AV
Over the past few years, I’ve worked across multidisciplinary teams, partnering with product managers, engineers, and stakeholders to design solutions that are both user-centred and technically grounded.
Designing an MVP for a language learning platform empowering learners and tutors
Client
Mortar Learning
Industry
EdTech
Platform
Web
Team
1 Project Manager
1 Developer
2 Data Analysts
1 Product Designer
My Role
Product Designer
Timeline
March 2024-Present
Designing an MVP for a language learning platform empowering learners and tutors
Reducing teacher onboarding friction in an English learning marketplace
Client
Mortar Learning
Industry
EdTech
Platform
Web
Team
1 Project Manager
1 Developer
2 Data Analysts
1 Product Designer
My Role
Product Designer
Timeline
March 2024-January 2026
Over the past few years, I’ve worked across multidisciplinary teams, partnering with product managers, engineers, and stakeholders to design solutions that are both user-centred and technically grounded.
How I Work
I approach design as a decision-making discipline, not just a creative one.
That means:
Starting with problem framing, not screens
Understanding technical, business, and human constraints early
Designing for real-world conditions, not ideal scenarios
Making trade-offs explicit and intentional
I value clarity over complexity, and I focus on designing experiences that are simple to use, resilient under pressure, and scalable over time.
How I Work
I approach design as a decision-making discipline, not just a creative one.
That means:
Starting with problem framing, not screens
Understanding technical, business, and human constraints early
Designing for real-world conditions, not ideal scenarios
Making trade-offs explicit and intentional
I value clarity over complexity, and I focus on designing experiences that are simple to use, resilient under pressure, and scalable over time.
How I Work
I approach design as a decision-making discipline, not just a creative one.
That means:
Starting with problem framing, not screens
Understanding technical, business, and human constraints early
Designing for real-world conditions, not ideal scenarios
Making trade-offs explicit and intentional
I value clarity over complexity, and I focus on designing experiences that are simple to use, resilient under pressure, and scalable over time.
How I Work
I approach design as a decision-making discipline, not just a creative one.
That means:
Starting with problem framing, not screens
Understanding technical, business, and human constraints early
Designing for real-world conditions, not ideal scenarios
Making trade-offs explicit and intentional
I value clarity over complexity, and I focus on designing experiences that are simple to use, resilient under pressure, and scalable over time.
How I Work
I approach design as a decision-making discipline, not just a creative one.
That means:
Starting with problem framing, not screens
Understanding technical, business, and human constraints early
Designing for real-world conditions, not ideal scenarios
Making trade-offs explicit and intentional
I value clarity over complexity, and I focus on designing experiences that are simple to use, resilient under pressure, and scalable over time.
Overview
Mortar Learning is an English language learning platform connecting independent English teachers with students seeking personalised lessons.
I worked as the Product Designer, partnering with the Product Manager, Engineer, and Founder to shape the MVP experience, with a primary focus on teacher onboarding and early activation.
This case study represents a snapshot of work completed prior to MVP launch. Further research artefacts and validation will be released once the product resumes development.
Core Problem
For a two-sided learning marketplace, teacher activation is the highest risk to product viability. Without enough active teachers, student demand cannot be met, regardless of product quality elsewhere.
Early exploration revealed that many existing English learning platforms introduced high onboarding friction, requiring teachers to complete long, multi-step flows before being able to teach or earn.
The core problem, therefore, was not feature completeness; it was reducing time and effort required for teachers to become active.
Goals
-
Minimise friction during teacher onboarding
Enable teachers to reach “ready to teach” status as quickly as possible
Balance simplicity with necessary verification requirements
Establish a scalable onboarding foundation for future features
Constraints
-
Early-stage MVP with limited engineering capacity
No historical product data or live metrics
Onboarding needed to support future verification and monetisation flows
Organisational uncertainty impacting delivery timelines
These constraints shaped both the scope and level of confidence we could design for.
Discovery & Insights
Discovery was intentionally lean and focused, using:
-
Competitive analysis of established English learning platforms
Stakeholder discussions with the founder and product manager
Early qualitative feedback from prospective teachers
Key Insight
Competitor onboarding flows often extended to six or seven steps, front-loading complexity before teachers experienced any value. This created friction at the exact moment when motivation was highest.
Teachers prioritised:
-
Speed
Clarity
Confidence that onboarding would lead to real teaching opportunities
A competitor onboarding flow from Preply illustrating an eight-step process for teachers.
Key Design Decisions
1. Treat onboarding as an activation problem, not a form-filling task
Rather than designing onboarding to capture all possible information upfront, we prioritised activation over completeness.
The primary question became:
“What is the minimum required for a teacher to start teaching?”
2. Reduce onboarding to three intentional steps
Based on competitive analysis, we designed a three-step onboarding flow:
-
Account creation and basic profile
-
Teaching credentials and availability
-
Review and publish
This reduced cognitive load and made progress immediately visible, while still supporting future expansion.
