Pull Ups App

This project started as a straightforward challenge: find a real problem parents face during potty training and design a digital product that genuinely helps. The goal was to support parents, help kids succeed, and build stronger brand connection for Pull-Ups.

What it became was a lesson in what happens when research and decision-making don’t align.

The challenge

Pull-Ups wanted a mobile app to support parents through potty training. The brief was intentionally open-ended: talk to parents, find real pain points, and design something useful.

We took a research-first approach. But halfway through the project, we learned that the brand team had already spent $100,000 on a fully illustrated app concept—created outside the UX team—without any validation. While we were preparing research insights and early concepts, leadership already had a favorite solution.

Suddenly, the real challenge wasn’t designing the best product. It was proving, with real evidence, that the pre-made idea wasn’t solving a real problem.

Research

We interviewed more than 50 parents who were currently potty training, had recently finished, or were just about to start. After synthesizing interviews, patterns emerged quickly.

Only first-time parents showed any interest in downloading a potty training app. Everyone else either already knew what to do or didn’t have the time or energy for another app.

The biggest frustration wasn’t tracking progress—it was accidents. Especially during screen time, when kids were too distracted to realize they needed to go.

Parents weren’t looking for more work. They wanted something that helped without demanding attention.

The opportunity

We mapped our insights into an Opportunity Solution Tree, connecting real parent pain points to possible solutions. One idea stood out: instead of asking parents to log accidents or rewards, what if the app helped prevent accidents?

We designed a video player that paused at intervals and reminded kids to try going potty. It turned screen time—one of the biggest accident triggers—into a training tool. It was passive, supportive, and didn’t require parents to constantly interact with the app.

When we prototyped and tested it, parents immediately saw the value. It felt realistic. It fit into their lives instead of adding more work.

What actually shipped

Despite strong feedback on our concept, the brand moved forward with their original $100K idea: a potty tracking app with a Candyland-style board, stickers, and manual logging of every success and accident.

We tested that version too. The results were blunt. Parents didn’t want to track anything.

The most common response was:

“I don’t have time for this.”

We delivered the findings. They were ignored. Our team was removed from the project.

The app launched about a year later. Less than a year after that, it was pulled from app stores due to low engagement.

Reflection

This project didn’t end with a product I was proud to see in the world. But it’s one of the clearest examples I’ve experienced of why user research matters.

We did the work. We talked to users. We found real problems. We validated solutions. And when leadership chose to ignore that in favor of sunk costs and gut instinct, the product failed exactly the way research predicted.

It taught me that good UX isn’t just about designing interfaces—it’s about advocating for users, even when that’s uncomfortable. And sometimes, the most important work you do is proving that a shiny idea shouldn’t exist at all.