EdTech Nonprofit Founding Team 2018–2020

A Learning Experience for Career Transitions

A mobile-first learner portal that replaced spreadsheets and manual tracking with a single, scalable system, helping Merit America grow from a 15-learner pilot to 1,000+ learners across three cities.

Role
Director of Design Sole Product Designer
Company
Merit America Founding Member
Timeline
8 Weeks Fall 2018, MVP → Scale
Scope
End-to-End Research · UX · UI · Systems
Merit America Learner Portal screens showing learner progress and coaching views
00

Background

Merit America supports working adults to transition into tech careers. Designed for people balancing full-time jobs, families, and studying nights and weekends, the program blends online coursework (Coursera) with hands-on career coaching.

By 2019, growth had outpaced operations. Coaches were buried in spreadsheets and email threads, while learners lacked a clear, centralized view of their progress. Many learners required a mobile-first experience out of necessity. Busy schedules and unreliable Wi-Fi meant every extra click or slow load became a real barrier.

The Constraint Stack

External engineering team, limited budget, and an Alpha cohort launching within weeks. The MVP needed to be lightweight, trustworthy, and built to scale without the runway for a custom build.

Adult learner
Adult Learner
Working professional, nights & weekends
  • See weekly expectations instantly
  • Confirm progress on mobile
  • Stay motivated — no shame
  • Finish tasks with minimal friction
Career coach
Career Coach
Managing a squad of active learners
  • Scan progress by squad fast
  • Spot and support "At Risk" learners
  • Verify completion in one place
  • Spend more time coaching, less on admin
01

Problem

Two questions, one system

Learner: "Am I on track this week?"
Coach: "Who needs attention right now?"
Everything else was secondary.

The portal replaced a fragmented set of tools (Coursera dashboards, spreadsheets, email threads) with one source of truth. The design challenge became more than consolidation. It was about understanding how real people reasoned about progress when stakes were high and time was scarce.

Clarity beats precision
Users needed the system to interpret progress for them. A simple status signal was more actionable than raw completion data.
Timing beats detail
Mid-week feedback mattered more than perfect end-of-week analytics. Intervention opportunity closes fast.
Trust beats automation
Visible proof of completion was enough to move forward. Fragile integrations would have slowed everything down.
Emotional safety drives persistence
Supportive, non-judgmental language reduced disengagement at the moments learners were most vulnerable to dropping off.
02

Process

I embedded discovery directly into early delivery by joining learner interviews, shadowing coach workflows, and validating assumptions in real time during the Alpha cohort. Research was an integrated risk-reduction tool instead of a separate phase to avoid becoming a bottlneck.

5
Learners tested during Alpha with low-fi prototypes
3
Coaches observed in live walkthroughs
8 wks
From first interview to Alpha launch

Journey Maps

One-screen journey maps grounded the team in each user's weekly rhythm before any wireframes were drawn.

One-screen journey map showing the adult learner's weekly progress loop
Learner journey — weekly expectations → progress check-ins → completion → confidence
One-screen journey map showing the career coach workflow
Coach journey — squad scan → exception handling → intervention → reporting

Build Process

Week 1–2
Discovery
  • Learner interviews
  • Coach workflow shadowing
  • LMS platform evaluation
  • Scope anchoring around weekly rhythm
Week 3–4
Define & Test
  • System state mapping
  • Wireframes focused on "what matters now"
  • Early usability testing on behavior over polish
  • Risk identification with dev team
Week 5–6
Ship
  • Scrappy mitigations alongside Alpha launch
  • Simplified progress states based on Alpha feedback
  • Mid-week nudges via Zapier
  • Screencast onboarding for coaches

Design System

I built a modular UI system using Atomic Design principles with a front-end developer, prioritizing mobile-first layouts, WCAG-compliant contrast, and minimal navigation layers. The goal was consistency under scale.

