Device Controls- Helping families set limits.

Location Labs was a pioneer in device management services created for families. We partnered with all the top-tier U.S. phone carriers, Sprint, TMobile, AT&T, and Verizon as well as international carrier, Telefonica.

Role & Impact

Creative Director
October 2004 - December 2014

I joined Location Labs as the first design hire, I built and managed the design team including an offshore team. Over the course of my ten years at the company, we partnered with top tier cell carriers to launch first of their kind products for families.

The organization was highly collaborative, I worked across a multidisciplinary team including web developers, mobile developers, product management, and the executive team. 

My team was a contributor to a successful acquisition of the company.

Product Goals:

  • Create a platform for parents to monitor, guide, and control their kid’s mobile device usage.

  • Build a modular system that can be leveraged for white-label applications across web and mobile.

  • Analyze kid’s device usage and give parents visual feedback.

  • Create controls that allow parents to lock kid’s phones on demand and on a schedule.

  • Ensure the design system is modular and re-usable for all deployments.

Family Device Controls

As device usage surged within families, we created a product to support parents through this journey with their children. We launched our controls platform with AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. The product allowed parents to set time limits, block calls and texts, lock the phone on demand, and set lock schedules. Parents could also monitor usage and see summaries of time spent.

AT&T Smart Limits

Navigation, Locks, Limits

Summary, Text limits, Block

Web Dashboard and Activity

Sprint Mobile Controls

Android Lock screen, Activity screen

Web Dashboard and Contact Screen

Verizon FamilyBase

iOS Activity, Locks, Contact

Web Dashboard

Onboarding wireframes

RESULTS AND INSIGHTS

  • The release of our Family Device Controls products solidified our relationships with Carriers and allowed us to iterate frequently as we recieved customer feedback.

  • First to market with these types of controls for parents.

  • We leveraged our learning from previously launched Family Finder apps to work efficiently with design systems and modular features.