Heartland Charter School wanted to modernize how their community interacts with their educational ecosystem. As a forward-thinking institution, they recognized the need for a mobile application that could improve communication, enhance learning experiences, and simplify day-to-day interactions for students, parents, and educators.

Alongside the mobile app, they needed a cohesive brand identity that would represent their values of inclusivity, innovation, and growth. The goal was not just to build a tool but to create a digital experience that strengthened their presence and delivered measurable value to their community.

This case study covers the complete journey: from brand discovery and design, to UI/UX development in Figma, to creating a scalable design system that future-proofed the product.

Establish a unique brand identity that communicates professionalism and trust.

Build a mobile-first user experience that is simple, engaging, and intuitive.

Support the three main user groups: students, parents, and teachers.

Create a design system in Figma to ensure long-term scalability and visual consistency.

Deliver a design that balances aesthetic appeal with functionality.

Heartland faced a number of challenges:

Lack of Unified Branding Their existing brand elements were inconsistent, making it difficult to build recognition or trust.

Fragmented Communication Parents, students, and teachers were using multiple platforms to share updates and resources. This created confusion and inefficiencies.

User Experience Gap There was no centralized, mobile-friendly solution that provided quick access to schedules, assignments, or communication tools.

Scalability Concerns They wanted a design system that could grow with the product instead of starting from scratch each time.

We began with a discovery phase, which included stakeholder interviews, competitor analysis, and user surveys. The goal was to understand Heartland’s identity and the values they wanted to reflect.

Logo Design: A fresh, clean logo symbolizing growth and collaboration.

Color Palette: Warm, approachable colors balanced with professional tones to convey trust and optimism.

Typography: A modern, legible font system optimized for both digital and print use.

Brand Guidelines: A comprehensive playbook to maintain consistency across digital and offline touchpoints.

This process created a strong visual identity that set the tone for the app design.

With branding in place, we shifted focus to user experience design.

Conducted user interviews with parents, students, and teachers to map pain points.

Built personas and user journeys to ensure the design addressed real-world needs.

Created low-fidelity wireframes to visualize the structure and navigation.

The emphasis was on simplicity. For example, parents wanted quick access to updates, while students needed clarity on assignments. Teachers wanted seamless communication tools.

The UI design phase was executed in Figma, allowing collaboration and easy iteration.

Clean Dashboard: At-a-glance overview of tasks, schedules, and important updates.

Communication Tools: Streamlined parent-teacher-student messaging system.

Notifications: Real-time alerts for assignments, events, or announcements.

Consistent Components: Buttons, icons, and typography styles built as reusable components.

The final interface combined modern design principles with Heartland’s brand identity to create a visually appealing yet highly functional mobile experience.

Built high-fidelity interactive prototypes in Figma.

Conducted usability testing sessions with sample users.

Iterated based on feedback, focusing on improving navigation flow and accessibility.

This ensured that the final product was validated by actual users before being handed over for development.

One of the most valuable outcomes was the creation of a Figma design system.

This included:

Color and typography tokens.

Reusable UI components (buttons, forms, modals).

Layout guidelines.

Accessibility best practices.

The design system not only improved consistency but also made it easier for developers to implement the design and for Heartland to scale the app in the future.

Stronger Brand Identity: Heartland now has a professional, modern, and trustworthy brand image.

Intuitive Mobile App Design: Users can navigate seamlessly with minimal effort.

Improved Communication: A centralized platform to connect parents, students, and teachers.

Scalable Design Foundation: A flexible design system that saves time and resources for future updates.

Feedback from stakeholders emphasized how much easier it is for users to engage with the school digitally, building confidence and satisfaction across the board.

Figma – For UI/UX design, prototyping, and design system creation.

Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop – For logo, iconography, and branding assets.

User Testing Tools – To validate designs with real users.

The Heartland Charter School project demonstrates how a holistic approach to branding and UI/UX design can transform an educational experience. By building a unified brand identity and pairing it with a modern, mobile-first application, we created a solution that is both beautiful and highly functional.

This project shows the power of combining branding, Figma-based UI/UX design, and user research to deliver a product that truly serves its community.

If your organization is looking to build or revamp a mobile app design with strong branding support, we can help you create experiences that are modern, engaging, and designed to convert.