March 2019 - May 2019

Hoot Reader - fun way to read

Problem Statement

Some children do not enjoy reading. They feel reading is a chore. It is boring because it requires attention and focus or in some cases the child hasn’t found the right book. In school we tend to teach reading in a very industrial way.

Once the child loses interest in reading, it's hard to get them back. The motivation to read also tends to decrease as kids get older. Reading is like any other skill. If you don't practice, you won't develop the vocabulary, the skills, and the ease. You won't be able to read fast.

Primary Research

I spoke to kids and spent time with them to understand their behaviour, needs and wants. The best method to understand the reading habit was to observe kids when they were reading that's when I discovered the real problems they faced.

I also introduced kids with different kinds of books and observed how they responded to each type of book. I Interviewed teachers and parents about the reading habits in kids.I wanted to know kids reading habits in the classroom and home. These conversational helped me identify design touch points.

Key Insights

Often while reading, when children get stuck on a difficult word, they will either skip the word or pronounce incorrectly and continue reading the story.

Most of the time, kids focus on reading the words individually, therefore they cannot understand the meaning of the sentence/ paragraph. This makes the reading less interesting and hinders their imagination. Reading books word-by-word doesn’t help create a whole experience.