Preview
Introduction
Essay Eye
Essay Eye is an Edtech startup that utilizes AI to assist the essay grading process for teachers.
I was contracted in August 2024 to help design and develop the initial website ahead of the product launch. The goal of this website was to showcase the product, the company, and to get conversions. My work with this website includes product design, frontend development, graphic design, and branding.
Role
Designer, Frontend Engineer
Tools
Figma, ReactJS, Typescript, Notion
Timeline
2 months
Overview
Stakeholder input
Right off the get go we were in active contact with our primary stakeholders Scott Isley (Essay Eye’s CEO) and David Bridges (Essay Eye’s CTO), and one of our first discussions was drafting a feature overview. This was a mix of
Our contract listed out these as our deliverables:
Homepage
About
Features
Pricing
Safety
Contact
Instructions
Competitive Analysis
Researching competitors such as Humy, SchoolAI, and Brisk gave me a clear idea for successful and relevant website structures, emotional weight, and wording. Overall, my taste was built in this step.
Common Footing
We started off trying to set a common footing. I led the creation of a cohesive design system—defining fonts, colors, icons, and components—to prioritize both accessibility and brand identity.
Likewise I took the lead creating a common footing for our workflow. I did this by setting up a Notion board as our project roadmap and managing tickets to keep our work organized and clear of misunderstandings. Below is that roadmap
Designing
I suggested starting off by designing separate frames. We’d work on the same file, but since we didn’t know much about each other’s design styles I thought we could get more ideas out by designing separately and then coming together to combine for the best of both worlds. These were our initial explorations for the website
We then met with our stakeholders, went over what we liked/didn’t like, and then merged our efforts onto a common frame. The goal now was to create a set of frames that 1) delivered on the primary goals of the website 2) fit the stakeholder desires 3) was modern and aesthetically pleasing 4) was realistic to develop. Here’s some of our major iterations
Prototype
The goal with the prototype was to make something that would transition well to development. We continued making design changes as we developed, but as far as large design efforts went we were moving on to making it a reality
Development
I ended up utilizing a ReactJS codebase due to my prior experience with React and its powerful modularity which fit perfectly for what Essay Eye called for. The process was filled with problems, mainly due to my inexperience handling an entire frontend codebase by myself, and looking back there are many things I would have done differently. However, I gained crucial experience through this project on how to develop collaboratively since my previous experience was mainly solo projects.
Takeaways
Product is about balance
In my professional experience, there has been a great and deserving emphasis placed on the users of a product. I mean, it’s in the name, user experience. However this experience gave me real world perspectives onto an insight I only scratched the surface of before, the fact that it’s more about balance. The user is important, but the stakeholders, business goals, and the design to development transition are all arguably just as important when crafting a product.
Communication is key
This experience was a first in many aspects. It was my first time working with others on a live codebase, my first time bringing this complex of a design to life, my first time holding a design meeting until midnight. In all aspects though I relearned the important lesson that communication is key, and by communication I mean clear communication. Especially in an early stage startup, things can be messy and responsibilities can be foggy, so communicating between our CEO, CTO, and my partner design engineer was key to getting work done, setting expectations, making requests, and getting the project done.
You can’t know everything
If the previous lesson wasn't the most important, this one is. Doing this project solo was beneficial, but it also made me realize how important collaboration is. I could have saved a lot of trial and error and potentially come up with an even better solution had I other people to bounce ideas off of.
