PROJECT
Merlyn for Chromebook
CLIENT
Merlyn Mind
YEAR
2024
TEAM
Product Design Lead: Mol CrickmanSenior Designer: Carly Luterbach
RESULTS
THE SHORT
Expanding to Chrome OS: A Strategic EvolutionMerlyn initially launched for Windows and Mac, but user research and customer feedback revealed a key missing demographic: Chromebook users. To better serve existing school districts and tap into this growing market, we prioritized the development of a Chrome OS version for a 2024 launch.
Through discussions with internal stakeholders, we determined that Chrome OS required a new codebase. This presented a unique opportunity to audit and refine the existing experience, with a secondary goal of increasing user engagement—measured by daily actions performed.
Our research focused on identifying pain points in the Mac and Windows versions, anticipating Chrome-specific challenges, and addressing broader classroom needs. Leveraging these insights and aligning with our business objectives, we optimized the Merlyn experience to better serve educators and students while significantly expanding our market reach.
The initial feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and the improvements introduced with the Chrome OS launch were quickly integrated into the Mac and Windows versions, ensuring a seamless and enhanced experience across platforms.
THE LONG
Understanding the ProcessDISCOVERY + DEFINITION
Discussions with stakeholders reinforced the strategic importance of launching Merlyn for Chrome OS to unlock sales opportunities in the 50% of school districts using Chromebooks as their primary device.Cross-functional collaboration with the engineering team allowed us to explore design solutions while they conducted a technical spike to assess Chrome OS’s limitations. This early alignment helped us define our approach while ensuring feasibility.
RESEARCH
To better understand deployment workflows and potential challenges, we conducted interviews with Merlyn school district administrators and teachers who use both Mac/Windows and Chrome OS. The goal was to learn:- How schools onboard and distribute software to teachers.
- What parts of the setup process teachers handle themselves.
- What parts of Merlyn were working
- What areas could be improved
Simultaneously, we performed an end-to-end audit of the existing experience, mapping it to a Chrome OS user’s workflow. This exercise not only helped us anticipate Chrome-specific challenges but also surfaced broader usability pain points in the existing Mac and Windows versions. We validated these findings through user interviews, focusing on how Merlyn could alleviate classroom management burdens, reduce tech fatigue, and enable teachers to spend more time with students rather than managing devices.
DECISIONS + NEXT STEPS
With these insights, we saw an opportunity: since Chrome OS required a new codebase, we could refine and improve Merlyn’s overall experience while ensuring backwards compatibility. This allowed us to run A/B tests between the Chrome OS and legacy versions, using data-driven insights to inform improvements across all platforms.To guide our process, we developed four user personas:
- New Merlyn for Chrome Teacher
- Migrating Merlyn for Chrome Teacher
- New Merlyn for Chrome Admin
- Migrating Merlyn for Chrome Admin
Using these personas, the identified painpoints, and proposed solutions (listed below), we began wireframing and built a structured design timeline.
PAIN POINTS + SOLUTIONS |
|---|
Solution: Display transcriptions linearly to align with how users read.
Pain Point: The transcription UI lacked width constraints, sometimes interfering with the teacher’s content on screen.
Solution: Set a fixed width for Merlyn’s UI to minimize disruptions.
Pain Point: There was no clear differentiation between the teacher’s transcription UI and Merlyn’s, making it difficult to identify the source of a transcription.
Solution: Clearly separate the two UIs and enable avatar customization for better clarity.
Pain Point: Inline buttons were too small and difficult to navigate using the Air Mouse. Additionally, they were not in focus for easy selection using the remote’s D-pad.
Solution: Expand inset buttons to be the full width of the transcription footprint for easier navigation. Automatically focus buttons for selection using the remote’s D-pad.
Pain Point: The fixed height of disambiguation listings felt cramped and overstimulating when options exceeded three lines.
Solution: Maintain truncation after three lines but ensure consistent padding across all disambiguation listings for better readability.
Pain Point: The current system of pagination was unintuitive, and the number of options shown before requiring pagination was overwhelming.
Solution: Implement a scrollbar for more intuitive navigation when many options are returned.
Pain Point: The timer was too small to be seen from the back of the classroom, and its control iconography lacked clarity. Additionally, timer control buttons were small, difficult to navigate with the Air Mouse, and not navigable via the D-pad.
Solution: Increase the timer’s size for better visibility across the classroom. Improve iconography and add labels to the timer control buttons. Expand button sizes for easier navigation with the Air Mouse and enable automatic focus for remote D-pad selection
IDEATION + PROTOTYPING
After wireframing and multiple design iterations, we presented stakeholders with two refined solutions. Their feedback was continuously incorporated through weekly status meetings and asynchronous updates.To validate our direction, we ran an A/B test with 40 educators (20 per option), evaluating ease of use, classroom readiness, and feature comprehension.
FINDINGS
Option 1:
- 100% rated it 1 or 2 (easy) on a difficulty scale.
- 95% felt ready to use it in the classroom.
- 90% understood its capabilities.
Option 2:
- 80% rated it 1 or 2 (easy).
- 60% felt ready to use it in the classroom.
- 70% understood its capabilities.
The results were clear: Option 1 was the superior choice, and we moved forward with its implementation.
LAUNCH + BEYOND
With the release of Merlyn for Chrome OS, we expanded to a new market, increased our revenue by 1 million after the first quarter, expanded our reach with existing customers, and increase usage through improved accessibility, multimodal interaction, and readability while ensuring seamless integration into teachers’ workflows.With the MVP live, the next phase focuses on:
This cyclical approach ensures we continuously refine Merlyn’s experience, benefiting not only Chrome OS users but also educators on all platforms.