Iamschool
Date: Sep 2012 - Feb 2013
Role: Researcher, UI/UX Designer
Range: Business analysis and service enhancement
Collaborators: IMCOMPANY, Jihoon Suh (UI/UX Designer)
Outcomes:
Acquired by NHN Entertainment for about $10M (2017)
Expanding services into the international markets in Asia. (2014)
BACKGROUND
After my startup (BAD) was absorbed into another company, we transitioned to iConnect, known for its service PhoneThemeShop, offering customization of KakaoTalk screens, phone wallpapers, lock screens, and keyboards. Despite its rapid growth, I yearned to contribute to a platform with a greater societal impact. I discovered IMCOMPANY, a company founded by KAIST students. They addressed the inefficiency of paper-based school newsletters, which often got lost in transit by students and incurred substantial costs and environmental impacts. By digitizing these newsletters into an app, they aimed to reduce waste and enhance communication between schools and parents. Additionally, by offering access to premium educational resources and services at no cost, the company sought to alleviate educational inequality caused by income disparities, making valuable information available to all parents, not just a privileged few. This commitment to using technology for social and environmental impact deeply resonated with me. Motivated by this vision, I reached out to the company. After an interview with the CEO, I was offered a project to assess my understanding of the education industry and platform services, despite recognition for my startup experience.
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RESEARCH PROJECT
The project tasked me with analyzing the recently launched Iamschool service and identifying areas for improvement. It also involved conducting interviews with the service's potential users – teachers, students, and parents. With just two weeks at hand, the most daunting task was finding interviewees myself. To interact with parents, I frequented local cafes, engaging them in discussions about their experiences with school websites and their expectations for enhancements. Then, to reach students and teachers, I went to the school where I graduated in person, requesting interviews to gain their perspective. After conducting these surveys, I demonstrated the app service prototype on smartphones to further collect feedback on user satisfaction and possible enhancements. Over this two-week period, I conducted thorough interviews with 12 students, 8 parents, and 12 teachers. These interactions revealed that users saw Iamschool as an extension of traditional school websites, underscoring the need to overcome the limitations of conventional school communication platforms. I concluded that Iamschool needed to focus more on students and parents to transcend the boundaries of mere formal school service. Moreover, I highlighted the critical role of student engagement in driving active user participation. These insights, coupled with my analysis of existing issues in school websites, formed the backbone of my research.
DESIGN PROJECT
Upon joining the company, I participated in the Iamschool service renewal project. Utilizing insights from my initial project, I redesigned the service to address technical flaws, enhance usability, and improve aesthetics. Recognizing the limitations of the app's design, which was too formal and lacked emotional appeal, I proposed incorporating emotional elements into marketing. For instance, for Teacher's Day, we organized a campaign where former students shared their gratitude through video messages to their teachers, accompanied by flower bouquets. This initiative aimed to transform Iamschool from just a platform for school communication to one fostering emotional connections and sharing. The campaign generated buzz among teacher communities and increased school subscriptions. It also highlighted the emotional aspect of the service to parents and students, boosting user engagement. In my role, I continually advocated for developing services that catered more to students. However, these proposals were often met with resistance due to concerns from conservative school administrations. To address this, I devised a new service focused on extracurricular activities, offering a list of educational experience programs near the students. This service received approval from schools and was well-received by students and parents. It not only provided an educational value but also later became a potential revenue model for iamschool, a significant achievement for a service rooted in public education.
REFLECTION
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I am grateful for the profound learning experience it provided. Initially focused on rapid product development in my first startup, I often bypassed user feedback. However, as the app market grew more competitive, the significance of delivering a satisfactory user experience became increasingly evident. The CEO, recognizing my previous overlook of user research, wisely initiated my role with a user research project. This experience reshaped my understanding of user experience, a concept that I continue to prioritize in my design approach. Looking back, I realize my early inclination towards developing student-centric interactive services was somewhat naive, not fully considering the complex stakeholder environment. A student-focused shift could have alienated conservative educational institutions, risking the educational essence of the service. Fortunately, the company astutely navigated these dynamics, aligning the service with schools' requirements, its main client base. Regrettably, my tenure at the company was cut short due to an unexpected call to military service. Despite my brief stay, I was pleased to see the service achieve a remarkable adoption rate of 99% across schools in South Korea. It even expanded successfully into Asia, topping education service rankings in Taiwan. About seven years after its inception, IMCOMPANY was acquired by NHN, one of South Korea's leading internet companies, for approximately 10 million dollars. This acquisition marked a significant milestone, allowing the service to continue growing both domestically and internationally.