Design system buttons with accessible contrast
Buttons
Design system card components
Cards
Design system form components
Forms
Design system navigation components
Navigation
03

Key Decisions

Each tradeoff prioritized learner dignity, coach sustainability, and organizational scale over technical perfection.

D-01 Weekly status over granular scoring
Decision
Simplified all progress to a binary "On Track / At Risk" weekly status signal instead of exposing raw completion percentages.
Tradeoff
Less precision, but dramatically lower cognitive load, and far less room for shame spirals triggered by partial progress data.
Progress table showing On Track and At Risk status labels
D-02 Screenshot proof over costly integrations
Decision
Coaches gained confidence in learner progress through screenshot uploads rather than expensive, fragile Coursera API integrations.
Tradeoff
Manual uploads replaced perfect automation, but stayed flexible as curriculum evolved, and removed a major technical risk from the critical path.
File upload interaction for submitting proof of course completion
D-03 Mid-week nudges over constant monitoring
Decision
Automated mid-week progress notifications (via Zapier) gave coaches intervention opportunity before the week was lost — without constant monitoring.
Tradeoff
Less real-time visibility, but a more sustainable coaching workflow. Coaches were already overwhelmed. The goal was to reduce their cognitive load, not add another dashboard to watch.
Example of a mid-week progress notification message
D-04 Screencast onboarding over live training
Decision
Async screencast tutorials replaced live training sessions for coach and learner onboarding.
Tradeoff
Reduced training time by 1–2 hours per week. Sacrificed some personal touch in onboarding — but coaches already provide hands-on human support throughout the program.
Screencast onboarding tutorial interface

When Things Went Sideways

Requirements evolved late, creating scope churn. LMS constraints conflicted with real workflows. Early designs surfaced too much information, increasing confusion rather than reducing it.

The reframe that unlocked everything: stop optimizing for completeness. Ask only "What does a learner need this week?" and "Who needs coach attention now?" and cut everything that doesn't answer one of those two questions.

— Project Reflection
04

Outcome

The Learner Portal launched with the Alpha cohort and quickly became the operational backbone of Merit America. It streamlined operations, built momentum, ensured transparency, and solidified trust across learners, coaches, and funders.

1,000+
Learners (from 15-person pilot)
82%
Graduation rate
$18K
Avg. wage increase within 6 months
89%
Job placement for job-seeking graduates
Organizational Scale (2 years)
  • 15 → 1,000+ learners across three cities
  • 6 → 25+ employees
  • $2M → $25M+ in funding
  • Added a second track: Java Development
Operational Impact
  • Coaches spent significantly less time on manual tracking
  • Scrappy mitigations shipped on time without rewrites
  • Screencast onboarding reduced training load by 1–2 hrs/week
  • Portal became the reporting layer for funders

Final UI

Coach dashboard showing learner progress by squad
Coach dashboard — squad scan at a glance
Learner dashboard summarizing weekly tasks and progress
Learner dashboard — weekly status at a glance
Learner week overview showing tasks and completion
Learner week view — tasks, completion, and weekly status
05

Reflection

This project reinforced my belief that constraints can drive creativity. Under strict technical, financial, and time limitations, the discipline of focus, over the luxury of resources, produced the outcome.

What Worked
  • Designing for real environments (mobile, low bandwidth), not ideal conditions
  • Using low-cost tools (Zapier, screencasts, screenshots) to deliver high-value outcomes
  • Building systems thinking in from day one so it could scale
  • Treating accessibility as empathy — not a compliance checkbox
What I'd Do Differently
  • Establish clearer scope-lock gates earlier to reduce late-stage churn
  • Document the design system more formally from the start. Handoff debt accumulated fast as the team grew
  • Build in a formal retrospective cadence with the external dev team

The Learner Portal became a launchpad. It gave learners visibility into their own growth, freeing coaches to focus on human connection, and proving that thoughtful design can catalyze systemic change in organizations that most need it.