A product built from zero — no users, no blueprint — that grew to one million students. How Gajino moved from a feature-first content directory to a personal study workspace, built on direct research with the students who actually use it, for ages seven through eighteen.
Gaj is Iran's leading educational publisher. Decades of physical exam books and classroom-based tests formed the backbone of their brand — and the challenge was to bring all of it into a single, scalable digital product. That meant absorbing an existing library of physical content, a set of smaller standalone digital tools, and two very different user types into one coherent experience. No existing users, no inherited patterns to lean on. Gajino was built from the ground up — and the original product suffered from a feature-first rather than user-first architecture. Students across twelve grades were forced into a single, complex navigation structure. The app felt like a file directory, not a personalized place to learn, and young users found it intimidating to navigate.
Gaj's physical exam books had structured how Iranian students studied for years. The task wasn't just to digitise a content library — it was to take that familiar structure, merge it with existing smaller digital tools, and make it feel natural to open on a phone rather than a desk. Before any redesign began, the team mapped how students actually studied. The components of learning existed, but in the digital space they were disconnected from one another, each living in its own silo.
Early prototypes were tested directly with students to observe their real behavior and learning habits — not in a sterile lab, but in the places they actually studied, where natural behavior could surface.
The research surfaced a key discovery: primary-school students discover content visually — they don't read labels, they recognize icons and colors, and need constant feedback loops to stay engaged. High-school students discover content functionally — under real academic pressure, they need a deep-work environment with minimal distraction.
"Success comes from creating an interface that feels like a toy for a 7-year-old and a professional tool for a 17-year-old — within the same brand."
Two personas anchored every decision that followed — not as abstractions, but as a constant check against two real, conflicting sets of needs.
Through behavioral studies, the team realized students don't think in folders or categories — they think in terms of an active desk, where the books and notes they're currently using sit within reach. That desk became the entire interface's central design metaphor.
The entire UX pivoted from a content library to a personal workspace. Onboarding now starts with an avatar choice that sets the app's tone for that age group. The Digital Desk became a customizable home screen where students pin their active courses — cutting the steps to start a lesson by 40%. Every book on the desk integrates its textbook, tutoring videos, and self-assessment quizzes into one continuous flow, with bite-sized, progress-driven quizzes that turn into instant infographics.
Diagrams explain the strategy — these are the surfaces a student actually opens every day. Due to confidentiality, these are reconstructed layouts rather than live product screens.
Progress indicators and rewards helped maintain student motivation — small, frequent signals of advancement that made the desk feel alive between study sessions.
Gajino wasn't designed for students alone — parents needed visibility into how their child was actually progressing, without becoming a layer of surveillance the student resented.
The redesign led to measurable improvements in both usability and engagement. Starting from zero users, the product grew to over one million — helping solidify Gajino's position as the most user-centric educational product in the Iranian market, and proving that a scalable design system could hold two radically different personas within a single, coherent product.
Designing for education means balancing two masters at once: the student, who is the user, and the parent, who is the customer. Gajino started with no users, no inherited product, and no template for holding two radically different personas inside one brand. The fact that it grew to one million students isn't just a business number — it's evidence that those two needs aren't in conflict. They just require an interface honest enough to change shape depending on who's sitting down at the desk.
"Gajino became one of the most recognized digital learning products for Iranian students."