ecoText

Client

ecoText

Project title

Creating educational innovation you can afford

Disciplines

Product designUser researchUX

ecoText is Designed to bring the best out of any learner. It is a platform founded on a passion for education no matter what form it takes. Whether you are an academic, a traditional or non traditional student or a lifelong learner, they are here to help you create your next learning moment.

The challenge

ecoText is a startup web app that aims to become the Spotify of university education in the United States. We started to project from zero to MVP and beyond.

Approach

It has been a super interesting and entertaining project resulting from a process of discovery, ideation, rapid prototyping, visual design and execution.

The core of this project is to combine the functions of an e-reader with the power of a social network to create more learning moments.

Design thinking dynamic to dive into Brand Attributes

Creating user personas & scenario mappings

Mobile-first

Starting the design phase with a mobile-first approach was essential to maintain visual and functional consistency. We refined the information architecture in detail on mobile and then generated the different versions for desktop or tablets.

This approach also helped to have a faster adoption among university students who parachuted into the app and just wanted to take a quick look. When they fell in love with the intuitive way of using it, they would go to their desktops to fully study and take advantage of every interaction.

Initial home layout

Experimenting with reader settings

Outcome

We build the MVP with a Mobile-first approach. We tested it and started to improve the product to get in further.

Now the product has a student environment, as well as a instructor environment. Both functions perfectly in web o mobile.

Students reader

The reader has also different alternatives to improve the reading. A student can for example change the tone of the interface between Original, Focus-mode or black and white). He can also adjust the font (size, font type, etc).

They can also be assessed with quizzes to measure their competency in real-time or use polls to quickly gather information from their peer that help them learn more.

ecoText students reader initial approach

Black and white interface in Focus-mode

Instructor dashboard

The ecoText smart reader is the company's key feature. It allows students to access any book, create notes, perform advanced searches, highlight ideas, share sentences or collaborate with other students.

Students can start conversations in the margins of any text to share ideas and increase learning opportunities.

Instructors can easily check in their students progress over the year to help them reach their full potential.

ecoText Instructors dashboard

Answering questions in an asynchronous and efficient way

When it is time for students to start the reading assignments, Professors instructs them to use our social note-taking feature to answer probing questions left within the margins.

That way, students, TA’s, and professors alike can jump in and communicate with each other over the resources. Also, students can address the professor directly in the margins to solve for learning losses that may go unnoticed throughout the semester. This direct communication closes learning gaps and increases student comprehension.