Developmental Insights
An added feature to brightwheel, a childcare management software
Overview
Role
Product Designer (UI/UX)
Timeline
9 weeks (80+ hours)
Tools
Figma
This project is a fictitious scenario, completed as a part of Designlab's UX Academy.
Background
For this project, I was tasked with designing a new feature for an existing product. I selected Brightwheel because of my familiarity with the platform as a Montessori educator and because I saw an opportunity to improve how developmental information is shared with families.
The feature delivers personalized developmental observations directly to parents, helping them understand what their child is learning and why it matters. Each insight includes developmental context and suggestions for extending learning at home.
Because this was an enhancement to an existing product, I worked within Brightwheel's visual language, navigation patterns, and user expectations. My goal was to create a feature that felt like a natural extension of the current experience.
How My Montessori Background Shaped the Problem Space
Having spent years observing children and communicating developmental progress to families, I understood firsthand the challenges teachers face when sharing meaningful information in a concise way.
Through conferences, daily conversations, and parent questions, I noticed that families often wanted more context around their child's development rather than simple updates about their day.
The Opportunity: Strengthening Parent Engagement Through Developmental Insights
Brightwheel excels at sharing photos, messages, and classroom updates, but there was an opportunity to help parents better understand their child's developmental journey.
I wanted to understand how parents learn about milestones today and whether existing communication methods were meeting their needs.
My hypothesis was that providing developmental context and actionable next steps could create more meaningful engagement between home and school.
Research methodologies
Insights
Defining the feature
Overview
Understanding User Needs
Methodologies
I interviewed parents and teachers to learn about their communication habits, developmental concerns, and experiences receiving updates from schools and communicating with each other.
Participants discussed conferences, report cards, classroom apps, and informal conversations as their primary sources of developmental information.
Parents expressed a desire for more proactive communication and wanted insights that helped them better support learning at home.
During the early research phase, I compared Seesaw, Remind, and Brightwheel to understand how existing platforms communicate children’s activities and development to families. Although I initially planned to design the feature for a different education app, the analysis revealed that Brightwheel was better aligned with the concept because it serves younger children and prioritizes frequent communication between educators and families. My previous experience using Brightwheel also gave me valuable insight into its users and workflows. Based on these findings, I chose Brightwheel as the platform for the final feature while retaining it in the competitive analysis to document how that decision emerged from the research.
Insights
Many participants reported only receiving developmental information when a concern arose or during scheduled conferences.
While parents appreciated updates about classroom activities, they were more interested in understanding what those activities meant for their child's growth.
Families appreciated when teachers provided specific suggestions that connected classroom learning to activities they could do together outside of school.
Defining the Developmental Insights Feature
The feature allows teachers to share meaningful observations that highlight emerging skills, interests, and developmental progress.
Each insight explains why an observation matters and how it relates to broader developmental goals.
To help bridge the gap between school and home, every insight includes a simple activity parents can try with their child.
Persona development
Affinity mapping
Overview
Establishing User Pain Points
Persona Development
I developed personas representing busy parents who want to stay involved in their child's education but have limited time and attention, as well as early childhood educators who want to partner with parents.
These personas helped clarify key user needs, including understanding developmental progress, feeling connected to teachers, and supporting learning at home.
Affinity Mapping
I organized interview findings into an affinity map to uncover patterns across participants. This process revealed recurring themes around communication, developmental visibility, trust, and parent involvement, helping prioritize the features that would provide the most value. These insights became the foundation for the Developmental Insights feature set.
User flows
Exploring solutions & early concepts
Overview
Creating the Framework
User Flows
From my research findings, I created user flows to visualize how parents would discover, engage with, save, and revisit developmental insights.
Exploring Solutions & Early Concepts
I explored several concepts, including visual interest maps, developmental timelines, teacher notes, and personalized insight notifications.
Ideas were assessed based on their ability to increase engagement while remaining practical for teachers to use.
Research consistently showed that parents preferred concise, actionable information over complex developmental reports.
Wireframes
Designing for brighwheel’s ecosystem
Overview
Let’s Start Designing!
Early wireframes focused on determining how much information parents needed and how it should be presented.
I mapped the complete experience from receiving a notification to reviewing an insight and engaging with the content.
Several rounds of revisions improved clarity, reduced cognitive load, and streamlined user interactions.
Wireframes
Designing for brightwheel’s Existing Ecosystem
I incorporated familiar UI patterns and design elements to create a seamless experience.
The feature was designed to complement existing communication tools rather than compete with them.
Parents could react, save, and respond to insights using interaction patterns already common throughout the app.
Usability test findings
Iterations
Overview
Usability Testing
Usability Test Findings
Participants completed tasks such as reviewing an insight, saving it, contacting a teacher, and exploring suggested activities.
Testing revealed which elements felt intuitive and which areas created confusion.
One of the most important findings was that users interpreted saved insights differently from developmental progress tracking.
Iterating on Saved Insights & Growth Tracking
Participants assumed saved insights would function as a library of memorable moments rather than a data visualization tool.
I separated these concepts into two distinct features with different purposes and navigation paths.
This adjustment aligned the product more closely with user expectations and improved overall usability.
Final design
Impact & business value
Reflection & next steps
Overview
Final Solution
Final Design
Parents receive a notification when a new developmental insight becomes available and can immediately review the information.
The final feature encourages engagement while providing valuable developmental context.
Parents can view patterns and growth across multiple developmental domains, creating a more holistic understanding of their child's learning journey.
The prototype demonstrates the complete user experience and key interactions.
Users can move through realistic scenarios, including reviewing insights, saving content, and communicating with teachers.
The prototype served as a tool for validating design decisions and communicating the concept.
Impact & Business Value
The feature encourages parents to interact more frequently with developmental content and teacher communication.
Providing context and home activities creates continuity between classroom learning and family involvement.
By delivering more meaningful value to families, the feature has the potential to increase satisfaction and long-term platform engagement.
Reflection & Next Steps
My background in Montessori education provided unique insights that informed both the problem and the solution.
Future iterations could include teacher approval workflows, insight management tools, and automated recommendations.
These opportunities could further personalize the experience and increase long-term engagement.