McGraw Hill- New Literacy Platform
Creating seamless K-5 digital learning experiences
OVERVIEW
McGraw Hill is a global educational company with over 130 years of experience building tailored learning experiences across grades K-12. Known for traditional print production, McGraw Hill has been undergoing a massive digital transformation into the online learning space, enabling more dynamic approaches to classroom learning through emerging technology.
MY ROLE
I served as a Product Designer on a cross functional Agile delivery team to launch the Ceres New Literacy digital platform for grades K-5. Key accomplishments included delivering detailed design refinement, visual assets, and digital template construction that offers students and educators flexible, "just in time" instruction rooted in the Science of Reading.
CORE CHALLENGES
I partnered closely with Delivery Designers to navigate demanding work flows amid a company wide Agile transformation. A core challenge was designing blended learning experiences within a highly limited digital authoring platform. I found success by placing the relationships with my colleagues and my empathy for student and teacher experiences at the center of product delivery.
TOOLS
Ceres Authoring Platform, Jira, Smartsheet, Lucid, Confluence, Figma, Adobe Suite, Microsoft Suite, Paper, Pencil
TIMELINE
4 weeks
Delivering Design Feedback
DIGITAL SCREEN ANALYSIS / BENCHMARKING
I uncovered critical visual and UX design issues in over 100 digital learning templates across grades 2-5 during the Ceres New Lit initial product review. I refined visual analysis processes and delivered key recommendations to third party vendors and in-house production teams to enable a smooth product launch.
Visual Design Feedback- Grade 5
Creating Visual Hierarchy
TEMPLATE DESIGN REFINEMENT
Utilizing the New Lit design system, I re-configured key mid-fidelity template screens to showcase improvements in visual hierarchy, rich text box alignment, layout, typography, and paragraph styling to increase readability, accessibility, and engagement for students.
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 interaction and visual design aligned to the constraints of our authoring tool capabilities to create engaging, student centered user experiences.
Instructional Model
Igniting Student Engagement
DIGITAL VISUAL ASSETS- CARD COMPONENTS
I partnered with Product Designers and Product Managers to design visual assets for grade K-5 that would emphasize strong affordance while underscoring literacy skills acquisition. These alphabet cards engage early readers through interactive design utilizing a user controlled slide show feature with an emphasis on clean and simple design elements.
DYNAMIC TEMPLATE DEVELOPMENT
I explored key template compositions that blend learning content with interactive design. This learning sequence utilizes newly developed widgets to enable discoverability and interactivity through image thumbnail galleries, modal sequencing, and hot spot interactions.
Grade 5 Mid-fidelity Prototypes
Interactive Design with Hot Spots and Modal Sequencing
More to Come
It has been a gratifying experience to partner with 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.