McGraw Hill- K-5 Literacy Platform
Blending visual design with interactive instruction
OVERVIEW
McGraw Hill is a global educational company with over 130 years of experience crafting tailored learning experiences for K-12 students and teachers. Known for traditional print production, McGraw Hill has been undergoing a massive digital transformation into the online learning space, enabling more accessible and dynamic approaches to classroom learning through emerging technology.
MY ROLE
I served as a Visual Product Designer on a cross functional Agile delivery team to launch the Ceres New Literacy digital learning platform for grades K-5.
CORE CHALLENGES
I worked closely with multiple teams including Print, Product, and Academic Designers to deliver student and teacher learning experiences utilizing Ceres, an in-house authoring tool. I successfully designed and delivered key digital screens within extreme design constraints by creating a careful balance between accessibility, visual design, and innovative learning engagement.
TOOLS
Ceres Authoring Platform, Jira, Smartsheet, Lucid, Confluence, Figma, Microsoft Suite, Paper, Pencil
TIMELINE
4 weeks
Delivering Visual Feedback
VISUAL ANALYSIS / BENCHMARKING
I uncovered critical visual and UX design issues in over 100 screens across grades 2-5 during the Ceres Alpha and Beta platform review. I refined visual analysis processes and deliver key recommendations to third party vendors and in-house production teams enabling a smooth product launch.
Grade 5 Literacy Instruction - Visual Benchmarking
Creating Visual Hierarchy
TEMPLATE DESIGN MODIFICATION
Utilizing the New Lit design system, I re-configured key template screens before full product launch to showcase improvements in visual hierarchy, rich text box alignment, layout, typography, accessibility, and paragraph styling.
Grade 5 Literacy Digital Screen Modification
Synthesizing Learning Experiences
INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL INTEGRATION
The Ceres New Literacy sequence utilizes a “just in time” instructional model that blends scaffolded and interactive experiences with multi-media engagement. I synthesized learning design with visual design aligned to the constraints of our authoring tool capabilities to create engaging, student centered user experiences.
Instructional Model Integration
FULL FIDELITY DIGITAL SCREEN DESIGN
I composed key template designs to showcase learning content from the Academic Design team. This learning sequence utilizes newly developed, innovative widget components to enable discoverability and interactivity through image thumbnail galleries, modal sequencing, and hot spot interactions within the learning management system.
Grade 5 Multi-Media Learning Sequence
Interactive Design with Hot Spots and Modal Sequencing
More to Come
It has been a gratifying experience to partner with over 400 Product and Academic Designers to launch a robust platform that empowers every child to learn how to read and write. I have gained success within my role as a Product Designer by fostering strong working relationships with colleagues and by always seeking to rapidly learn and acquire new skills.
The next chapter of our product launch centers on design refinement throughout the Beta and then Gold phases of product development and delivery.