Ed-tech startup Seesaw was beloved by educators & students but lacked robust communication tools, falling short in the ed-tech space as virtual connections became increasingly crucial. With a mission to develop & implement a new tech stack, there was an opportunity to entirely rethink communication in Seesaw and connect the 10M+ teachers, students and families that use it each month. 

I was brought on to reimagine Seesaw’s messaging experience on this new stack. My mission was to lead the design of a system that solved crucial user pain points while also creating an initial, scalable design system poised for long-term impact.

Over a two-year marathon, I spearheaded a user-centric design process for the system and its features while also iterating continually through user feedback. During the Pandemic, virtual connections between educators and students had become critical, so we moved rapidly while ruthlessly prioritizing our workload. Alongside engineering, I defined Seesaw's first cross-platform design system, paving the way for increased consistency across our web and mobile experiences. 

Since the launch of Messages in 2022, districts and schools choose Seesaw for its seamless communication tools that build classroom community. Significant increases in usage highlight the importance of online communication to Seesaw’s 10M+ users worldwide, and now the entire app has been moved to the same tech stack as Messages. 

My experience at Seesaw thus far has taught me to transform limitations into opportunities. With passion and purpose, we can create more impactful–and more human– product strategies that serve and uplift users by engaging with them at every step of the design process.