CourseSmart
CourseSmart Digital Textbook Rentals

We were asked to create a service that could provide students and instructors access to electronic textbooks — in a sense, revolutionize the textbook publishing industry with an on-demand, Web application that could offer all the benefits of digital text and at a fraction of the cost of conventional textbooks. We worked to develop the best set of tools and experience for both instructors and students.
Web Site
http://www.coursesmart.com

Year Built: 2006-2007
Project duration: 8 months
Zaudhaus role: Functional specs, interface design, identity, Marketing communications

Services
Site Design & Development, Custom Web Applications, Identity Design, Marketing

Industries
Institutional, Education, Digital Media
STATS
RELATED
CHALLENGE + SOLUTION
The Challenge: As it happens with many of our startup clients, we started with our client's idea. The goal was to provide a marketplace to browse, find, and ultimately rent digital textbooks. Clearly, we knew part of the challenge would also be to explain the new service to both audiences we had to engage: both instructors and students. Once people rented these books, it was also a goal to create a viewing environment that was both useful and provided some robust tools for manipulating the content.

We focused on developing a system that students could feel comfortable using very frequently. Our goal was to make the interface minimal and ensure that the reading experience was the focus. From a marketing standpoint, the key benefits of the service are central and the messaging is split between student and instructor. Most instructors come in through referral emails, so the student messaging takes a slightly stronger tone.
“Zaudhaus was instrumental in helping us develop the best user-experience and visual design for CourseSmart’s innovative new service.”
- Sean Devine, CEO, CourseSmart