Quinde

Client: University of Waterloo (Course Assignment) - 2021 - My Role: Designer, Strategy & Operations Lead, Producer

Bringing Home Fun & Accessible Learning

Remember when school meant sitting in a classroom, passing notes, and pretending to pay attention? For many students, COVID-19 threw that out the window.

In Ecuador, many students found themselves learning from home—except "home" was constantly changing. Families left cities for their native communities, and parents became teachers, whether they were ready for it or not.

Enter Quinde, the digital learning platform designed by our team of five to keep education engaging, social, and, most importantly, fun during variable school conditions.

The Challenge

So, the world shut down, and traditional classrooms became a thing of the past. Students in Ecuador faced a unique challenge: their homes were now their schools, but without teachers, lesson plans, or the structure of a regular school day.

Parents, bless their hearts, tried their best, but let’s be real—they didn’t sign up for this. Education inequality widened as the more privileged children had access to resources while others were left scrambling.

To help minimize educational inequality, we needed to create something that:

Helped families teach without pulling their hair out.
Made learning feel like an adventure, not a chore.
Worked even when the internet didn’t.
Strengthened community bonds so learning wasn’t a solo struggle.

Our Plan

Since our team did not have much knowledge of the Ecuadorian educational system, we had lots of research ahead of us.

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1. Digging for Insights

We dove headfirst into user research, and here’s what we found:

Parents were stressed. They wanted to help but needed structure.
Students learned best through play and hands-on activities, not staring at screens all day.
The internet wasn’t reliable, so whatever we built had to work offline.
Gamification wasn’t just a buzzword—it was a necessity to keep kids interested.

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We talked to parents, surveyed educators, and studied how students actually engage with content. The conclusion? Learning should feel more like an adventure and less like homework.

2. Designing for Maximum Fun

Armed with our research, we started sketching, wireframing,and prototyping. The goal? An app that felt more like a game and less like adigital textbook. Our design choices included:

Gamification: Points, badges, and challenges because kids (and adults) love rewards.
Offline Functionality: Because Wi-Fi is overrated when you're learning in the mountains.
Collaborative Activities: Parents and kids learning together so no one felt alone in this.
Simple, Intuitive Interface: No one has time to read a manual on how to use an educational app.

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We created personas, journey maps, and tested the app on real users. Iteration was key, and we refined the experience until it clicked.

3. Building the Dream (a.k.a. The Tech Stuff)

To make Quinde a reality, we:

Designed interactive lessons that felt like games, not boring schoolwork.
Integrated a location-based exploration feature that turned learning into a real-world adventure.
Created guardian-student activities so parents could be involved in the learning experience while spending quality time with their little ones.
Added an AI-driven personalized learning paths, so kids weren’t stuck in one-size-fits-all lessons.

Outcome

Here's what we learned:

Teachers saw increased engagement when learning felt like play.
Parents stopped pulling their hair out and felt more confident in their new "teacher" roles.
We’re just getting started: Future updates will expand content, improve accessibility, and integrate more teacher tools.

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Quinde isn’t just an app—it’s a movement toward making learning exciting, social, and stress-free. Education shouldn’t be a struggle, and with the right design, it doesn’t have to be. Our team is proud of what we’ve built, and we’re excited to keep growing, iterating, and making learning awesome for students in Ecuador and beyond.

Check out our prototype below: