Age Gate & Parental Consent
- Compliance UX
- State Modelling
- Flow Design
- Scheduled Jobs
- Interface Copy
- Next.js & Firebase
What we're solving
COHORTS is a study platform used by students, and students include children. Anyone signing up gives a date of birth, and that single field decides which of three routes they take. Under-13 accounts need a parent or guardian to agree before they carry on, which is a COPPA-shaped requirement with a genuinely awkward interaction problem underneath it.
Why it matters
The person who has to consent is not the person filling in the form, is not present, and may never open the email. That makes doing nothing the most likely outcome rather than an edge case, so the design question is not really how a guardian approves. It is what happens when one never replies. Lock the account immediately and the child leaves, which means the guardian is never asked at all. Leave it open and consent becomes decorative.
How we got there
Two people, one form: The child completes signup; the guardian makes the decision. They are in different places at different times, and the second one has no reason to be paying attention.
Silence is the default outcome: An unprompted email asking a parent to click something is easy to miss, distrust or defer. Any design that only works when the guardian responds does not work.
A floor as well as a threshold: Under 13 needs consent, but there is an age below which the product should not be collecting anything at all. That is a separate decision from the consent one.
Who this is for
Students under 13 signing themselves up, and the parent or guardian who has to decide, usually from an email they were not expecting.
Meet the users
The under-13 signup
Heard about the platform from friends at school and signed up on her own. Representative rather than interviewed.
- Age:
- 11
- Location:
- Nairobi
- Occupation:
- Student
Goals
- Start using it now, with friends, not next week
- Understand what is waiting on a parent and for how long
Frustrations
Being told to fetch an adult before seeing whether the thing is even worth joining.
The guardian
Received an email about a platform he has never heard of, on behalf of a child he does recognise. Representative rather than interviewed.
- Age:
- 43
- Location:
- Nairobi
- Occupation:
- Accountant
Goals
- Work out quickly whether this is legitimate
- Decide once, without creating an account of his own
Frustrations
Consent requests that are vague about what is being agreed to, or that need a login before they explain anything.
What they need to do
- Give a date of birth once
- See immediately if an adult is needed
- Keep using the product while that is pending
- Know how long is left
- Let a guardian decide without signing up
- Have the decision recorded properly
- Have inaction resolve safely
Mapping the journey
Sketching the structure
