VocabSushi: An Idea Becomes a Better Way to Learn
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Services: |  |
Strategy |  |
UXD | |
Web App Development | |
Advanced JavaScript |  |
Every year, thousands of students take some sort of standardized test like the SAT, ACT, or GRE and to succeed on these tests, one must have a strong vocabulary. Memorizing definitions isn't enough, though; test-takers need to be able to recognize word context to complete sentences and write essays. For years, preparing for these tests has meant flash cards and boring books filled with silly fill-in-the-blank sentences. As he was teaching, New York City tutor Jeff Novich found that a better way to learn was to simply read the daily news. Articles from the New York Times and other major newspapers used big words every day, and seeing vocabulary words in a real-world context was proving a better way to build his students' vocabulary.
From that realization came the idea for VocabSushi: a site that would help students build their vocabulary by finding articles relevant to the words they were learning. When he started, Mr. Novich tried hiring offshore programmers to build him a website to match, but the result was virtually unusable. He found Mighty Ants, and we helped turn his idea into an attractive, high-quality, working web application fit for students of any age and any skill level.
When we started with VocabSushi, Mr. Novich had spent a lot of time thinking about his dream company. Before we started a stitch of programming, we helped translated our client's ideas into a strategic plan and included information architecture to map out the site, wireframes to show how pages would be laid out, and descriptions of each bit of functionality. The strategic planning process allowed everyone to see how the entire project would work ahead of time, making changes and building on ideas to hone the perfect website. With this plan in place, we could begin design and development.
VocabSushi is a prime example of using modern web technologies and techniques to create a dynamic and exciting user experience. The system is smart: after gauging a user's starting vocab strength, it creates a word list that just challenging enough to encourage learning. Over time, VocabSushi can suggest which words the user need to practice, replace words learned with ones a little bit harder, and track a user's progress to show how far they've come and how else they can prepare. To keep things interesting, VocabSushi relies heavily on an advanced JavaScript to provide a highly responsive, interactive, and downright fun to use experience. And all of this happens in the background; the experience is never interrupted by unexplained JavaScript errors, server gobbledygook or alerts that don't make sense to the average joe.
Mr. Novich saw his ideas come to life in May 2009, and is already thinking up the next wave of ideas he wants us to turn into reality. If you have ideas for your business, tell us about them.