Trade-off:
This limited profile depth at onboarding, but significantly reduced the risk of early abandonment.
3. Use progressive disclosure for advanced setup
More complex tasks (profile optimisation, additional credentials, preferences) were deferred until after onboarding.
This allowed teachers to:
-
Complete onboarding quickly
-
Refine their profiles once value was established
4. Prioritise clarity and feedback at every step
Each step included:
-
Clear progress indicators
-
Inline validation
-
Microcopy designed to reduce uncertainty
The goal was to ensure teachers always understood:
-
Where they were
-
What was required
-
What would happen next
Key Design Decisions
1. Treat onboarding as an activation problem, not a form-filling task
Rather than designing onboarding to capture all possible information upfront, we prioritised activation over completeness.
The primary question became:
“What is the minimum required for a teacher to start teaching?”
2. Reduce onboarding to three intentional steps
Based on competitive analysis, we designed a three-step onboarding flow:
-
Account creation and basic profile
-
Teaching credentials and availability
-
Review and publish
This reduced cognitive load and made progress immediately visible, while still supporting future expansion.
Trade-off:
This limited profile depth at onboarding, but significantly reduced the risk of early abandonment.
3. Use progressive disclosure for advanced setup
More complex tasks (profile optimisation, additional credentials, preferences) were deferred until after onboarding.
This allowed teachers to:
-
Complete onboarding quickly
-
Refine their profiles once value was established
4. Prioritise clarity and feedback at every step
Each step included:
-
Clear progress indicators
-
Inline validation
-
Microcopy designed to reduce uncertainty
The goal was to ensure teachers always understood:
-
Where they were
-
What was required
-
What would happen next
Key Design Decisions
Decision 1: Treat onboarding as an activation problem, not a form-filling task
Rather than designing onboarding to capture all possible information upfront, we prioritised activation over completeness.
The primary question became:
“What is the minimum required for a teacher to start teaching?”
Decision 2: Reduce onboarding to three intentional steps
Based on competitive analysis, we designed a three-step onboarding flow:
Account creation and basic profile
Teaching credentials and availability
Review and publish
This reduced cognitive load and made progress immediately visible, while still supporting future expansion.
Trade-off:
This limited profile depth at onboarding, but significantly reduced the risk of early abandonment.
A simplified three-step onboarding flow designed specifically for teachers.
Key Design Decisions
Decision 3: Use progressive disclosure for advanced setup
More complex tasks (profile optimisation, additional credentials, preferences) were deferred until after onboarding.
This allowed teachers to:
-
Complete onboarding quickly
-
Refine their profiles once value was established
Profile optimisation and additional setup tasks were introduced after onboarding was completed.
Key Design Decisions
Decision 4: Prioritise clarity and feedback at every step
Each step included:
-
Clear progress indicators
Inline validation
Microcopy designed to reduce uncertainty
The goal was to ensure teachers always understood:
Where they were
What was required
What would happen next
Design Execution
Designed user flows, information architecture, and wireframes
Created interactive Figma prototypes to validate flows internally
Established early design guidelines to support consistency across the MVP
Collaborated closely with Engineering to ensure designs were technically feasible and realistic for the MVP timeline
Collaboration & Process
We worked in weekly Agile sprints, involving:
Product Manager
Founder (CEO)
Developer
Data Analysts
Me as Product Designer
Design decisions were reviewed collaboratively, with frequent alignment on scope, feasibility, and priorities. I facilitated design reviews and ensured design intent was clearly communicated to development.
Outcome
Delivered a complete teacher onboarding experience ready for MVP development
Established a scalable onboarding foundation aligned with long-term product goals
Reduced onboarding complexity compared to competitor benchmarks
The project was paused prior to launch due to organisational constraints unrelated to design or delivery.
What This Work Achieved
While live metrics were not available, this work:
De-risked the onboarding approach before MVP launch
Established a clear activation-first design direction
Created alignment between product, design, and engineering on what mattered most
What I’d Improve Next
If development resumes, the next steps would include:
Validating onboarding completion and activation rates
Testing variations of the onboarding flow
Introducing adaptive onboarding based on teacher experience level
Key Learnings
In early-stage products, simplicity is a strategic decision, not a visual preference
Activation matters more than completeness during onboarding
Designing for future scale does not require upfront complexity
Temp
I approach design as a decision-making discipline, not just a creative one.
That means:
-
Minimise friction during teacher onboarding
-
Enable teachers to reach “ready to teach” status as quickly as possible
-
Balance simplicity with necessary verification requirements
-
Establish a scalable onboarding foundation for future features
I value clarity over complexity, and I focus on designing experiences that are simple to use, resilient under pressure, and scalable over time.
Let's work together
If you’re building products that value clarity, usability, and thoughtful design, I’d be glad to explore how I can contribute.