There was a lot to work with when it came to my research, at this stage I still wasn't too confident as to what I wanted my app to do or look like, so I instead decided to have a look at what types of existing apps are, what they look like, and what they do. I also decided to make it a priority of what sexual health should be appropriate to cover in my app as well as how things are communicated/ taught in today's world.
To help me I decided to break things down into different bullet point.
Research for apps
Research for content
The first thing I did following this, was creating a moodpboard of any existing apps/ elements on Pinterest that I may find helpful. I saved anything that caught my eye such as, UI/UX layouts, Icons, colours, images, or font.
When looking into this, I still attempted to make sure to was gender neutral but to my surprise the results for mostly girl made content was overwhelming, as it just shows how much education or apps that are made for sexual health are usually aimed towards girls. The acceptation to what I find with this is some content was apps for period tracking which I thought was understandable.
The other side of this, is how easy it will be for me to look back for inspiration and any content gathering when it comes to adding content that may be hindered more towards girls than boys.
When looking into any competitors or any similar apps based on sexual health, there are very little and most are aimed at teens or older, most of which track instead of educate, but I still think they could be useful to look into.
One of the apps I looked into was called Flo. Flo is a period tracking app made for women of any ages but is primarily used for teens and young adults. I was able to get in contact with a person that frequently uses the app, to send me screenshots of what their dashboard looks like, as well as asking what they use the app for. (Of course I had edit certain parts and keep parts secret for privacy reasons).
It was interesting to see just how much information was included within the app, not just about period tracking, but anything to do with the female health system. Of course I am well aware of who my target audience is so a portion of this information is irrelevant and inappropriate. However, Some information the app features could be useful to include within mine, once i articulate it to more child friendly rather than keeping it blunt.
Content that I didn’t even think to consider as part of my app is the mood of a person. I thought it was really smart and interesting that Flo has a full page dedicated to just talking about feelings when it comes to sexual health. Which is extremely important in today’s world, as it can effect anyone in anyway, such as keeping up personal hygiene or protection.
Another thing I noticed a lot about this app is how much confidentiality is seen throughout the app. I really like this is as not a lot of people aren’t comfortable talking or showing people anything to do with sexual health, good or bad, or even to trusted people. This is handy to know as I plan on making it a large part of my app itself.