Early Education & Childcare
Giving teachers more face-time with children in the classroom, and parents more peace-of-mind outside of it
Role:
Lead Product Designer
Responsibilities:
UI & UX
Prototyping
Design system
Research
Mentoring designers
I worked with an early education and childcare provider serving a monthly user list of:
25,000 educators
175,000 parents
Over three years, I collaborated with a cross-functional team of:
4 designers
3 product owners
1 UX researcher
20 developers
I took the lead in UX design, prototyping, design system creation, research collaboration, process improvements, and team leadership.
I worked with an early education and childcare provider serving a monthly user list of:
25,000 educators
175,000 parents
Over three years, I collaborated with a cross-functional team of:
4 designers
3 product owners
1 UX researcher
20 developers
I took the lead in UX design, prototyping, design system creation, research collaboration, process improvements, and team leadership.
I worked with an early education and childcare provider serving a monthly user list of:
25,000 educators
175,000 parents
Over three years, I collaborated with a cross-functional team of:
4 designers
3 product owners
1 UX researcher
20 developers
I took the lead in UX design, prototyping, design system creation, research collaboration, process improvements, and team leadership.
I worked with an early education and childcare provider serving a monthly user list of:
25,000 educators
175,000 parents
Over three years, I collaborated with a cross-functional team of:
4 designers
3 product owners
1 UX researcher
20 developers
I took the lead in UX design, prototyping, design system creation, research collaboration, process improvements, and team leadership.
Problem Space
When I joined the project, the client’s trust was strained by an incomplete and ineffective app delivered by a previous agency. Before diving into design work, my priority was to rebuild this trust through thoughtful design, genuine empathy, and transparent communication.
From a product perspective, both teachers and parents were overwhelmed by a system that was intended to simplify their lives but instead created confusion and frustration. Navigating these intertwined challenges required patience, finesse, and humility.
My priorities became:
• Restoring a strong, collaborative relationship between the product team and designers.
• Simplifying child-tracking processes to reduce confusion and stress for teachers.
• Minimizing administrative tasks, allowing educators to spend more quality time with children.
Problem Space
When I joined the project, the client’s trust was strained by an incomplete and ineffective app delivered by a previous agency. Before diving into design work, my priority was to rebuild this trust through thoughtful design, genuine empathy, and transparent communication.
From a product perspective, both teachers and parents were overwhelmed by a system that was intended to simplify their lives but instead created confusion and frustration. Navigating these intertwined challenges required patience, finesse, and humility.
My priorities became:
• Restoring a strong, collaborative relationship between the product team and designers.
• Simplifying child-tracking processes to reduce confusion and stress for teachers.
• Minimizing administrative tasks, allowing educators to spend more quality time with children.
Problem Space
When I joined the project, the client’s trust was strained by an incomplete and ineffective app delivered by a previous agency. Before diving into design work, my priority was to rebuild this trust through thoughtful design, genuine empathy, and transparent communication.
From a product perspective, both teachers and parents were overwhelmed by a system that was intended to simplify their lives but instead created confusion and frustration. Navigating these intertwined challenges required patience, finesse, and humility.
My priorities became:
• Restoring a strong, collaborative relationship between the product team and designers.
• Simplifying child-tracking processes to reduce confusion and stress for teachers.
• Minimizing administrative tasks, allowing educators to spend more quality time with children.
Problem Space
When I joined the project, the client’s trust was strained by an incomplete and ineffective app delivered by a previous agency. Before diving into design work, my priority was to rebuild this trust through thoughtful design, genuine empathy, and transparent communication.
From a product perspective, both teachers and parents were overwhelmed by a system that was intended to simplify their lives but instead created confusion and frustration. Navigating these intertwined challenges required patience, finesse, and humility.
My priorities became:
• Restoring a strong, collaborative relationship between the product team and designers.
• Simplifying child-tracking processes to reduce confusion and stress for teachers.
• Minimizing administrative tasks, allowing educators to spend more quality time with children.
Image above: Mobile screens displaying how a parent could message their child's teacher.
I started by closely partnering with our UX researcher to deeply understand the daily experiences and challenges educators and parents faced. This collaboration helped me better understand the existing product while also strengthening relationships with the product team. Together, we conducted user interviews and usability testing, uncovering critical pain points—particularly around child tracking and inefficient lesson planning.
Leveraging these insights, I designed and iterated prototypes collaboratively with the product team, ensuring each update directly addressed user needs and supported the team’s business objectives. Regular check-ins and collaboration with developers further ensured our designs were both innovative and technically feasible, balancing creativity, practicality, and alignment with business goals.
I started by closely partnering with our UX researcher to deeply understand the daily experiences and challenges educators and parents faced. This collaboration helped me better understand the existing product while also strengthening relationships with the product team. Together, we conducted user interviews and usability testing, uncovering critical pain points—particularly around child tracking and inefficient lesson planning.
