Dive into detailed case studies that break down my creative process, revealing practical insights into problem-solving and design thinking.
Tynker Case Study
Leveling Up.
Problem:
The Challenge: Tynker, known as "the world's biggest coding site for kids," faced a critical issue as its user base transitioned into older teens. Despite widespread love from students and teachers, the platform grappled with a perception problem. The existing art direction, perceived as overly "cute," failed to mature with its audience.
Evaluation
Understanding the Audience:
To address this challenge, a deep understanding of the evolving preferences of the older teen demographic was crucial. The evaluation unveiled a clash of multiple styles and a lack of coherence among different age groups. Art elements were used haphazardly, resulting in a confusing user experience. Excessive gradients and intricate details made the art feel dated.
Streamlining Art Elements:
To rectify this, a decision was made to streamline art elements. Different age groups were identified, and a strategic plan was devised to handle the transition seamlessly. The focus shifted from overwhelming gradients to selectively using them in the background, allowing flat art to take center stage for a cleaner, modern aesthetic.
The Solution
The Vision:
Recognizing the need to cater to older teens without alienating younger users, the vision for the redesigned Tynker art direction emerged. The goal was to set a new standard for e-learning platforms by creating an online space that was not only educational but also vibrant, entertaining, and socially engaging.
Implementation and Results:
Armed with a clear vision, the team at Tynker implemented the redesign, selecting features that resonated with older teens while ensuring a seamless transition for younger users. The revamped platform successfully struck a balance between maintaining a playful and informative nature and catering to the more mature tastes of older teens. Positive user feedback indicated a more cohesive and engaging experience, positioning Tynker as a leader in providing a dynamic and age-appropriate coding education experience.
Video promoting Tynker to parents, showing the benefits of giving their kids a headstart on coding.
Case Study:
UPKEY
Finding your voice and standing out from the competition.
The Problem:
UPKEY is a company that offers career preparedness tools for high school and college students. While there were many good things about what they were doing, the art, animation, writing seemed disjointed, they did not work together to create a compelling cohesive brand narrative. UPKEY created a resume-building web app, that students would use and never come back, we needed a way to keep students engaged in the UPKEY site, explore the other aspects of the site and make UPKEY a destination for students looking to prepare themselves for their future.
Evaluation:
After reviewing all of UPKEY’s offerings, the were some obvious flaws that were screaming to be fixed, their target audience was 16 to 26, but the vast majority of the content was not usable on mobile devices. To build any kind of student participation, we needed to think “Mobile First” The Art style was not reaching the target audience, the mascot characters were a turn-off, user comments referred to the art as “Cheesy”. To appeal to this audience we needed to appeal more to their career aspirations, than their childhood. The writing. was uneven, overly complicated, and tried to address Students Colleges and Universities, and Corporate partners with the same message. Ultimately UPKEY was not really addressing the core audience, the students.
The Solution:
In the final analysis, there was a lot to do, but the main thing was to find a unified voice for UPKEY. This voice needed. We needed a better, faster way to get through the interactive modules and create a sense that the students were working toward a goal, that goes beyond just finding a job, but developing a career, and ultimately giving back and becoming a mentor to other students. We updated the Art, Writing to better address the core demographic, by narrowing our focus, our rallying cry was “For the Kids”. If something was not for the Kids, it was out, we were no longer trying to talk to Corporate interests on Upkey.com, we would have separate sites that would address Corporate or University needs. Being able to focus on one audience freed us up to be able to focus on having some more fun art and writing, and changing the focus from the characters to the users and make them feel like the module was actually being customized to them.
