Imagine you’re a new parent, finally brave enough to bring your baby along on an errand. But what do you do when baby needs feeding? Are there any quiet, private spaces around? In moments like these, a safe space for parents and their kids becomes invaluable.

Website brief
This was exactly the mindset I found myself in when my daughter was born. The first time I ventured outside the neighborhood with baby in tow was in February – and I quickly found out that changing diapers in a freezing drizzle is not something I’d care to repeat.
I searched everywhere for a list of places where I could feed my baby while out and about. Unfortunately, I found nothing, except for a few mentions of outdated locations on parenting forums. So, as a developer on parental leave with a desperate need for intellectual stimulation, I set out to program a solution.
That’s how the Baby Room Locator project came to life (hah!). I started by compiling a list of ‘baby rooms’ throughout Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic (since that was where I was based), and then turned it into a web app. In its finished version, the Locator shows public places across the Czech Republic where parents of small children can find a safe space to care for their children’s needs.
Baby Room Location version 1.0
I launched the first version of the app in April 2021. It still runs today and, I believe, continues to fulfill its original goal. The app is built with GatsbyJS, a ReactJS framework used for static websites and progressive web apps. As a frontend-only app, it doesn’t have a backend or database, which allowed me to host it for free on Netlify.
The central feature of the web app is a map with location markers pinpointing baby rooms in the user’s immediate vicinity. When a marker is clicked, a panel with details of the selected location appears. Users can filter baby rooms according to amenities, and there’s also an option to find the closest one.
UX design certificate by Google
A few weeks after launching the project, I received a scholarship for a UX (user experience) course designed by Google. The Coursera course was perfect for people on parental leave, and I completed it within a year.
As part of the course, I created three UX projects, one of which was a revamped version of the Baby Room Locator.

A user-friendly Baby Room Locator
Google’s UX course walked me through the entire product development process. I specified a target audience, defined its problem, conducted several interviews, and carried out an extensive competitive analysis. Oh, and I drew lots – and I mean lots – of wireframes and mockups.
The entire process is documented in the Baby Room Locator Process Book.
Overall, the course provided me with a solid foundation in UX research and design, which I draw on every day in my current work designing websites. It was, of course, also extremely beneficial to the Baby Room Locator project itself.

Going forward
At the time of writing, the Baby Room Locator still runs strong in a slightly updated first version. It even received a mention in a zine on urban planning in Prague, published by an amazing organization – CAMP, a multimedia gallery and urban planning hub focusing on Prague.
Of course, I would much rather it looked less like the solution to a developer’s problem and more like the sleek app I designed during the UX course :). I am looking forward to carving out some time in the future to rewrite the app to reflect not only the updated design but also the latest best practices in web development.