Dearest memories: Supporting early parenthood with new media

Abstract

Having a baby is one of the most significant lifetime events for both mothers and fathers. Parents looking for baby-related information can be overwhelmed by the considerable amount of data that is available to sift through. Early parenthood is one of the emotionally richest moments of one’s life, which will be told numerous times in family narratives. There have been numerous attempts at improving the situation concerning the wealth of information and capturing the emotional moments through various media, including new media. However, modern-day solutions have not fully utilized the potential of information and communication technology (ICT). There is an obvious need to explore this topic in order to supply early parent- and babyhood with digital tools.

This thesis aims at developing the best possible service for parents using new media, and describes the project starting from the motivation all the way to the initial design mockups and their evaluation. Interaction, experience and service design, and memory related studies serve as the most relevant theoretical frameworks for the work. I conducted benchmarking and seven interviews, and wrote four scenarios to compile the design requirements. Based on the requirements, I designed five main screens for a mobile application, which were evaluated by four experts. One of the most interesting discoveries is the link between information and memories. Another one is the demand for comparison between siblings. The thesis concludes with future development ideas and my reflections on the design.