A triangle of Care: the parent-child-caregiver relationship
What We Did
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Strategy Design
Experience Design
Brand Design
Industrial Design
Packaging Design
Product Development Engineering
Case Study

Littlebird

Increasingly relying on outside help, parents of toddlers need assurance that all is well with their little ones while they're away. Littlebird promotes peace of mind for parents, with the help of the world’s smallest cellular-enabled wearable for toddlers.

Redefining Connected Care
Consciously or not, the outsourcing of childcare places significant weight on parents' psyche. Yet existing childcare reporting systems are outdated and fractured, providing only a fraction of the information parents desire.
Our joint work with Littlebird included Product definition,Strategy, Intellectual Property, physical and digital Design, Product development, Brand and delivery of Alpha and Beta units. It is a testament to our unique capability to deliver a full-stack technology design solution.
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A Collaborative Approach
Monica Plath, Littlebird founder and mother of two, asked us to help bring her idea to life. Having previously worked with Fitbit for 10 years, we are uniquely positioned to support Monica through the branding, design, strategy, engineering, and manufacturing aspects of the Littlebird system, taking it from a mere idea to a fully fleshed product.
We developed the proprietary Littlebird Connected Care App with a supporting Toddler CareTracker. Together these tools give parents visibility into their little ones’ ongoing whereabouts, activity metrics and well-being, all at a glance.
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Littlebird  Toddler Tracker
Made for ages 1-5, the Littlebird Toddler CareTracker is completely unobtrusive.  We intentionally designed the wearable to seamlessly blend into your child's existence and not distract them from being fully present, in real life, at all times. As such, the device does not provide two-way communication or require interaction from the wearer.
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Patented Safety Features
Littlebird uses patented custody, safety and location tracking features to help parents identify who is caring for their child and when hand-offs occur. We utilized a new, low-power, long-distance LTE-M cellular network to transmit GPS information, creating arguably the smallest LTE/GPS wearable. LTE-M signals reach about 30% further than standard networks, making it a perfect fit for this system.
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Littlebird Connected Care App
The centralized hub of information within the Connected Care App allows parents to stay in touch with caregivers, view photos shared of their children, and most importantly, maintain the feeling of connection with their child, even when they're apart.
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Littlebird lets caregivers update you with Chat, Photo, Location, and Mood updates. Every moment captured and shared is saved to your child's timeline.
Humanity First
Littlebird is for parents and caregivers alike. Today’s parents are more geographically disconnected from their families than in previous generations. They're also eager for caregiver insights to support their parenting decision-making.
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The Connected Care App and Toddler CareTracker were well tested with prototypes to understand parents’ and caregivers’ unique needs and provide a comprehensive solution to a complex functional and emotional problem.
Balancing Simplicity with Sophistication
Engineering the smallest cellular-enabled childhood wearable was no easy feat. Our team’s engineers and designers worked closely together from day one to bring a distinct and feasible product architecture together. The result was a feature-rich, technologically advanced product meant to be virtually unnoticeable by the child wearing it.
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Building A Trustworthy Product
There’s no room for failure when your child’s wellbeing is on the line. To optimize the range and reliability of the Toddler CareTracker, the team created an innovative flexible antenna, separated from the electronics boards, allowed us to minimize cellular interference. Printing the flexible antenna, separated from the electronics boards, allowed us to minimize cellular interference.
The team also designed the wearable’s buckle to feature a small double-action latch, preventing unintentional removal by a child throughout the day.
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Littlebird Brand
The Littlebird brand is approachable and friendly to toddlers, parents, and caregivers. It celebrates the contributions of all in creating the sense of a modern village, and supporting them in providing little ones with the best possible care.
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A Strong Foundation
The rigorously designed Brand identity system equipped Monica and her team in launch and business-making. Making a first good impression is vital to start-up’s success.