Case Study 05

Rethinking a Nursery App

My Role: Designer, Researcher
Team: Self (Personal Case Study)
Duration: 3 weeks (30 hours)

01 The Brief

02 Empatise

03 Define

04 Ideation

05 Design

06 Branding

Figjam links to be included across all user flow, process flow and wireframe examples, November 2025.

Problem

As a parent and regular user of an existing nursery app, I’ve come to realise that the app lacks depth and fails to provide a holistic, easily navigable experience.

  • The app is split into two main sections: a single feed for child, nursery, and teacher updates, and a settings area. While functional, the current setup feels limiting.

  • The feed is overwhelming at times, showing all updates in one stream, making it difficult to focus on the most important or relevant information at any given moment.

Solution

I believe I can design an app that improves upon this experience—one that is more engaging, informative, and user-friendly based on parent and nursery experience.

  • My goal is to create an app that provides a richer experience with more detailed updates and breaks down content into smaller, more digestible chunks.

  • By presenting information in a clearer, segmented way, parents will be able to quickly find what’s most relevant to them and their child’s development, while also feeling more connected to the nursery and teachers.

EMPATHISE

Secondary Research & Assumptions

To inform the design direction for this nursery app, I carried out secondary research and drew on my own experiences as a parent using similar platforms. I reviewed competitor nursery apps, app store reviews, and parent forums to identify common frustrations focusing on the primary user, the parent. While I didn’t conduct interviews or surveys for this conceptual project, I built user assumptions based on real-world patterns, supported by publicly available feedback from parents.

Existing App: Tapestry

Limited App Functionality: Some features, such as the care diary, are only accessible via the website, not the app.

  • App Usability Issues: Users have reported that recent updates have made the app less user-friendly, such as the removal of the notifications section and the requirement to log in every time the app is used.

Existing App: FamIly

Notification Overload: The app sends the same type of notification for both minor updates and critical alerts, making it difficult for users to distinguish the importance of messages.

  • Inadequate Messaging Features: Some users find the messaging system confusing, particularly distinguishing between messages sent to individual teachers versus the entire class.

Existing App: Blossom

Feature Limitations: The self check-in, function, have been highlighted as needing improvement.

Notable Pain Points

Overwhelming, Unfiltered Feeds

Parents often found single-stream update feeds too busy, making it hard to spot important updates like meals, naps, or direct messages.

Lack of Clarity and Structure

Information was rarely grouped by type (e.g., care routines, learning, events), leading to confusion or missed updates.

Missed Opportunities for Connection

Parents wanted more meaningful insights into their child’s learning and care—not just one-liners, but context and personality.

Conclusion on Empathise Phase

Through secondary research and competitor analysis, I identified key pain points in existing nursery apps. They reinforced the need for a fully functional, app-first experience that’s simple, reliable, and parent-friendly. Usability issues, confusing messaging, notification overload, and limited features reinforced the importance of clear communication, streamlined admin tools, and easy access to daily updates—all within a single, intuitive app.

“Designing with parents in mind, who want regular, reassuring updates about their child’s day, but have limited time to check in due to work or other responsibilities.”

DEFINE

What I’ll Do Differently

Rather than reinventing the wheel, I’ll focus on enhancing the existing foundation with familiar, proven features that best serve our target audience.

Minimum functionality

Real-time alerts

  • Daily log of activity, text, image or video

  • Direct messaging between parents and nursery staff

  • Group messages or announcements from the nursery

Additional Functionality

An always present app menu, allowing parents to navigate between the core sections of the app with a single select

  • Self check experience countering any requirements to log in every time the app is used

  • Let parents adjust privacy and consent settings

  • Options to update child details directly (e.g. dietary needs, routine and habits)

Improved UX/UI Opportunities

A welcome screen showing snippets of key information allowing parents to view updates by category

  • Break updates into sections: Activity, Care, Learning

  • A new boards dedicated to nursery communications to all, separated from the individual daily child activity feed

  • More digestible notifications feed making it obvious whats been seen, what is new, with date and time stamps

IDEATION

User Flow

Once the key features for the nursery app were finalised—such as daily updates, care tracking, and parent notifications—the next step was to bring them together into a cohesive and intuitive experience for parents.

