Project Type 💻
Design Jam with 4 other designers
Timeline ⏰
October 2025 - November 2025 (6 weeks)
Overview
This project was done as a part of Michigan Ross’s +Tech Innovation Jam. “Designed to mimic a real-world tech team of product managers, technical architects, UX/UI designers, analysts, and generalists the competition is a 6-week program that takes teams of 4-5 multidisciplinary students through three phases (Ideate, Create, Demonstrate).” My team and I participated in the Ed-Tech track of the competition.
Students with chronic illnesses often face challenges staying on track academically. Frequent absences make it difficult for them to keep up with lessons and assignments, leaving them feeling excluded from their peers and less confident in their learning.
User Research
In order to better understand our target audience we conducted 4 1:1 user interviews and collected 12 survey responses.
❓ Some of the questions we asked included:
When you missed school, what was the biggest challenge when catching up?
Did you feel like your teachers and classmates were understanding of your absences?
What resources or support have you used to help catch up?
What additional support would have helped you the most?
How did missing school affect your confidence in your academic abilities?
User Personas
Identifying User Needs
Features that we want to prioritize are…
Multiple learning modes (ex. Hybrid vs Asynchronous, Visual vs Auditory)
Progress bar to visualize assignment completion
Motivational Support (Gamified streaks/badges + motivational messages when they complete assignments)
Parent/Teacher Communication (notifications to teachers/parents about progress in a non-invasive way)
Our users need…
different forms of learning available to them
tools to help them catch up when missing school
a way to track their academic progress
a method for their teachers and parents to communicate
a way to stay motivated to catch up on assignments
a non-invasive way of monitoring their learning
Ideation
Mood board of educational platforms and games
Prioritizing features for both the teacher view and the student view of the platform
Student view designs
Teacher View Designs
Takeaways
1️⃣ Designing for unfamiliar users requires deeper, intentional research
Before this project, most of my design work was for audiences I understood personally, like students. Designing for elementary schoolers with chronic illnesses required us to slow down, ask better questions, and rely heavily on research rather than assumptions. I got more practice on how to translate interviews and survey insights into design decisions that felt safe, age-appropriate, and emotionally supportive.
2️⃣ Personalization has to balance empathy and practicality
This project pushed us to think beyond “make it personalized” and consider how personalization affects the workflows for real teachers, parents, and kids. I learned that meaningful personalization isn’t necessarily about adding more data, it’s about respecting boundaries, reducing cognitive load, and giving users (especially the teachers in this case) the right amount of control without overwhelming them.
3️⃣ Small emotional design choices can transform engagement
Working with a sensitive audience taught me that every small detail matters: the tone of a prompt, the friendliness of a character, even the number of questions asked. I further discovered how emotional design can remove anxiety, build trust, and keep young learners motivated.
That’s not all!
The final pitch deck includes business components as well such as competitive analysis, market sizing, pricing strategy and more. If you’re interested in seeing our final deliverable feel free to reach out at sanvikai@umich.edu !