In December 2013, I signed on to Magoosh as a visual designer. Magoosh, a Berkeley-based startup founded in 2009, is one of the fastest growing online education companies. They specialize in GRE, GMAT, SAT, ACT, TOEFL, Praxis and LSAT prep. My job was to improve and expand their brand image.
The main challenge was translating Magoosh’s standardized test-prep service (a stressful concept) into something human and relatable.
I quickly realized that the Magoosh brand was all about revealing untapped potential. The teachers promise their students new oppurtunities through lesson videos, practice problems, and truely brilliant tutors. I brought this concept to life by leveraging testimonnial photography, enthusiastic typography and textbook graphics.
UX/UI design
I didn’t have any UX design experience before starting at Magoosh back in 2013. Fortunately, education is the cornerstone of this company. Soon enough, I wound up with a shelf-full of UX, UI, and product design textbooks.
I worked with the product team to build new webpages, conduct UX research, optimize current webpages, and design a new WordPress theme from scratch.
GMAT product page
Magoosh SAT/ACT Blog WordPress theme
Branding
To improve the brand experience, the marketing team and I enlisted the help of an amazing design agency based out of Oakland, CA. We spent months investigating the core emotions the Magoosh brand by interviewing stakeholders, employees, and users. Eventually we uncovered a meaningful visual identity. Once we finalized the new brand-book, I rolled out new ads, content, product assets, partner guidelines, and workplace branding.
Content marketing
When I wasn’t developing ad campaigns or designing UI, I worked with the content team to create infographics and ebooks for our users. I designed every infographic as if it was a website; I’d write copy, create low fidelity mockups, collect feedback, tweak the design, and eventually add brand-specific typography, colors and illustrations.
Bonus: Magoosh had great company outings.
