Company
Role
Product Designer - Researcher
Paraillel
Responsibilities
User Research / Ideation Workshops / User Flows / Information Architecture / Wireframing / Prototyping / Usability Testing / Design Systems / Accessibility
Team: Worked as the Lead Product Designer alongside a team of other Designers, Researchers, Developers, and PMs
Project Overview
Project Overview
The Product: Bridging the Education Gap with AI
As an AI-driven educational platform, Paraillel streamlines classroom management, automates tedious tasks, and personalizes learning—allowing teachers to focus on teaching and students to stay engaged.
Paraillel's goal: To provide accessible, scalable, and intelligent educational tools that support both educators and students, regardless of their school's resources.
I designed three core tools: the Dashboard, Calendar, Assignments, and Design System, with a focus on improving classroom efficiency and increasing student engagement. Ensuring accessibility and personalized learning was paramount, so I adhered to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 to create an inclusive experience for educators and students with diverse abilities.
Project Overview
The Problem: A Strained Education System
In underserved Detroit schools, teachers face challenges in connecting with students and personalizing lessons due to outdated tools and limited resources. Administrative burdens further hinder their ability to focus on student engagement and learning outcomes.
User Sentiment
Lack of Resources in Underserved Districts
Time-Consuming Administrative Tasks
Limited Student Engagement & Personalized Learning
Fragmented & Inaccessible Technology
Project Overview
The Solution: A Bridge to Better Education
Empower teachers in underserved districts with a set of intuitive, AI-driven classroom tools that could streamline administrative tasks, personalize learning, and enhance accessibility for all students.
Designing for Educator and Student Success
Customizable Dashboard – Helps teachers tailor lesson plans based on individual student progress and learning styles.
Interactive Calendar & Reminders – Enables students to track deadlines and teachers to organize lesson plans efficiently.
Accessibility-Focused Design – Ensuring all students, including those with disabilities, can fully engage with the platform through WCAG 2.2-compliant features.
Project Overview
My Impact
As the Product Designer and Researcher, I designed AI-powered classroom tools that addressed critical pain points, empowering educators, engaging students, and driving meaningful improvements in education for underserved communities in Detroit.
Project Overview
Design Process
At Paraillel, I followed a structured design process to ensure a user-centered, research-driven approach while aligning with business goals. Here’s the design process I used:
Empathize – Understanding the Users
To create tools that truly served the needs of teachers and students, I started by diving into the challenges they faced. I conducted interviews with educators, surveys with students to identify pain points and gather feedback. I also worked closely with stakeholders, including administrators and AI specialists, to ensure the design aligned with Paraillel’s mission.
Empathize – User Research
I conducted explorative qualitative research with teachers and students to understand their day-to-day needs and frustrations with existing tools.
User Interviews
Study type
Generative (Exploratory) Research
Location
Detroit | Remote
Participants
15 people (teachers & students)
Length
30 minutes each
Key Insights & Pain Points
Teachers needed tools that were simple to navigate but could handle complex classroom tasks (e.g., student tracking, task management, and engagement).
Students required a more personalized learning experience that could be adjusted based on their pace and performance.
Both educators and students struggled with interfaces that lacked accessibility features, such as proper color contrast, readable fonts, and keyboard navigability.
“I spend too much time on administrative tasks instead of engaging with students.”
Educator, Wayne County
“I often forget deadlines because I don’t have a clear overview of my assignments.”
Student, Oakland County
“A lot of platforms lack proper accessibility features, making it hard for some students to use them.”
Educator, Oakland County
"Some subjects are really boring or confusing."
Student, Macomb County
Empathize – User Research
Empathy Maps
Empathy maps were created using data gathered from interviews to better understand a user’s behavior, attitude, goals, and challenges.
Define - Clarifying the Problems
Based on the research insights, I identified the core user personas:
Educator Persona: Teachers with varying levels of tech proficiency who required an intuitive platform for managing classroom tasks, tracking student performance, and engaging with personalized content.
Student Persona: Students who needed interactive and personalized learning tools that could adapt to their progress and provide feedback.
At the core of Paraillel’s mission were the educators and students who needed better tools to succeed. Through in-depth user research—interviews, surveys, and usability tests—I identified two key personas that guided our design decisions.
Define – Clarifying the Problems
Journey Map
The Journey Map visualizes how teachers and students interact with Paraillel’s AI-powered tools, highlighting key touchpoints, challenges, and opportunities in lesson planning, engagement, and accessibility.
Ideation - Developing Solutions
During the ideation phase, brainstorming sessions were had to generate ideas that would address the identified pain points. We developed several potential features and concepts, including:
Customizable Dashboards for educators, allowing them to manage student data, tasks, and classroom activities in a centralized location.
Interactive Calendar that would enable students and teachers to organize assignments, deadlines, and events, with color-coded categories and reminders.
Personalized Learning Tools using AI to recommend resources and assignments based on student performance and preferences.
Ideation –Developing Solutions
Information Architecture
To ensure a seamless experience, I structured Paraillel’s information architecture into a clear sitemap, mapping user flows for effortless navigation. This ensured that teachers and students could quickly access key features—like the AI-powered dashboard, interactive calendar, and personalized learning tools—creating a consistent and intuitive experience.
