INSPIRE

— CHANNEL

PWA

— ROLE

UI/UX Designer

— DURATION

3 weeks

— YEAR

2022

Inspire is a child‑development web application designed for educators to log, track, and monitor developmental outcomes and observations for autistic learners.

The goal of the platform is to support educators with a structured, intuitive digital tool that strengthens documentation, enhances visibility, and enables more informed decision‑making around each child’s developmental journey.

This was a freelance project.

The User Problem

The agency and its educators had become increasingly frustrated with their existing operational processes, which relied heavily on a scattered mix of files, folders, and spreadsheets to document each student’s development.

Several key pain points emerged:

- Limited accessibility across devices and between educators
- Poor organization, resulting in lost or duplicated information
- Overly complex systems that were difficult to manage
- Inconsistent information storage, creating gaps in documentation
- Time‑consuming steps that slowed down daily workflows

These challenges highlighted a clear need for a centralized, user‑friendly digital solution that could streamline documentation and support educators in their work.

The Solution

Introducing a centralized online web portal provided a streamlined alternative to the agency’s fragmented operational system.

Several core functions were identified as essential:

- Adding new children to the system
- Editing existing profiles and information
- Viewing developmental history and overall progress
- Logging outcomes and observations for each child
- Accessing personal and parental information
- Uploading additional comments and images to accompany developmental outcomes

Stakeholder Interview

My objective was to uncover the motivations behind the project and clarify their goals, pain points, ideal timelines, and measures of success.

During our discussion, the client provided valuable insight into their current challenges and what they hoped the new system would achieve.

This information formed the foundation for the next phase of the project, enabling me to continue the research, plan my strategy, and define the key deliverables required to move the project forward.

Competitor Analysis

The primary competitors reviewed were Little Vista, HiMama, and Brightwheel.

Benchmarking these tools allowed me to explore the types of interfaces and workflows educators are already familiar with, uncover opportunities for improvement, and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of existing solutions.

Information Architecture

This helped establish a logical hierarchy that reflects how educators naturally think about accessing information and performing key tasks.

The goal was to create an intuitive, easy‑to‑navigate flow that would allow educators to quickly understand the system’s functionality and locate information with minimal effort.

Low Fidelity Wireframes

The competitive analysis proved particularly valuable at this stage, offering insight into industry standards and highlighting opportunities to improve usability by applying established design principles.

Referencing these patterns helped ensure that the emerging interface felt familiar, intuitive, and aligned with real educator workflows while still enhancing clarity and efficiency.

Prototype & Usability Testing

After conducting usability tests with a small group of users, most of the proposed solutions were validated.

However, several important insights emerged:

- Modals were effective for logging observations, but not ideal for tasks such as adding or editing a child’s profile. Users felt these actions required a more dedicated and spacious layout.
- The preferred tablet orientation was landscape, as it better supported their workflow and provided more room for viewing detailed information.
A few structural elements needed refinement to improve clarity and support faster navigation as well.

High Fidelity Prototype

I developed a comprehensive style guide to support seamless developer handover, detailing colors, typography, spacing, component states, and interaction patterns.

This project was designed as a tablet‑first experience, based on the client’s feedback that educators would primarily use the application in front of the children on their tablets. Prioritizing this format ensured the layouts, interactions, and visual hierarchy were optimized for landscape orientation and aligned with real‑world classroom use.

Click here to view the prototype

Home

Edit Child Info

Edit Contact Info

Delete Profile

Add Child

Overview

Overview Selected

Overview Scrolled

Observations

Observation Sheet

Additional Details

Observation Sheet Scrolled

Log Observation

Outcome

Key takeaways

This project was both challenging and deeply rewarding. I was tasked with translating an extensive Excel dataset into an intuitive, easy‑to‑use application for an industry I had no prior experience in.

One of the most important lessons I learned throughout this process is that collaboration is invaluable. Even though I was working independently, maintaining an open line of communication with both the client and the developer made a tremendous difference. Sometimes, the answers are already in someone’s mind, other times, you find them together.

Cass Harding