate about disability inclusion, my team and I picked to focus on serving Deaf and Hard of Hearing children.

Discovery to Direction

Define

With research insights in hand, I narrowed the focus to a critical question:
How might we support auditory and speech development in a way that’s engaging, empowering, and emotionally supportive for children with cochlear implants?

This led to defining key user needs—such as routine practice, emotional encouragement, and parent-child communication—and aligning on three pillars for the experience: playfulness, progress tracking, and support across environments (home, school, clinic).

Target Audience

D/deaf and Hard of Hearing children with cochlear implants, ages 1-6 who were implanted early. Served communities will be their families, doctors, therapists, and educators. What is a cochlear implant? A cochlear implant is a small, complex electronic device that can help to provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing. The implant consists of an external portion that sits behind the ear and a second portion that is surgically placed under the skin.

Target Audience

Image Courtesy of Clake School

Research

466 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss.

34 million of these are children. More than 90% of D/deaf children are born tohearing parents.

466 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss.

34 million of these are children. More than 90% of D/deaf children are born tohearing parents.

466 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss.

34 million of these are children. More than 90% of D/deaf children are born tohearing parents.

“The worldwide market for Educational Toy is expected to grow to reach 342 million US$ in 2024, from 25200 million US$ in 2019, according to a new Global Info Research study.”

- Market Watch

“The worldwide market for Educational Toy is expected to grow to reach 342 million US$ in 2024, from 25200 million US$ in 2019, according to a new Global Info Research study.”

- Market Watch

“The worldwide market for Educational Toy is expected to grow to reach 342 million US$ in 2024, from 25200 million US$ in 2019, according to a new Global Info Research study.”

- Market Watch

Site Visits

Site Research @ Sound Start, a school for children with cochlear implants at the Sound and Speech Center Savannah

This school specializes in Auditory/Oral Communication Therapy which is instrumental to hearing and speech development after getting a cochlear implant. Consisting of daily 6 hour classes for kids 2-6, there is a 1:2 teacher student ratio. We learned: 1) Early, consistent and appropriate use of hearing technology is important 2) Requires ongoing auditory management. 3) Families are expected to provide appropriate carry-over of goals, strategies and techniques from the child’s classroom setting and/or individual therapy sessions into daily routines and play activities. 4) Parents need to work with the child’s teacher(s) and/or therapist(s) to learn strategies and techniques for developing listening, speech reading and speaking skills in an oral learning environment.

Site Research @ Sound Start, a school for children with cochlear implants at the Sound and Speech Center Savannah

Site Research @ Clarke Schools, a school for children with cochlear implants in Florida

This school is free of all students, a big differentiator that incites some families to pack up their entire lives to move closer to one of their 5 nationwide locations. We learned: 1) Students are able to FaceTime with their speech learning pathologists which allows them to continue their learning outside of the classroom. 2) Often times, speech learning pathologists require parents to be included in a child's homework.

Site Research @ Clarke Schools, a school for children with cochlear implants in Florida

Affinitization & Opportunities

Affinitization is imperative to the design process. We took all the data points from every interview/observation activity and wrote them on individual sticky notes. Once on the sticky notes, we grouped them into categories with commonalities, then wrote a sticky that describes what that group is about. After repeating this process several times, we landed on our Key Insights, which led us to our design framework.

Affinitization & Opportunities

How children learn

Learning 101

Anecdotally, 90% of what children learn is through incidental learning and observation. The rest comes from repetition, personalization, and a comfortable learning environment where they are free to make mistakes.

Learning 101

LING 6

LING 6 is a sound test exercise made up of 6 phonemes. This test is specially designed for children with hearing aids and/or cochlear implants as it tests their typical weaknesses. It measures detection and identification of sounds and is pinitol to a child's learning and development.

LING 6

Building Blocks

Speech and learning pathologists use 4 stages to teach auditory/oral processing and they each require the one before. 1) Detection: I think I hear something, 2) Discrimination: I hear two things, 3) Identification: I hear a duck and a pig, 4) Comprehension: I think there is a farm nearby.

Building Blocks

Play Therapy

Made up of fun activities such as nursery rhymes, bingo, card games, reading, crafts, and talking with friends, students often don't notice how much they are learning!

Play Therapy

Made up of fun activities such as nursery rhymes, bingo, card games, reading, crafts, and talking with friends, students often don't notice how much they are learning!

Play Therapy

Made up of fun activities such as nursery rhymes, bingo, card games, reading, crafts, and talking with friends, students often don't notice how much they are learning!

Research Implementation

Personas

Want to learn more?

Full process details are included in the book.

Open process book

Design

Guided by our research, we explored interaction models, task flows, and experience concepts that could flex between structured therapy and freeform exploration. I assisted in the development of low- to high-fidelity wireframes and visual prototypes for the mobile experience, designed to feel approachable and affirming for children while giving caregivers and professionals meaningful insights. User feedback helped refine tone, visuals, and UX to ensure that Herd could work in both clinical and everyday contexts.

At the core of it all, with a shared passion for accessibility and diversity, we asked ourselves: How can we better communicate with people, when communication is not easy for them?

The Opportunity

To bring audio, language and speech learning to deaf and hard of hearing children with cochlear implants outside of the classroom.

The Opportunity

To bring audio, language and speech learning to deaf and hard of hearing children with cochlear implants outside of the classroom.

The Opportunity

To bring audio, language and speech learning to deaf and hard of hearing children with cochlear implants outside of the classroom.

How might we...

establish and track milestones and goals? create personalized lesson plans and measure the developmental progress for each child? create an exciting and evolving tool to engage children? bring educational activities to people wherever they are? give time back to parents to allow them to focus on other facets of their family and life?

