Penguine

Building a mobile first community for parents with disabilites

Camilo Lizarralde x Shreyans Baid

Building a mobile first community for parents with disabilites

Camilo Lizarralde;
Shreyans Baid

The Concept

We conceptualized Penguine, an online platform that acts as a safe space for parents with disabilities to seek support and bridge the gap between formal and informal support mechanisms.

Impact

Conducted 15+ user interviews with parents with ambulatory disabilities, uncovering pain points in community access.
Mapped ecosystem interactions to identify key pain points and design a community-driven platform for accessible resource discovery.

Impact

Conducted 15+ user interviews with parents with ambulatory disabilities, uncovering pain points in community access.
Mapped ecosystem interactions to identify key pain points and design a community-driven platform for accessible resource discovery.

Concept Testing

Competitive Analysis : Learnings

Analyzed existing support platforms and parenting websites, identifying gaps in accessibility
and collaborative features.

Analyzed existing support platforms and parenting websites, identifying gaps in accessibility and collaborative features.

Some websites provide valuable connections, while others deliver substantial information. Despite these positive aspects, the overall user experience remains fragmented.

Most security verification

methods fail to be accessible for people with disabilities.

90% of the websites in our list of companies have issues related to visual and motor skill accessibility.

Most of the community management websites we analyzed tend to focus on punitive moderation rather than conscious facilitation.

What’s Good For People and Business?

Through discussions with our stakeholders, we identified key best practices and potential pitfalls, gaining valuable insights into what is beneficial for our business.

Do’s

Transparency in our facilitation methods- Tell people how we are going to make it safe.
Verifiable content and ease of use are the key aspects- Trust
Being accessible means being accessible to all in all that we do. This extends to every touchpoint/deliverable that we produce.
Building clear policies and procedures will support the verification system we decide to use.
Helping people make their content accessible.
Making the platform work with the assistive tech (ARIA Code)

Don'ts

Don’t Rely Solely on Captchas for Verification
Don’t Confuse Moderation with Facilitation
Don’t Be Performative About Diversity (‘Divershish’)
Don’t Compromise Safety with Low Verification Methods
Don’t Design Interactions That Feel Forced or Unintuitive

Good for business

Choosing the right system to build on is a priority. This will set the stage for the accessibility of the platform.
Build a strong enough website and we wont need to build an app. WCAG (2.2) applies only to websites, not to apps.
Mobile first web interface
Experience Recycling
A good mix of quality of connections, and quantity of information

Strategy Palette

Based on our insights from users and learnings from the competition analysis we theorized
our move to make Penguine about creating a new ecosystem rather than just adapting to
existing conditions.

Based on our insights from users and learnings from the competition analysis we theorized our move to make Penguine about creating a new ecosystem rather than just adapting to existing conditions.

Shaping Strategy

Community building

Community building

By creating Penguine that acts as a safe space for parents with disabilities, we are trying to build on an existing scattered ecosystem for parents with disabilities.

This involves setting norms, expectations, and creating new types of interactions between users (parents, experts, support organizations, etc.).

Innovation in support

Innovation in support

The blending of formal and informal support mechanisms requires innovative solutions and the development of new tools, resources, and methods of interaction that can shape user expectations and behaviors within the community.

Influence & Partnership

Influence & Partnership

Penguine will actively engage with various stakeholders, including non-profits, healthcare providers, and other entities, to shape the broader ecosystem of support for parents with disabilities.

Business Model Testing

Testing Question : Willingness to pay

Method:

Social media profile tied to a landing page and a sign up form.

Target Audience:

Parents with disabilities, partners of parents with disabilities.

*(Refer to Part 1 for details)

Target Audience:

Parents with disabilities, partners of parents with disabilities.

*(Refer to Part 1 for details)

Business Model

Penguine Positioning

Penguine Positioning

Functions & Actions Tree

Functions & Actions Tree

Strategic Vision For Penguine

This initiative is more than a platform; it’s a holistic ecosystem aimed at transforming how parents with disabilities access information and build connections. By leveraging a human-centered approach, the strategy focuses on aligning user needs with sustainable business goals to ensure long-term value for users and stakeholders.

Revenue Model: Freemium Framework

Partnership Strategy: Collaborations for Impact

User Engagement: Support System

Metrics for Success: Data-Driven Insights

Revenue Model: Freemium Framework

Partnership Strategy: Collaborations for Impact

User Engagement: Support System

Metrics for Success: Data-Driven Insights

Revenue Model: Freemium Framework

Partnership Strategy: Collaborations for Impact

User Engagement: Support System

Metrics for Success: Data-Driven Insights

Approach to Experience Design

After making strategic decisions based on user feedback and testing we set out to define our design approach to giving this community a face.

Curated : Resource hub

Online resource hub for parents with disabilities. With a guided search feature where parents can narrow their search while being directed to the best match possible.

Collaborative

Community Chat
Facilitated Support Groups
Peer to peer Mentorships

Accessible

Penguine collects the accessibility information from users and use it to provide curated connections, and verifications to safeguard community standards and build trust.