To do this, I began by creating a user flowchart that mapped out all the main screens of the app and how they connect, helping to visualise how parents would navigate through the app day-to-day.

User flow of the entire app showing possible user journeys from the entry screen down.

IDEATION

From Flow to Function with Wireframes

After completing the first iteration of the user flow for the nursery app, I moved on to exploring the experience on a screen-by-screen level using wireframes. I already had a strong vision for how the app should feel—clear, reassuring, and parent-friendly—so I chose to develop more detailed wireframes to bring that vision to life early in the design process.

“A self-initiated nursery support app, inspired by my own experiences as a parent and designed as a thoughtful, user-centred alternative to existing solutions."

DESIGN

Introducing the Little Loop app

All the insights gathered from usability testing were applied to refine the first version of the nursery app, ensuring it launched with a strong foundation in usability and parent-friendly design. Below is a complete view of the designed screens, along with a feature-by-feature breakdown of the core user flows tailored to everyday parent needs.

Welcome screen with short pause before animation into the sign in screen.

A welcome back sign screen for returning users who have visited before. Alternative screen for first time users would be in addition.

A central space for notifications across features, plus a private parent-nursery message board.

A home screen with scroll-based animations that reduce the profile area, plus soft animations throughout the app.

A dedicated space for your child's daily updates, separate from a cluttered, all-in-one feed.

A care overview that replaces end-of-day printouts and manual event tracking.

Milestones presented visually with infographics and icons, rather than plain text.

A dedicated space for the nursery to share updates and events.

A shared calendar for nursery events—plus a private space for parents to add their own.

Reduce duplication of admin tasks per parent with this one home for all resources.

Child preferences allow parents to share key information which the nursery can refer too.

Parent preferences allows parents to manage and edit preferences anytime.

Clear Updates at a Glance

In other nursery apps, it wasn’t always obvious what had changed since the last visit. Notifications for important updates—whether about your child, a general nursery message, or a new calendar entry—were often displayed together in a single feed, making it hard to find what really mattered.

I’ve created a dedicated space on the home page that shows exactly what’s new since you last opened the app. It’s like a snapshot of all important updates, personalised to you, with quick links to key areas, so you never miss an important message or event - keeping you in the loop.

My Day

The ‘My Day’ area provides a clear, up-to-date snapshot of your child’s daily activities. It builds on the activity feed, showing all events from the day and extending back over the past 7 days—so you can easily look back and see what’s been happening.

A dedicated ‘Latest Moments’ section highlights any photos or videos captured in the activity feed, so you can relive the special moments as they happen.

While many nurseries summarise meals, nappies, mood, and behaviour only at the end of the day—either verbally or in a written handover—this app logs this information in real time, as it happens. This means you get a fuller, more accurate picture of your child’s day, with updates shared throughout the day, not just at pick-up time.

Nursery Hub

The ‘Nursery Hub’ is a dedicated space where the nursery can share anything they want parents to know. No more relying on a noticeboard in the reception area—important updates are always available in the app, anytime you need them.

Unlike other apps, we’ve also included a calendar, making it easy to keep track of upcoming events, deadlines, and special days. Plus, parents can add their own private entries, helping them stay organised with reminders that matter to their family.

BRANDING

Creating a Brand

The Little Loop logo uses flowing, looping text to symbolise continuous connection between parents, children, and teachers. The seamless, joined design reflects the app’s mission: to keep everyone in the loop—sharing care, moments, and milestones throughout the nursery journey. The gentle curves suggest nurturing, inclusivity, and an ongoing relationship, creating a warm, welcoming identity for the app.

The Little Loop colour palette combines navy blue, pastel reds, warm browns, and soft greys to create a sense of warmth, trust, and calm.

Logo

App Logo

Colour Palette