How might we...

UI Development

We began to develop our UI, starting with low-fi.

UI Development

We began to develop our UI, starting with low-fi.

UI Development

We began to develop our UI, starting with low-fi.

Open our Figma

Planning and exploration:

Low-fi:

Mid-fi:

High-fi:

Deliver

The final concept included an interactive elephant toy, additional toys, a mobile application, and a connected dashboard for caregivers and therapists. We developed a system that uses gentle reminders, progress badges, and playful interactions to motivate consistent speech practice. While not built for production, we presented the full prototype and service model to faculty and design professionals as part of our senior showcase—emphasizing both the emotional sensitivity and systems thinking behind the experience.

Herd is a holistic service designed for children with cochlear implants to aid in their auditory/oral, practice at home. Herd knows parents want the very best for their children and are willing to go to great lengths and sacrifices to provide the best future. Herd makes it easier with a subscription service complete with specialized learning toys and activities, a companion toy elephant, and a mobile application for parents.

The Elephant

Taking some of the pressure off of the parents to get complicated speech lessons right, the robotic toy elephant is designed to be a playmate for children to both learn and play with.

The Elephant

Taking some of the pressure off of the parents to get complicated speech lessons right, the robotic toy elephant is designed to be a playmate for children to both learn and play with.

The Elephant

Taking some of the pressure off of the parents to get complicated speech lessons right, the robotic toy elephant is designed to be a playmate for children to both learn and play with.

The Mobile App

In the mobile application, parents can find pack information and activity resources. They can also receive personalized support from their child's Speech Language Pathologists and school teachers.

The Mobile App

In the mobile application, parents can find pack information and activity resources. They can also receive personalized support from their child's Speech Language Pathologists and school teachers.

The Mobile App

In the mobile application, parents can find pack information and activity resources. They can also receive personalized support from their child's Speech Language Pathologists and school teachers.

Try the prototype

Onboarding

In the mobile app, parents can find pack information and activity resources. First is the onboarding process, by inputting their child's hearing birthday and interests we can suggest personalized packs for them.

Onboarding

Onboarding:

Ordering a New Pack

They can also order new developmental, themed or seasonal packs. As well as make them more personalized by selecting how many packs and which toys will work best for their child.

Ordering a New Pack

They can also order new developmental, themed or seasonal packs. As well as make them more personalized by selecting how many packs and which toys will work best for their child.

Ordering a New Pack

They can also order new developmental, themed or seasonal packs. As well as make them more personalized by selecting how many packs and which toys will work best for their child.

Ordering a pack:

Packs & Activities

In the mobile application, parents can find information regarding their current and upcoming packs including current toys and activities. Parents can also adjust the toys in their upcoming packs. This ensures that while packs are designed for education, they are fun and customizable for each child’s needs. Additionally, the app provides a view of all activities which can also be easily activated within the app.

Packs & Activities

Box & activities:

Messaging System

Parents can also receive personalized support from their Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) and teachers who can recommend new packs and goals. This ensures that children are receiving full, personalized support from their parents, SLPs, and teachers. Herd makes it easy for parents to stay on track with their child’s specific needs and goals from professionals who know the child best.

Messaging System

Messages & settings:

The Subscription Pack & Timeline

More than a dozen fun play-therapy packs to choose from!

The Subscription Pack & Timeline

More than a dozen fun play-therapy packs to choose from!

The Subscription Pack & Timeline

More than a dozen fun play-therapy packs to choose from!

Inside the Pack

Each pack comes with information and instruction cards, activity cards, and specialized learning toys. While the toys and activities are specially designed to aid with play-therapy for auditory/oral skills, they are also great for general early childhood development skills such as color recognition and motor skills.

Inside the Pack

The Instructional Cards

Each pack comes with a set of four instructional cards: 1. General overview of the pack including developmental phase information and helpful tips. 2. RFID card activity information and instructions. 3. Specific toy information about every toy included in the pack. 4. Developmental goals for that pack based on the child’s hearing birthday, goals suggested by Cochlear and nationally recommended goals for general childhood development.

The Instructional Cards

The Activity Cards

Activity cards provide step-by-step instructions for parents to facilitate educational games with their children or for children to know how to play independently.

The Activity Cards

Activity cards provide step-by-step instructions for parents to facilitate educational games with their children or for children to know how to play independently.

The Activity Cards

Activity cards provide step-by-step instructions for parents to facilitate educational games with their children or for children to know how to play independently.

Each pack comes with specific activity cards based on the pack’s developmental goals and specific toys. These cards have activity instructions on the back but are also RFID enabled so that the elephant can lead the activity for the child’s independent learning. After selecting an activity, tap the RFID card to the elephant’s foot to get started. The elephant will tell you which, if any, toys are needed for the activity. To stop the activity, tap the same card to the elephant’s foot. To start another activity, tap a new card to the elephant's foot.

The Toys

The toys are made with non-toxic materials and designed with children in mind. While our toys are specially designed to aid with play-therapy for auditory/oral skills, they are also perfect for general early childhood development.

The Toys

Brand & Identity Development

Brand pillars

Logo & brand development

Mascot Development

Why an elephant? Easy: 1) Long-distance hearing. An elephant’s ears have a range of hearing than can reach more than 6 miles. and 2) Easily detecting sounds in frequency ranges far below or above the frequencies that we humans can hear.

Mascot Development

Final Brand

Debrief

Designing Herd challenged me to think holistically—across platforms, personas, and emotional landscapes. This project deepened my understanding of inclusive design, accessibility in early childhood, and the power of design to support neurodiverse and disabled users. It also reinforced my belief that great design doesn’t just solve problems—it creates confidence, agency, and belonging, especially for those who are too often overlooked.