Stars School

UI/UX Designer

1 month

Project overview

Stars School was built to bring diverse skills—including sports, creative, and life skills—right to the homes of children. Parents could create unique monthly plans tailored to their child’s interests, schedule sessions at convenient times, and match with trusted trainers who visited them directly.

As the product designer, I was involved in everything from concept to execution: business logic, user flows, product wireframes, website development, and as well as sales and marketing.

The Challenge

Many working parents lack the time for daily drop-offs at classes, risking gaps in their child’s skill development.

We wanted to make it easier for these parents to have their child learn any skill flexibly, in a personalized format — so no opportunities were missed and no logistical hassles to be faced.

We wanted to -

Flexible monthly plans—customizable to each child’s passions
Parents choose preferred timings and days
Trainers matched and scheduled for in-home sessions
Multi-skill selection ensures each plan is unique
Safe learning environment at home/apartment

Chapter

How it started -

We noticed a gap in the market where, yes home training was being offered, but not personalized to each child's interests. To cater to the child's interest, the parent had to find separate classes and enroll the child at separate training centre's.

What we wanted to do was combine everything, and make it easier for the parent to give their child the opportunity to learn everything that he was interested in, while also making it easier for the parent to find these opportunities in one platform. A win-win for both the parent and the child.

Back

Here is the step-by-step -

It all started with hands-on brainstorming sessions: where we discussed and tackled and built a plan for the business model, logistics, accessibility, outreach, and trainer experience and training.
Once we had our ideas set in place, we did iterations and smoothened out all the hiccups we could foresee.
We then moved quickly from paper wireframes to developing a working on a functional Wix website, with interactive design, trying to make a smooth and minimal step booking process, a bit technical support for custom-coded features.

Chapter

While the website was being built, we simultaneously started marketing to hire trainers, which posed as a hurdle too. We needed to make sure that we hire quality trainers, with experience and at the same time also make sure that there are proper background checks that are done to ensure safety of our clients.
Once we had our platform ready, we moved onto marketing our product and bringing in leads. This involved not just digital marketing but also visiting and talking to gated communities, doing surveys, talking to parents, etc.

How we moved forward -

As we manoeuvred through this business model, we came to realise that scalability for this product would be quite difficult and would not help us turn this product into a profitable one. After a few months of trying and pushing, we decided to pivot and change our ideas into something which would be a lot more feasible to scale, to generate revenue and to reach our target audience.

Back

What I learnt -

First and foremost, I learnt that not all ideas turn into products and that's okay. I learnt that while the time is right and while you still have the option to, its best to pivot and focus on something that has scope to grow and build a product that is both for the users as well as the business. Because there isn't one without the other.
This project helped me learn about business and how important it is to have a balance between building for users and building for business. Sometimes, its a tough decision but that's when your skills come into play, in figuring out how to meet in the middle.
This project helped me explore animations and interactions that can make a user feel at ease and help guide them through the flows smoothly.

fin.

Get in touch for more details.