Through the interviews we conducted, we mainly wanted to understand how history is currently taught in schools and gauge the interest of users in the subject of history. We split our audience into 3 groups: students, history teachers and casuals.

Vast majority of the interviewees found history to be interesting, but found history textbooks and how it is taught in class to be boring.This validated our initial hypothesis that we have to tackle current history education and the stigma around it.

Informed by our interviews, we created personas for our potential user base.

To understand where the current education system was lacking, and where our services could fill the gaps, we mapped out Franklin, a high school student's, journey studying history.

Overall, history education was a dull and stressful experience for the student. We identified many pain-points such as dry curriculum, forced to memorize arbitrary information without any connections, emphasis on rote-learning, poor teaching, burden of innovation on the teachers etc.

We found a major opportunity to teach history with an emphasis on stories, connections and the cause-effect nature of history instead of just the dates of major events.

An interactive story-based form of history education that leverages the gripping stories of the past, was the way to go for an informative and engaging experience.

Informed by our research, we arrived on our core brand values:‍

We developed our own unique voice and visual language because not only is personality really lacking in education models today, it is also at the heart of any compelling content. We were very cognizant about making our voice: - playful, dramatic, informative and concise.

To support our copy, we devised our own illustrative style that is fun, emotive and hand-crafted. Big props to my teammate Jack Shugrue, for coming through with these beautiful illustrations.

We selected 3 of the most important "jobs" to be done on the app and created wireframes.

“When I start the app, I want to get through the onboarding and on to the content ASAP, so I can learn something new.”

Backed by our interviews and research, we decided that the onboarding experience of Odyssey, should take the user directly into a riveting story of history with engaging interactions and snappy copy.  No dawdling in the beginning with sign up pages etc. Give the people a taste of whats to come.

“When I use the app, I want to actively participate in the story, so I can learn be engaged and learn something new.”

We transformed static viewership into participatory interaction using innovative paradigms of interaction which resulted in an engaging learning experience. Basically, the user pushes the story of history forward.  For instance, YOU pull the trigger that kills the Archduke Franz Ferdinand which starts the WW1.

“When I’m on the app, I want to be able to see my progress and track my journey, so I can see what I’ve learned & feel motivated.”

A clear and easy way to track progress was required to motivate returning users. As an added incentive, Odyssey gives the user badges after completing each story. The badge would be an illustration of an artifact that corresponds to that time of history.

With our brand language and the iOS human interface guidelines, we created a style guide to make Odyssey's app visual design consistent.

Using the brand guidelines we designed a responsive landing page for Odyssey. When someone searches for Odyssey, this would be the first point of contact.

We converted our static viewers into active participants of the story by introducing innovative paradigms of interaction that push the story forward. Studies prove that such a type of engagement improved the retention of information in the students.

We focused on prototyping the onboarding experience as it encapsulates everything about Odyssey. Here the user is taken directly into a riveting story in history. In this case, an engaging take of how the WW1 began with the pivotal assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Being a 10 week project, we could not incorporate everything we initially set out to explore. We would have liked to explore Odyssey Teach - A service that would lift the burden of innovation off the teacher's backs by creating more personalized learning models for their class with ease. Another interesting aspect was how could we introduce quizzes and make it a fun learning experience. We would've also worked on all the other flows, like how the user gets badges, etc.

As a designer, we often underestimate the power of good copy. This project made realize how much good copy can elevate an experience. I really enjoyed the copy writing aspect of our prototype. I got to scour through various books, articles and then distill it down to its essence. And then we took that and made it engaging!

This project made me realize how much I enjoy collaborating, brainstorming, and working together towards a common goal with someone who share the same enthusiasm as me. Jack was the perfect teammate for this project with his clear thinking and beautiful illustrations. I was also fortunate to work under the guidance of our professor, Mr. Blake Hudelson. His invaluable insights and constant motivation spurred us on to making something the both of us are really proud of.

Through this project I was able to delve deeper into how much innovation is required in the education sector to keep up with the societal behavior change. Our solution could be used by teachers as a supplement to the curriculum, as a form of sparking interest and curiosity in the students. But there is still a long way to go.