UX Design: Hoa Whānau App

When I had my child, Whānau Āwhina Plunket was there to help guide and support me through the early years of parenting. Fifteen years later, I had the opportunity to work at Plunket and contribute to supporting other whānau and parents through design and communication.

Plunket Hoa Whānau is a UX/UI concept inspired by that journey, a mobile-first app designed to make parenting support feel more connected, accessible, and reassuring by bringing trusted guidance, appointments, milestone tracking, and support services into one calm digital experience.

The Project

Plunket Hoa Whanau is a mobile-first parenting support app concept inspired by the services of Whānau Āwhina Plunket. Designed to reduce stress and simplify access to support, the app brings together appointments, milestone tracking, trusted guidance, and help services into one calm, personalised experience for parents of young children.

Role

Lead UI/UX designer doing the following tasks

  • Ideation and User Research

  • Sketching and Wireframing

  • Prototyping with Figma

  • Usability Testing

Duration

May 2026

Personas

Black-and-white photo of a young woman with three children, possibly her kids, in a living room. The woman looks serious. Text overlay reads 'Mom Alicia' with additional phrases about staying at home and being a mother to three young kids, and a quote about getting tickets and snacks for movies.
A young woman with glasses sitting outdoors on stairs, looking at her phone and holding a coffee cup, with a backpack beside her, in a park-like setting with trees and sunlight.

USER RESEARCH

Painpoints

“Parents don’t just need information — they need reassurance, clarity, and support in the moments that matter most.”

Stylized purple and pink gradient sad face with question mark on the head, indicating confusion or uncertainty.

Fragmented Support

Parents need to switch between:

  • phone calls

  • websites

  • emails

  • in-person visits

There’s no single place to manage their parenting journey.

Line drawing of a hand holding a smartphone with a purple and pink gradient.

Information Overload
The website contains valuable information, but for overwhelmed parents it can feel:

  • hard to navigate

  • too broad

  • difficult to know what’s relevant right now

Especially during stressful moments.

Outline of two tickets with star shapes on them, gradient pink to purple color.

Support Is Reactive,
Not Continuous

Most interactions happen only during appointments or when something feels wrong.

Parents still need reassurance and guidance in between visits.

Outline illustration of a ticket booth with a sign reading 'TICKET' on top.

Difficulty Accessing Help Quickly

When parents are anxious, they want immediate answers.

Calling support lines or searching articles can feel slow and frustrating.

Lack of Personalisation

Every baby develops differently, yet most information is presented generally rather than tailored to:

  • baby’s age

  • milestones

  • upcoming stages

  • parent concerns

Emotional Overwhelm

New parents are often:

  • sleep deprived

  • anxious

  • overstimulated

Many digital health experiences focus only on functionality and not emotional reassurance.

Sketched mobile app wireframes on a sheet of paper showing screens for login, sign-up, home, adding items, ticket summary, and event details.

Wireframing

Flowchart illustrating a user flow for a movie booking app, starting from app open, user login or sign-up, navigating through home, search, tickets, bookmark, profile, selecting movies, watching trailers, selecting seats, payment, and final ticket download.

User Flow

A person viewing a laptop screen displaying wireframe sketches for a mobile app design.

Prototyping in Figma

Wireframe displaying a series of screens for a movie booking app, including welcome, movie selection, seat selection, add-ons, checkout, and confirmation pages.

Lo-Fi Wireframe

Brand style guide featuring a logo with a film reel triangle icon, color palette with nine shades including black, blue, purple, pink, and teal, Open Sans font examples, and icons and buttons for website design such as home, shopping cart, user profile, notifications, film clapper, target, search, and heart, along with various button styles.

Design System

USABILITY STUDY :

Findings

Round 1

  • Needed an add-to-cart feature to review before purchase

  • Add ticket price variations for Adults, Kids and Family Deals

  • Add Trailer button and coming soon category

Round 2

  • Confirmation Checkout

  • Add an option to add ticket to e-wallet

  • Opt-out or proceed to checkout while on add-on page.

A series of mobile app screens showing a cinema booking process, including app login, movie selection, seat selection, add-ons, checkout, and ticket confirmation.

USER RESEARCH

Accessibility considerations

Colorful icon of a paint color palette and color swatches on a black background.
Neon icon of a hand touching a touchscreen with concentric circles.

Color Contrast
Ensure all text has a high contrast ratio with the background (at least 4.5:1 for small text, 3:1 for large text) to be readable for users with visual impairments

Gestures
Keep gestures simple (tap, swipe) and offer alternative ways to perform actions for users who have difficulty with specific gestures

Icon of a speaker with a plus sign, indicating volume increase.
Outline of a document connected to three database icons, symbolizing data management or integration.

Audio
Optional haptics and sound-on-button interactions

Logical Structure
Maintain a consistent and logical layout for the app's interface

TAKEAWAY

Impact

Plunket Companion explores how thoughtful UX design can reduce stress for parents by creating a more connected, accessible, and reassuring support experience. Inspired by the trusted services of Whānau Āwhina Plunket, the concept reimagines how digital tools can better support families through the early years of parenting.

The app focuses on simplifying access to trusted guidance, appointments, milestone tracking, and support services in one calm, personalised experience. By reducing friction and information overload, the concept aims to support parents not just during appointments, but throughout their everyday parenting journey, providing reassurance, clarity, and timely support when they need it most.

My learnings

Working on Plunket Companion helped me better understand the importance of designing for emotional experiences, not just functional ones. Parenting can be overwhelming, especially during the early years, and this project reinforced how thoughtful UX decisions can help reduce stress, simplify information, and create a greater sense of reassurance for users.

Through this project, I explored how service design, accessibility, and personalised content can work together to create a more supportive digital experience. It also strengthened my understanding of designing within a healthcare and community-focused context, where trust, clarity, and empathy are just as important as usability.

As someone who personally experienced the support of Whānau Āwhina Plunket as a parent and later had the opportunity to work within the organisation, this project allowed me to combine personal insight with UX thinking to create a concept grounded in real experiences and human needs.