Leveraging these insights, I designed and iterated prototypes collaboratively with the product team, ensuring each update directly addressed user needs and supported the team’s business objectives. Regular check-ins and collaboration with developers further ensured our designs were both innovative and technically feasible, balancing creativity, practicality, and alignment with business goals.
I started by closely partnering with our UX researcher to deeply understand the daily experiences and challenges educators and parents faced. This collaboration helped me better understand the existing product while also strengthening relationships with the product team. Together, we conducted user interviews and usability testing, uncovering critical pain points—particularly around child tracking and inefficient lesson planning.
Leveraging these insights, I designed and iterated prototypes collaboratively with the product team, ensuring each update directly addressed user needs and supported the team’s business objectives. Regular check-ins and collaboration with developers further ensured our designs were both innovative and technically feasible, balancing creativity, practicality, and alignment with business goals.
I started by closely partnering with our UX researcher to deeply understand the daily experiences and challenges educators and parents faced. This collaboration helped me better understand the existing product while also strengthening relationships with the product team. Together, we conducted user interviews and usability testing, uncovering critical pain points—particularly around child tracking and inefficient lesson planning.
Leveraging these insights, I designed and iterated prototypes collaboratively with the product team, ensuring each update directly addressed user needs and supported the team’s business objectives. Regular check-ins and collaboration with developers further ensured our designs were both innovative and technically feasible, balancing creativity, practicality, and alignment with business goals.
Video above: A prototype walkthrough of how to move a few children in a classroom to a new location.
My Contributions
Creating a Seamless Child Tracking Experience
One key challenge was making sure teachers always knew the whereabouts of their students, especially during transitions between spaces. I crafted a simple yet robust "Face to Name" feature, continuously refined through prototyping and user testing. It visually simplified the check-in, check-out, and transfer processes, significantly reducing the cognitive load on teachers. The outcome was not only functional—it became a delightful interaction point in their day.
Reimagining Lesson Planning
Teachers faced a cumbersome process of creating lesson plans externally, then uploading static PDFs. To address this, I designed a dynamic, flexible lesson planner within the app itself, complete with a searchable library of reusable activities. By directly involving educators in the iterative prototyping process, I ensured the tool was intuitive, joyful, and genuinely helpful. Teachers could now easily meet educational standards and focus more on creativity and less on administration.
Streamlining Communication
The existing messaging system was unreliable, causing constant frustration for both teachers and parents. Despite technical limitations, I led a collaborative effort to enhance an out-of-the-box messaging tool. Through clear communication and close coordination with the development team, we optimized it for seamless, real-time messaging. This change drastically improved user satisfaction, creating a simpler and more delightful communication experience.
My Contributions
Creating a Seamless Child Tracking Experience
One key challenge was making sure teachers always knew the whereabouts of their students, especially during transitions between spaces. I crafted a simple yet robust "Face to Name" feature, continuously refined through prototyping and user testing. It visually simplified the check-in, check-out, and transfer processes, significantly reducing the cognitive load on teachers. The outcome was not only functional—it became a delightful interaction point in their day.
Reimagining Lesson Planning
Teachers faced a cumbersome process of creating lesson plans externally, then uploading static PDFs. To address this, I designed a dynamic, flexible lesson planner within the app itself, complete with a searchable library of reusable activities. By directly involving educators in the iterative prototyping process, I ensured the tool was intuitive, joyful, and genuinely helpful. Teachers could now easily meet educational standards and focus more on creativity and less on administration.
Streamlining Communication
The existing messaging system was unreliable, causing constant frustration for both teachers and parents. Despite technical limitations, I led a collaborative effort to enhance an out-of-the-box messaging tool. Through clear communication and close coordination with the development team, we optimized it for seamless, real-time messaging. This change drastically improved user satisfaction, creating a simpler and more delightful communication experience.
My Contributions
Creating a Seamless Child Tracking Experience
One key challenge was making sure teachers always knew the whereabouts of their students, especially during transitions between spaces. I crafted a simple yet robust "Face to Name" feature, continuously refined through prototyping and user testing. It visually simplified the check-in, check-out, and transfer processes, significantly reducing the cognitive load on teachers. The outcome was not only functional—it became a delightful interaction point in their day.
Reimagining Lesson Planning
Teachers faced a cumbersome process of creating lesson plans externally, then uploading static PDFs. To address this, I designed a dynamic, flexible lesson planner within the app itself, complete with a searchable library of reusable activities. By directly involving educators in the iterative prototyping process, I ensured the tool was intuitive, joyful, and genuinely helpful. Teachers could now easily meet educational standards and focus more on creativity and less on administration.
Streamlining Communication
The existing messaging system was unreliable, causing constant frustration for both teachers and parents. Despite technical limitations, I led a collaborative effort to enhance an out-of-the-box messaging tool. Through clear communication and close coordination with the development team, we optimized it for seamless, real-time messaging. This change drastically improved user satisfaction, creating a simpler and more delightful communication experience.
