Autism Allies is an app designed to help children with autism build meaningful friendships by connecting families with shared interests and needs. It empowers parents to find compatible playmates and create supportive communities, fostering a safe, inclusive environment where kids can thrive socially and enjoy new experiences together.

Children with autism often encounter unique challenges in forming friendships due to differences in social and communication skills.

As a parent of an autistic child, I’ve faced many challenges since my son was diagnosed. I found it comforting to hear similar thoughts and experiences from other parents navigating similar situations. I conducted 15-minute interviews with five families with autistic children, and here are the insights:

Lack of Knowledge and Resources: Many parents initially lack understanding about autism and struggle to find adequate resources and support systems, including educational materials and community programs.

Haleh, an interviewiee: It would be beneficial to add a playdate feature and activities with otherchildren to help enhance social skills.

Helping autistic children has always been my lifelong dream, as I have personal experience living with this disorder. This connection helped me empathize deeply with the interviewees’ feelings. My partner and I also conducted surveys to gain further insights into the families’ experiences.

The target user group was selected to ensure the app meets the specific needs and preferences of autistic children and their families.

My persona, Julia, is a mother of two autistic children, William and Hans. Both are verbal and high-functioning. Julia is constantly busy caring for them, as they spend most of their time at home and struggle with socializing. Let’s explore her journey in finding playmates for them in more detail next.

Feeling deeply in my heart how hopeless this situation can be, we began formulating our “How might we” question.

How might we encourage the parents to help the autistic kids to find their own community?

My partner and I explored existing applications for organizing playdates for autistic kids. During our search, we discovered the following results:

Now, let’s explore what happens when Julia searches for an app.

Now is the time to focus on finding a solution for my son’s challenges, as well as for our persona, Julia, and her two kids. We designed a User flow for Julia, detailing her journey from downloading the app to completing the onboarding process and beginning her search for suitable matches for her children.

For returning parents we prepared another user flow:

After creating the user flow, my partner and I began sketching the idea for the playmate app. Since there were no strong competitor apps, we used MyPlaydateApp.com as a reference to design our onboarding process.

The task is to sign up, create profiles for Julia and her kids, and then begin searching for suitable friends for the child and start to chat with parents.

After creating the paper wireframes, we decided to move forward with a mid-fidelity prototype for user testing.

After completing our initial wireframe design, we transitioned to mid-fidelity designs to make user testing more effective. To ensure the app was tailored for autistic users, we followed a specialized design procedure.

Using these ideas, we designed the branding and logo for our autism app.

We developed the branding and logo for our autism app based on the core ideas of fostering connection, promoting inclusivity, and encouraging engagement. The design reflects these values through its thoughtful use of shapes, colors, and typography to create a welcoming and supportive identity for users.

A mid-fidelity prototype was created to demonstrate the concept.

https://www.figma.com/design/UBtSfSZgu7o4pB4Ne2oRWI/Autism?node-id=9-3461&t=n2ROa7CKg50qH9cE-1

While designing the prototype, we focused on three key sections and we did the user test based on it:

To test the app, I worked with a mom who has an autistic son and provided valuable insights for the app’s development. I guided her through signing up for the app, creating a profile for herself and her two imaginary autistic children, searching for a friend, and starting a chat with the friend’s parent.

Navigation Confusion: The main struggle was that the  user was unsure where to click on the page with William and Hans. The page was unclear, leading her to click randomly to see what would happen.

Color Scheme: The blue color closely resembles the selected color, which may lead to confusion. Consider using more distinct colors to enhance visibility and user experience.

Solution: The background color was updated to a warmer, more joyful tone to align with the app’s purpose of helping kids find playmates. While the app is primarily used by parents, the new color palette creates a welcoming atmosphere for both parents and children. Additionally, the revised color scheme minimizes confusion by differentiating it more clearly from the “selected” color used in the interface.

App Features: The app’s features are not adequately introduced to users, leading to confusion when they encounter them during navigation.

Solution: A new introductory frame was added to the app, providing users with a clear and concise walkthrough of its features. This frame uses a combination of brief descriptions, and interactive cues to familiarize users with the app’s functionality before they begin using it. By offering a guided introduction, users can better understand how to navigate the app, reducing confusion and enhancing their overall experience.

Language Options: The user expressed a desire for the app to support multiple language options, enabling her to connect with families who speak the same language. For instance, she emphasized the importance of including Farsi to make it easier to communicate and form meaningful connections with other Farsi-speaking families. This feature could enhance the app’s inclusivity and help users feel more comfortable and understood in their interactions.

A new prototype was design to benefit the users better:

https://www.figma.com/design/UBtSfSZgu7o4pB4Ne2oRWI/Autism?node-id=11-10676&t=n2ROa7CKg50qH9cE-1

This project began as a simple idea inspired by my autistic son, as I wanted to help him become more social and make friends. My goal is to dedicate more effort to transforming this idea into a fully developed app by seeking funding and navigating the necessary technical processes. I hope that, one day, this app can become a reality, helping more and more autistic children build meaningful connections.

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