Palmgrade

Idea

A screenshot of a section of the Eduysle design

Palmgrade is a school management platform built for African schools — where the internet drops, the power cuts, and exam day still has to happen. Here's how the product was designed to keep working anyway.

The Problem

Unstable internet

Exams scheduled for a fixed time can't depend on a connection that may drop mid-paper. The platform needed to keep an exam alive through a dead connection, not just show an error.

Unreliable power

Devices and routers go down without warning. Every screen needed to make peace with interruption — saving progress constantly, never assuming a session will finish in one sitting.

Mixed device access

Admins on desktop, teachers on shared tablets, students on whatever phone is available that day, and parents who may never own a smartphone at all. One UI had to flex across all of it.

Trust in exam integrity

Digital exams only work if results can't be disputed. Anti-cheat couldn't feel like surveillance — it had to feel like the exam protecting the student's own grade.
Take exam interface

Designing for Four Audiences

Admin

The administrator runs the school, not the software. Setup needed to mirror how a typical school in Africa actually operates — classes, arms, subjects, and fee structures that vary school to school.

  • CheckmarkBulk import students and staff via CSV
  • CheckmarkConfigure classes, arms, and subjects freely
  • CheckmarkFull visibility across every other role

Teacher

The teacher needs exams that grade themselves. Creating and scheduling a CBT exam needed to take minutes, not a training session — with anti-cheat controls that switch on by default.

  • CheckmarkBuild and schedule exams in minutes
  • CheckmarkInstant auto-grading on submission
  • CheckmarkTab-switch detection on by default

Student

The student needs an exam, not an extra hurdle. A unique exam code and a countdown are the only two things a student should have to think about. Everything protecting integrity runs quietly underneath.

  • CheckmarkEnter with a one-time exam code
  • CheckmarkClear, enforced countdown timer
  • CheckmarkWorks through a dropped connection

Parent

The parent just wants to know how their child is doing. For many parents, a smartphone with patchy data is the only access point. Results needed to load fast and plainly, with nothing that requires a tutorial.

  • CheckmarkLogin built for a low-data connection
  • CheckmarkResults and progress reports, plainly stated
  • CheckmarkPayment available
Eduysle dashboard overview

Like how this was designed?

Palmgrade is one of several products I've designed end to end. Take a look at more of my work, or reach out if you're building something that needs this kind of thinking.