Slide
A school messenger and workspace as good as the rest of the internet
expertise
Mobile app design
Landing page design
Brand storytelling
User research
tools
Figma
Principle
Illustrator​
After effects
role
Founder
Product designer
UX/UI designer
live
Problem
Student-teacher digital communication
methods
I interviewed 16 students and teachers in high school and college to narrowly define the problem, explain their current workflow, and identify major pain points.
problem statement
Students and teachers identified that classroom communication is inefficient and ineffective in three core use cases: synchronous chat, scheduling, and grading assignments.
Solution
A digital hub for all things education
the product
I designed an ed-tech multi-platform rich-text IRC messenger for teachers and students to text chat, video conference, schedule classes, and grade assignments.
the market
The U.S. education market—MOOC's, High School, College, and Teachers—is around 101.1 million potential users. The two direct competitors are Remind, an SMS based K-12 messaging app and Canvas, a subject-based learning management system.
On-boarding
The on-boarding flow informs, explains, and inspires action. Each screen has a sign up button at the bottom for easy access. Beginning each statement with an active verb, it captures the intent of a student or teacher.
Sign Up
There are four types of potential users: students, teachers, parents, and administrators. Each category assigns preemptive user permissions. Not all high school students have an email, so the sign up allows for a phone number.
Empty State
The empty state is the primary screen that a user sees to invite a first action. To avoid drop-off, a blue box with "Create or add a class" grabs the attention of the user.
Authentication
Authentication enables quick, safe, and secure activity. To avoid friction and maintain security, a student can enter their teacher's email address. A confirmation email is sent. After the teacher approves, they will be admitted. A teacher can also email or text magic links to automatically sign their students up for classes.
Feature #1: Chat
Synchronous chat is the first core feature. Press the plus button to chat with peers, or chat in a public channel. Tag others with @name, send files, video chat, and share emojis.
Feature #2: Schedule
The second core feature is the calendar. Teachers can create a class event and assign it to their student roster. It's a simple as clicking the plus button.
Feature #3: Grade
Grading is a customizable and simple to use relational database. It standardizes best practices in weighting grades and allows for enough flexibility to work in all high school, college, and MOOC settings.
Integrations: Video Chat
As education transitions to more remote classrooms, video chat allows for real-time classes. Simply press the video icon and it opens an integration with top platforms such as Zoom. You can post a link in the chat.
Rich Text Editor
Reusable components make developing a product much easier. The rich text editor is reused throughout the app to edit profiles, classes, assignments, and more.