Ideate - Developing Solutions
Applying UX Laws
Several UX laws were ato Paraillel to enhance usability, engagement, and overall user experience:
Hick’s Law – Simplify Decision-Making
Simplifying decision-making for educators by reducing cognitive load in the Dashboard and Calendar, making information easy to access and act upon.
Fitts’s Law – Interaction Focus
Designing interactive elements (e.g., buttons, navigation) with appropriate size and spacing to improve usability, especially for students with varying digital literacy.
Miller’s Law – Chunking Information for Clarity
To prevent cognitive overload organizing content into bite-sized, digestible chunks to help teachers and students quickly process information in dashboards and lesson plans.
Aesthetic-Usability Effect – Trust through Visual Appeal
A clean, modern, and visually appealing interface will increase perceived usability, making users more likely to trust and engage with the platform.
Gestalt Principles
Applying proximity, similarity, and continuity in the Design System to create a visually structured and cohesive user experience.
Design - Crafting the Solution
With the problem clearly defined, I began to sketch out potential solutions. then translated these ideas into paper wireframes, which evolved into high-fidelity interactive prototypes using Figma. These prototypes incorporated accessibility features to comply with WCAG 2.2 guidelines, ensuring the platform would be usable by students with disabilities.
Design - Crafting the Solution
Paper Wireframes
Before building Paraillel’s AI-powered tools, I put pen to paper, starting with hand-drawn wireframes to sketch out key features like:
A dynamic dashboard - for tracking students and simplifying lesson planning.
An interactive calendar – helping students stay organized and teachers plan efficiently.
Accessible UI elements – Rough sketches ensuring WCAG 2.2 compliance with clear navigation and inclusive design.
These early, hand-drawn wireframes sparked conversations. Teachers and students shared insights, shaping each feature before it ever went digital. By testing fast and iterating early, we designed with real needs in mind—right from the start.
Design - Crafting the Solution
Low Fidelity Wireframes
To quickly validate ideas and gather feedback, I created low-fidelity wireframes of the dashboard that mapped out the core features of Paraillel’s AI-powered tools. These early sketches allowed for rapid iteration, ensuring the design aligned with the needs of both teachers and students before moving into high-fidelity prototypes.
Design - Crafting the Solution
Usability Testing
At Paraillel, we wanted to ensure that our AI-powered classroom tools—like the Dashboard, Calendar, and Design System were not only useful but easy to use for both teachers and students. To achieve this, we conducted a usability study to observe how users interacted with the platform, how well they could complete tasks, and how they engaged with the AI features.
Usability Study
Unmoderated Usability Study
Location
Remote
Length
30 minutes each
Partcipants
12 Participants
Design - Crafting the Solution
Key Findings
Users faced cognitive overload due to excessive information. They preferred a streamlined dashboard, allowing customization for a clearer workflow.
Overwhelmed by the Dashboard
Participants struggled to locate tasks quickly. Introducingf assignment tabs across the interface for easy access to assignments and deadlines are recommended
Difficulty Finding Assignments
Accessibility Features Were Hard to Find
Accessibility settings were buried in menus, making it difficult for users to find and adjust features.
Design - Crafting the Solution
High Fidelity Protoytpe
With a solid foundation in place, it was time to turn sketches into reality. I developed high-fidelity prototypes, refining every detail to ensure a seamless and inclusive experience.
These prototypes weren’t just visuals; they were a bridge between vision and impact, allowing educators and students to experience Paraillel before it ever launched.
Design - Crafting the Solution
Paraillel Prototype
Design System
The Paraillel Design System was built to ensure consistency, scalability, and accessibility across all AI-powered classroom tools. By standardizing UI components and adhering to WCAG 2.2 guidelines, the system provided an inclusive and seamless experience for educators and students. Reusable design patterns streamlined development, improved usability, and maintained a cohesive visual identity across the platform.
Takeaways
Designing for underserved school districts reinforced the importance of accessibility, scalability, and user-centered solutions. By integrating AI-powered tools, we streamlined administrative tasks for educators and personalized learning for students, making education more efficient and engaging. This project highlighted the value of continuous research, iterative design, and stakeholder collaboration in building meaningful, impact-driven products.
Conclusion & Next Steps
Paraillel’s AI-powered classroom tools are designed to streamline lesson planning, automate administrative tasks, and enhance accessibility, making education more efficient and engaging for both teachers and students. Through user research, iterative design, and accessibility-focused solutions, I contributed to shaping the platform’s dashboard, interactive calendar, and AI-driven personalization features. My work ensured that Paraillel aligns with WCAG 2.2 standards, integrates seamlessly with existing tools, and delivers a user-centered experience.
As Paraillel continues to evolve, the next steps include:
Usability Testing & Iteration – Conduct further testing with educators and students to refine key features.
Enhancing AI Personalization – Improve adaptive learning recommendations based on real classroom data.
Seamless LMS Integration – Expand compatibility with existing school systems for smoother adoption.
Refining Teacher & Student Dashboards – Optimize UI/UX for more intuitive interactions and insights.
Scaling Accessibility Features – Continue enhancing inclusive design to support diverse learning needs.
By prioritizing continuous feedback and iteration, Paraillel is on track to become a transformative tool for education. My contributions laid the foundation for a scalable, user-centered solution that will empower educators and improve student learning experiences in underserved communities.