Custom app
to capture memories.
FreshGrade is a digital learning platform used by schools across North America. It allows teachers and students to upload schoolwork, images, and gradebooks into a digital portfolio that parents can view in real time.
From digital to physical.
FreshGrade saw an exciting opportunity to leverage the power of their digital platform and provide parents with a physical keepsake. To do so, they needed a custom web app that would allow parents to easily create a book of their child’s unique learning journey. As a busy startup, FreshGrade needed a reliable development team that could help bring this to life while their own team was busy developing the next generation of their platform. We stepped in and stepped up to make the app a reality.
Opportunity
Powerful book-building for parents.
As every parent knows, their fridge can only hold so much artwork and quizzes. New e-learning and digital classroom tools are great but they don’t provide a physical record of the child’s journey at school. FreshGrade’s Learning Highlights Book offers the best of both worlds. It’s a printed collection of each child’s educational highlights, all in one customizable, beautiful hardcover book.
The opportunity for Fresh Grade, of course, was to create a profit centre that is an extension of their core business. We knew we could help to create the product that would validate their vision.
User Experience
Built to be easy.
For an app like this, ease of use has to be the main focus. The books need to be easy to order and even easier to design. The app allows parents to choose the student and year. Then in just five minutes, parents can intuitively customize various design elements throughout the book to make it their own.
Packed with
fresh features.
We engineered a range of user-friendly features including swappable images, allowing parents to add or hide images. They can also choose to add comments. Another great feature allows parents to save their child’s book as a draft so they can jump back later and finish it off without having to start from scratch.
Designed with a
personal touch.
Since no two classes or kids are the same, the ability to customize (and do it smartly), is key. Working with imperfect data, the app sorts and chooses assets intuitively and makes intelligent recommendations for layouts and images. Parents can add a personal touch without having a degree in Computer Science.
Security
Keeping student data (very) safe.
When it comes to any personal data, especially children, security is really important. Needless to say, FreshGrade’s practices and protocols for security are much higher than your typical website. The web app we built needed to accommodate their high level of security requirements. Paramount to maintaining this trust and security, is ensuring all data is hosted in Canada. We took measures to ensure that sensitive data remained on Canadian soil.
Development
Way beyond the typical site.
As you’ve probably picked up on by now, this app is much more complicated to build than an average website. The level of functionality far exceeds what is required for a basic business. But in the case where the website IS the business, every step of the user journey needs to be dialed in. The technology that’s running the show needs to be so streamlined that it goes unnoticed.
Check out a few of the not-so-normal tech specs:
Developed with React JS
Advanced Security
Third-Party Integrations
Purpose-built Ecommerce
Integrations
Connected with ultra-confidence.
There are several third party integrations that take this app to another level. First, the app securely pulls the data it needs from the platform. Once the book is designed, the app connects to a printing API that generates a print-file for the book. For the payment process, we purpose-built a custom Stripe integration that perfectly aligns with the shipping method. Together these integrations create a reliable and enjoyable customer experience behind the scenes.
Final Thoughts
Augmenting FreshGrade’s dev team.
We love working on projects where we can supplement our client’s existing dev team. In the case of Fresh Grade, we worked closely with their digital team throughout every step of the process. With regular check-ins, a shared Slack channel, and direct access to our developers, we ensured that our two teams were always on the same page. It’s amazing what can happen when we’re all working together towards a shared goal.