Leading Innovation at a Non-Profit: Developing a School Finder App

I led the end-to-end design and development of a school finder app aimed at assisting home buyers in identifying nearby schools during the real estate purchasing process. The app provided comprehensive school data such as test scores and parent reviews to help users make informed decisions. The application had 100K downloads and a 4.5-star rating in the iTunes store within the first six months post-launch.

Discovery

The project began with in-depth research to uncover the needs of our target users—home buyers seeking real estate near quality public schools. I conducted qualitative interviews with prospective home buyers with school aged children. I discovered that proximity to high-performing schools was one of the top priorities for families moving into new neighborhoods. Parents wanted more than just location—they needed a way to evaluate schools based on ratings, parent feedback, and academic performance.

Clarifying the Problem

With the research insights in hand, I defined our primary persona as the home buyer whose main challenge was efficiently comparing schools based on relevant criteria. Considering that users would interact with the app while making high-stakes decisions, such as purchasing a home, the user experience had to be seamless, intuitive, and usable while out looking for homes.

Bringing the idea to life

I sketched wireframes, mapped out user flows, and discussed feature prioritization based on user needs. Key features included:

School locator: Interactive maps displaying nearby schools based on the user’s location.
School profiles: Detailed data on each school, including test scores, student-teacher ratios, and parent reviews.
Filter & comparison tools: A filtering system to compare schools based on user-selected criteria, such as academic and parental ratings.

I then translated our ideas into a clickable prototype with wireframes at first and later high-fidelity designs. I organized usability tests with potential home buyer conducted in person. Participants were asked to complete key tasks, such as locating schools near a selected neighborhood and comparing them based on ratings and reviews. The feedback we received was invaluable: Based on this feedback, I iterated on the prototype, refining the visual design, and enhancing the comparison tool to make it more intuitive.

*Flow illustrating core use cases in iPhone app*

Wireframes for first time user experience in app

Building the app

Once the design was finalized, I wrote a detailed Request for Proposal (RFP) to hire an external app developer. I collaborated closely with both the external development team and our internal engineering team throughout the development process, ensuring the design vision was translated accurately into the final product.

Outcomes