My Contributions
Creating a Seamless Child Tracking Experience
One key challenge was making sure teachers always knew the whereabouts of their students, especially during transitions between spaces. I crafted a simple yet robust "Face to Name" feature, continuously refined through prototyping and user testing. It visually simplified the check-in, check-out, and transfer processes, significantly reducing the cognitive load on teachers. The outcome was not only functional—it became a delightful interaction point in their day.
Reimagining Lesson Planning
Teachers faced a cumbersome process of creating lesson plans externally, then uploading static PDFs. To address this, I designed a dynamic, flexible lesson planner within the app itself, complete with a searchable library of reusable activities. By directly involving educators in the iterative prototyping process, I ensured the tool was intuitive, joyful, and genuinely helpful. Teachers could now easily meet educational standards and focus more on creativity and less on administration.
Streamlining Communication
The existing messaging system was unreliable, causing constant frustration for both teachers and parents. Despite technical limitations, I led a collaborative effort to enhance an out-of-the-box messaging tool. Through clear communication and close coordination with the development team, we optimized it for seamless, real-time messaging. This change drastically improved user satisfaction, creating a simpler and more delightful communication experience.
Image above: Tablet screens showing what the home page of the product looks like. Teachers can see a feed of updates for the children in their classroom. You can also see an example of a teacher creating an Activity Update for a child.
Throughout these initiatives, I created a cohesive design system focused on approachability, ease of use, and clear documentation. This significantly streamlined internal processes and strengthened collaboration between designers and developers. The improved documentation also made onboarding smoother, enabling new designers to quickly understand the client’s needs and project specifics.
Additionally, mentoring fellow designers fostered a supportive, collaborative team environment, enhancing our collective ability to deliver thoughtful, user-centered design.
Throughout these initiatives, I created a cohesive design system focused on approachability, ease of use, and clear documentation. This significantly streamlined internal processes and strengthened collaboration between designers and developers. The improved documentation also made onboarding smoother, enabling new designers to quickly understand the client’s needs and project specifics.
Additionally, mentoring fellow designers fostered a supportive, collaborative team environment, enhancing our collective ability to deliver thoughtful, user-centered design.
Throughout these initiatives, I created a cohesive design system focused on approachability, ease of use, and clear documentation. This significantly streamlined internal processes and strengthened collaboration between designers and developers. The improved documentation also made onboarding smoother, enabling new designers to quickly understand the client’s needs and project specifics.
Additionally, mentoring fellow designers fostered a supportive, collaborative team environment, enhancing our collective ability to deliver thoughtful, user-centered design.
Throughout these initiatives, I created a cohesive design system focused on approachability, ease of use, and clear documentation. This significantly streamlined internal processes and strengthened collaboration between designers and developers. The improved documentation also made onboarding smoother, enabling new designers to quickly understand the client’s needs and project specifics.
Additionally, mentoring fellow designers fostered a supportive, collaborative team environment, enhancing our collective ability to deliver thoughtful, user-centered design.
Image above: Web screens showing how a school leader can message an individual child, school staff, or other school leaders. Examples of how images look when attached to a message are also displayed.
My Plans
This experience deepened my understanding of how empathy-driven design can significantly improve daily interactions, particularly in education settings. I learned the profound impact of consistently prioritizing user joy and ease, reaffirming my commitment to designs that genuinely support and delight users. Moving forward, I would advocate for continued investment in user research and iterative design practices, ensuring the digital ecosystem remains flexible, responsive, and delightful for educators and families alike.
My Plans
This experience deepened my understanding of how empathy-driven design can significantly improve daily interactions, particularly in education settings. I learned the profound impact of consistently prioritizing user joy and ease, reaffirming my commitment to designs that genuinely support and delight users. Moving forward, I would advocate for continued investment in user research and iterative design practices, ensuring the digital ecosystem remains flexible, responsive, and delightful for educators and families alike.
My Plans
This experience deepened my understanding of how empathy-driven design can significantly improve daily interactions, particularly in education settings. I learned the profound impact of consistently prioritizing user joy and ease, reaffirming my commitment to designs that genuinely support and delight users. Moving forward, I would advocate for continued investment in user research and iterative design practices, ensuring the digital ecosystem remains flexible, responsive, and delightful for educators and families alike.
My Plans
This experience deepened my understanding of how empathy-driven design can significantly improve daily interactions, particularly in education settings. I learned the profound impact of consistently prioritizing user joy and ease, reaffirming my commitment to designs that genuinely support and delight users. Moving forward, I would advocate for continued investment in user research and iterative design practices, ensuring the digital ecosystem remains flexible, responsive, and delightful for educators and families alike.
Image above: A tablet screen showing a teacher reading a message thread for one of the children in their classroom.