This project all started when my high school teacher contacted me about asking me a couple questions about my profession. Turned out he had a project that needed alot of design work. And it couldn't have been one that I believed in more, being a product of the CPS system myself, but no one knew it more than Barry, having taught in some of the best, and worst schools across Chicago. Barry and a group of supporters wanted to revolutionize the way children are taught, by giving parents and teachers the ability to create their own lesson plans and learning criteria that align to the Common Core State Standards, but are more tailored to the needs of an individual learner.

The Purple Pen group had been working on the product for over a year, developing their own assets and methods of documentation. There were even some fully articulated interface designs (image above)of some of the applications key dashboards and page views. I began starting to Barry more about the problem they faced, the common methods being used currently and the ideal process an educator would have. I realized in order to help them I need to get a higher level view of the process in order to get a better grasp of the product.

After initial pushback from TPP advisory group, I was able to convince them there were better opportunities to use our logo, and that for accessibility sake, we should stick to standard controls. And thankfully I found a perfect opportunity to use the branding with a few selection controls we use throughout the process to set a value.