PASS.ai:
The Calm in the Chaos of School Communication
Parents struggle to manage their children's school and extracurricular schedules due to scattered information across multiple apps, emails, and platforms.
The impact of this is missed deadlines and scheduling conflicts, thereby increasing stress and time wasted on manual tracking.
SkillHat Tech Career Accelerator
Team: Agile Team of 8; includes Project Managers, Business Analysts, Developers and Product Manager
Position: UX Designer
My Role: As the team’s sole designer, I had a range of responsibilities, including product research, product design, and domain expertise.
Duration: 9 weeks Year: 2025
Methods & Tools:
User Interviews
Competitive Analysis
Information Architecture
Design System Maintenance
Wireframing
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Domain Expertise
By the end of our design sprint:
Users were able to complete key tasks (e.g., checking the day’s schedule, signing a permission form) in under 2 taps.
All 3 usability test participants described the app as “easy on my eyes and the brain”, “nothing complex and overwhelming”, and “welcoming”.
We launched a functional prototype for pilot testing with real parents.
So how did we get there?
The Story Unfolds
What is the Problem?
Modern school communication is scattered, overwhelming, and inconsistent.
Parents receive updates through emails, text messages, different portals, paper forms, and many classroom apps. This is creating stress, missed deadlines, and frustration.
We asked: What if there was one place that keeps parents organized and informed without cognitive overload?
User Research: Listening to Parents
We began by browsing through different web portals (such as Reddit) where parents discussed how they organize their children’s school communication.
We then interviewed parents to understand their daily struggles with school-related updates. Our goal was to uncover not just what they do, but how they feel about these challenges.
We also wanted to understand how parents feel about using AI to manage communication on their behalf.
“I have to check multiple apps (10+) for all my children’s school and non-school related activities is so stressful and consumes so much of my energy and time”
“Keeping Up with School Communication Feels Like a Full-Time Job!”
Parents use various means to keep track of everything, including physical planners and apps not necessarily made for school organization.
User Insights
1
Most parents used 10+ apps or tools for school updates.
2
Notifications were frequent, inconsistent, scattered and hard to track
Emotional words like "frustrated," "stressed," "burnt out", and “anxious“ came up repeatedly.
3
This helped us frame our problem not just as a technical one, but as an emotional burden to be solved; to understand the parents’ daily struggles with school-related updates.
Our goal was to uncover not just what they do, but how they feel.
Activities and Outputs:
5 User interviews
Affinity mapping
Persona creation
Meet Ashley
Ashley Vee
Married, Mother of 3 children(14, 10, and 6 years old)
38 years old
Graphic Designer
ON, Canada
organized
frustrated
overwhelmed
Tech Habits:
Uses 6+ apps daily (Email, Google Classroom, SchoolCash Online, Parent Connect, Calendar)
73% of school-related tasks are done via mobile
Gets 15-20 school-related emails or notifications each day
Needs:
Single pane of glass for all school logistics
48hr advance warning for conflicts
Auto-complete repetitive forms
“Why can’t schools sync their calendar systems?!”
“My kids’ orchestra concert conflicted with a vaccine appointment - chaos!”
“I missed the permission slip deadline because it was buried in emails”
Ashley Vee became our north star, grounding every decision we made.
Activities and Outputs:
Current State Journey Map
Future State Journey Map
Journey Mapping: From Overload to Organization
We visualized Ashley’s experience using two journey maps:
Current State (Before PASS.ai)
Scattered touchpoints (email, paper forms, school apps)
Frequent frustration and stress across daily interactions
Missed updates due to inconsistent communication
Future State (After Discovering PASS.ai)
Streamlined dashboard reduces emotional load
Real-time alerts and summaries simplify decision-making
Ashley feels more in control, confident, and supported