Designing the future of education
I worked as the tech lead on a major iteration of Zesho. We took the platform in a bold new direction, focusing on becoming the best tool for Univerity Students
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The problem
University students often struggle with fragmented academic resources spread across disparate WhatsApp groups, outdated forums, and shared drives. The primary goal for Zesho was to build a centralized, accessible, and highly collaborative resource-sharing platform from the ground up. We needed to reduce the barriers to collaboration, making the platform easy for new students to navigate while providing powerful filtering and upload tools for power users.
The Zesho design system
To streamline the UX across the entire application, it was important to lay the foundations with a strong, flexible design system in Figma that could evolve during the product’s development cycle. This ensured a consistent aesthetic across the Zesho platform, making navigation intuitive for students searching for study materials.
Design system docs
A design system is useless if no one knows how to use it, so we put together comprehensive documentation covering UI principles, user experience flows, accessibility, and component guidelines to ensure the platform remains scalable and consistent.
Motion design
Animation was a core principle in making the platform feel responsive. Elements animate in ways that indicate the cause and effect of interactions—like uploading notes, downloading past papers, or organizing files—to improve the fluidity of the overall experience.
Encouraging Collaboration
A major part of solving for campus-wide collaboration was building an interface that allows students to visualize and organize shared materials easily. This is especially beneficial for large cohorts who need to review, upvote, and curate resources based on course modules without digging through endless chat logs.
A scalable resource ecosystem usable by everyone
The most powerful aspect of Zesho is its scalability. Whether it be course notes, project files, presentations, or research papers, the platform accommodates various content types. Out of the box, the data models are highly configurable, allowing students to filter and find exactly what they need based on their specific degree programs.
Next-generation academic networking
The flexibility of Zesho allows for students to create engaging, centralized repositories for their specific degree programs, bridging the gap between isolated study groups.
A Global Perspective
By centralizing knowledge, we ensure that resources aren't lost when a senior class graduates. The platform acts as a living archive of academic material that grows stronger every semester.
Interactivity & Engagement
Students can track which materials are the most helpful through a peer-driven upvote system, ensuring high-quality notes always rise to the top of the feed.
Performance
Built with modern frameworks, the underlying architecture ensures rapid load times and highly responsive searches, even as the database of resources expands.
Project outcomes
Ultimately, Zesho was successfully launched as a pivotal tool for students, bridging the gap between distinct academic batches and fostering a sustainable culture of open resource sharing. Feel free to check out the codebase on my GitHub profile.