Practice Makes Perfect

While technology has become fundamental to education, many platforms are isolating, overly competitive, and ultimately abandoned because they lack the needed balance between being fun for students and measurably effective for learning. GoGuardian saw this unmet need as an opportunity to create an experience that was as engaging and fun as it was successful in driving positive social and academic outcomes. They brought Instrument in to help make it a reality.

Learning, redefined

As we immersed ourselves in the landscape and the needs of learners and teachers, we quickly understood that to make effective practice more engaging, we not only needed to make it more delightful but also had to create an experience, guided by their teacher, that invites every learner to play, progress, and win in their own way. 

From there, we collaborated with the GoGuardian team to develop over 400 experience concepts across 13 features. We narrowed these down to an MVP set of requirements designed to cultivate a growth mindset, increase motivation, and facilitate a positive learning community for teachers and students. 

Through an iterative process centered on UX, development, and testing sprints, we refined the functionality and design system — all focused on delivering GoGuardian's promise to "reach every student, every day." Along the way, we conducted eight diverse, nationwide testing cycles and collaborated with the front-end development team to deliver componentry as we went. 

By the end, we had delivered a comprehensive QA & VQA'd experience that combines effective practice with engaging details that appeal to learners and educators alike. 

Turning practice into play 

As we built the product, we simultaneously worked on defining the brand. Through research in the education community, we identified the need for a platform that puts learners at the center. The reason was simple — while the learners, educators, administrators, and parents all have slightly different needs, everyone wants learners to feel empowered and grow.

Now focused on learners, we found that the practice experiences they most engage with have common denominators — they’re fun, provide deep and meaningful connections, and allow space for self-expression. In other words, they combine practice with play. 

Turning practice into play became the heart of our brand platform. It allowed us to articulate the best of what the product offers and appeal to the needs of our audiences at the same time.