01 — Background
A platform to reach 200 million children.
EkStep Foundation is a non-profit initiative aimed at creating an open, scalable learning platform to give 200 million children in India access to quality learning. The goal was to build a consumer-facing mobile application that made learning content engaging, accessible, and delightful for children aged 5–12.
I joined the product team as a UX Designer, responsible for the end-to-end experience of the EkStep app — from first launch through daily learning interactions.
Mission
Make learning accessible, joyful, and self-directed for every child in India — regardless of language, background, or access to formal schooling.
02 — Challenge
Designing for young, diverse learners.
Children aged 5–12 span vastly different literacy levels, cognitive abilities, and device familiarity. The app had to communicate without relying on reading ability, while also giving parents easy control over their children's profiles.
Core design questions
How do you design navigation for a child who cannot yet read?
How do you make content discovery feel like play, not a chore?
How do you keep parents in control while keeping children independently engaged?
03 — Research
Grounded in real classrooms and homes.
Field observations in government and private schools across Bengaluru
Parent interviews on device usage at home and concerns around screen time
Usability sessions with children aged 5–10 — minimal instruction, maximum observation
Competitive review of Khan Academy Kids, Disney storytelling apps, and regional ed-tech products
Key insights
Children navigated by icon recognition and color — text labels were largely ignored in early exploration.
A sense of ownership over a profile avatar dramatically increased return engagement in comparable apps.
Parents wanted child profile setup without complex sign-up — friction at onboarding caused immediate drop-off.
Field observation — classroom
Observing how children engage
04 — Design
Playful, purposeful, and accessible.
01
Genie — the mascot
A friendly animated character that greets children on launch, sets an emotional tone, and guides through onboarding — no instruction text needed.
02
Avatar-first onboarding
"Pick your favorite Avatar!" — letting children immediately personalize their profile created instant ownership and removed the friction of formal sign-up.
03
Icon-led content tabs
Story, Games, Quiz, and Others were bold visual tabs — readable to pre-readers through iconography and consistent color coding rather than labels.
04
Progress & motivation
Visual progress bars and achievement indicators built learning momentum — progress felt earned, not graded, keeping children intrinsically motivated.
Wireframes — early exploration
Visual design — final direction
05 — Key Screens
From first launch to daily discovery.
The experience was designed as a seamless loop: onboarding leads to the content discovery home, where children navigate freely between content types. Every screen was tested with children to ensure it required minimal adult help.
Outcomes
A platform that grew far beyond the app.
DIKSHA foundation
EkStep's platform became the technical and design foundation for DIKSHA — India's national digital infrastructure for school education, used by millions.
Accessible for pre-readers
Icon-led navigation and avatar-first onboarding reduced drop-off at first launch and made the app independently usable by young children without adult guidance.
Open-source impact
EkStep's design patterns and content framework were released open-source, enabling other ed-tech initiatives across India to build on the same foundation.
Scalable by design
The modular content architecture supported multiple languages and content types, scaling to serve children across India's diverse linguistic and regional landscape.
Reflection
What this taught me.
1
Designing for children demanded radical simplicity — every screen had to communicate its purpose in under two seconds without relying on language.
2
Emotional design through mascots and avatars isn't decoration — for young users it's the primary engagement mechanism and the deciding factor in return visits.
3
Working on a product with social impact at scale sharpened my sense of design responsibility — every friction point is felt by millions of real children.
