THE CHALLENGE

Overview
Nord Anglia Education operates more than 70 international schools across 30 countries. Following a major brand refresh, Nord Anglia Education needed a scalable global platform that could balance brand consistency with local school differentiation while helping prospective parents evaluate, compare and enquire across more than 70 international schools.

My role
I led the translation of Nord Anglia's new brand identity into a scalable digital experience, creating the UI framework, interactive prototypes and international user testing programme used to validate the platform before development.

ITERATE

Nord Anglia's refreshed visual identity provided a rich set of colours, typography, illustration styles and campaign assets. My role was to transform these materials into a scalable UI system that could support dozens of international school websites while maintaining a consistent global brand experience.

Working from approved UX wireframes, I developed a flexible design language that balanced consistency and scalability while allowing individual schools to express their own character through content, imagery and storytelling.

ITERATE | WIREFRAMES

The project included an extensive set of approved desktop and mobile wireframes that defined page structure, content hierarchy and user journeys. This allowed me to focus on translating the Nord Anglia brand into a scalable visual system and interactive prototype experience.

ITERATE | BUILDING A DIGITAL DESIGN LANGUAGE

Nord Anglia's marketing identity provided a rich visual foundation, but it needed translating into a scalable digital experience. I reviewed the existing brand assets, typography, colour systems and campaign materials, then adapted them into a flexible UI language capable of supporting dozens of international school websites while maintaining a consistent global brand experience.

ITERATE | KEY EXPERIENCE CONCEPTS

The design system was applied across responsive page templates, interactive tools and admissions journeys. Particular attention was given to helping prospective parents explore schools, compare options and access practical information quickly across desktop and mobile devices.

ITERATE | FINAL PROTOTYPE UI

The approved UI designs were transformed into fully interactive desktop and mobile prototypes that could be remotely tested with parents across multiple international markets. In addition to the English-language experience, I also created a complete Chinese version of the prototype to support testing in East Asia with the help of a translator. This ensured the platform could be evaluated across different languages, cultures and user expectations before development began.

The prototypes allowed stakeholders to validate navigation, content structure, admissions journeys and interactive tools while gathering feedback from prospective parents in five countries.
 

RESEARCH | DISCUSSION GUIDE

To ensure consistency across markets, I created a structured discussion guide that combined exploratory questions with task-based scenarios. Participants were asked to complete realistic admissions and information-finding journeys while thinking aloud, allowing both behavioural and attitudinal feedback to be captured.

RESEARCH | USER TESTING SESSIONS

Parents were recruited through a specialist research agency and represented the target audience for Nord Anglia Education — families considering international education for children from kindergarten through secondary school. Over a two-week period, I moderated remote usability testing sessions with participants across the UK, US, Thailand, Qatar and Mexico. Users explored either the desktop or mobile prototype while completing a series of realistic enrolment and information-finding tasks.

The sessions provided valuable insights into navigation, content hierarchy, interactive tools and the overall admissions journey, helping identify opportunities for refinement before development.

SYNTHESIS

Following the usability testing programme, observations, notes and recordings from each session were consolidated into a single research repository. I reviewed participant feedback across all markets, identified recurring patterns and grouped findings by theme, severity and frequency.

This synthesis process helped distinguish isolated comments from consistent usability issues, allowing the team to prioritise the most important opportunities for improving navigation, content, admissions journeys and interactive tools.

SYNTHESIS | ANALYSING RESEARCH FINDINGS

Research observations from all participant sessions were logged and categorised to identify recurring behaviours, pain points and opportunities. Each finding was reviewed against its frequency and potential impact on the admissions journey before recommendations were prioritised. The strongest positive signals centred around navigation, site structure and the overall enquiry journey. Parents were generally able to locate key information quickly and expressed a clear preference for one homepage direction.

Areas requiring further refinement included the Academics section, which lacked enough depth to clearly differentiate schools, as well as some interactive tools that required stronger onboarding and clearer explanations. Additional recommendations focused on content hierarchy, imagery and localisation improvements for the Chinese-language experience.

OUTCOMES

The research programme validated key product assumptions across navigation, content structure, admissions journeys and interactive tools. The English prototype achieved an average participant rating of 8.25/10 across multiple international markets, validating the product direction while identifying opportunities to strengthen academic differentiation, content hierarchy and instructional guidance before development.

OUTCOMES | RESEARCH RESULTS

Findings from the usability testing programme were consolidated into a research debrief summarising participant sentiment, behavioural observations, usability issues and prioritised recommendations. The report provided stakeholders with a clear evidence base for validating design decisions and focusing investment on the highest-impact improvements before development began.

OUTCOMES | PRODUCT PRIORITIES

Research findings were synthesised into a prioritised set of product and design recommendations, creating a clear roadmap for refinement before development. The recommendations were adopted by stakeholders and informed the next iteration of the platform.