OPTIO EDUCATION

CONTRACT | HIGH OUTPUT | UX/UI​

CONTRACTED DESIGN SUPPORT

Optio is a child company of Zion Forge. After joining Zion Forge, they requested full branding, a website, and an app design rework. After reviewing their budget and materials, I decided to focus on a simple web design rework that would scale easily to mobile without much design effort and help build the beginning of an engaging, "Duolingo-esq" brand.

After building their brand and helping them secure over 30k in initial funding, they needed to slow their design needs in favor of code and development with furthering the UX/UI of their platform scheduled for late 2026.

BRANDING

With Optio hoping to expand to a full educational tool serving K12 as well as B2B integration, the logo design hinged on held meaning through simplicity, modernity, upward trajectory, and home.

Overall, from first texting conversation to final logo design deliverables, the process took 2 days of work time spread out over two weeks. My focus on was on submitting a plethora of logo options in order to narrow down my client’s vision while discussing through 2-3 single texts between rounds.

Branding Guidelines QuickSHeet

There became a need for other team members to have branding guidelines but without the funds necessary at a pre-seed startup I found a “Quicksheet” to be the answer for internal use. I created font solutions, a tiered color palette with separation for general use, a complex palette for illustrators, and full UI color options per curriculum type.

Interface Redesign

TIME TO COMPLETION: 2 months
PAGES CREATED: 14
WORKING TIME: 25 billed hours

The orginal app design was made through Repilt.ai. The AI, while creating a functioning product, lacked several organizational skills and created long, scroll heavy pages. My main goals were always to reduce the scroll and create an interface that would give all essential information and tools above the fold.

First pass

With the introduction of side menus, separating appropriate information into separate pages, and ensuring students would always be shown their tasks and stats upon entering the interface, we were able to create a balanced, engaging product.

Landing Pages

Once the initial student interface was redesigned, we focused on several consumer landing pages that also had similar scroll heavy issues. My main recommendations, because of time constraints, were to refer back to the main customer profiles we had gathered, write to their 3 main concerns and pepper imagery throughout that evoked the meaning of the paired text while establishing meaningful CTAs (more than just “SIGN UP”) at the top, middle, and bottom of the page. I also reworked the color of headlines and type to increase legibility of all text and WCAG compliance.

Redesigned pages and Headers

Optio was a wonderful project to work on. Not only did the founder and I find that I had known his family 15 years previous to our meeting, our communication was succinct and purposeful. Task management and requests were always given enough time to finish until completion. However, when rush requests eventually came in, we were able to find a balance between what was needed and what was possible, while still driving results.

Recent Contracts

PAST PROJECTS (Pre-2025)