EMIS School Hub
An App concept loved by parents and judges, Earned First place at the STEM day event.
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Role
Product designer Facilitator
Year
2026
Duration
On-going
Project Goal
Make staying connected with children's school matters easier and less chaotic for parents.
Important announcements get buried in group chats, or in things like I didn't get the information (missed announcements). EMIS school hub replaces scattered information, missed announcements, and fixes the issue of lost items. With a single app, parents can see what's happening, track upcoming events, and recover lost items without the usual back-and-forth chaos.
The problem
Most schools uses WhatsApp groups and word-of-mouth to communicate with parents, and that just isn’t good enough.
During a STEM Day planning session, my students and I were brainstorming project ideas when someone asked: "What if parents had one place to find everything they keep missing?" That question stuck. Most schools rely on WhatsApp groups and word-of-mouth, and it wasn't working. Announcements get buried. Event details get forgotten. Parents constantly ask, "Did I miss something?" or "When is that event again?"
Research
Majority of parents want school updates delivered through a dedicated app or direct messaging.
lost property is one of the most persistent and overlooked problems in schools
Large volume of lost school items go unreturned simply because the process of recovering them
Before touching any design tool, I needed to understand if this was just an EMIS problem or something bigger. On school communication: A 2024 study by SchoolCEO, surveying over 1,400 parents, found that the majority of parents want school updates delivered through a dedicated app or direct messaging — not notice boards, not printed flyers. This made me understand that demand for a better system already existed. Parents weren't asking for more information. They were asking for it in a place they could actually rely on. On lost items: While exploring design directions, a lost-and-found feature came up as a possible addition. I researched it, and what I found was more serious than I expected. According to The End of Lost Property by My Nametags, lost property is one of the most persistent and overlooked problems in schools. Items pile up unclaimed because there's no efficient system for parents to check what's been found. A separate report by Teach Early Years, which partnered with My Nametags on the same issue, highlighted that a large volume of lost school items goes unreturned simply because the process of recovering them — calling the school, coming in person, describing the item — creates too much friction for parents to follow through. That was the gap. Not that parents didn't care — they just didn't have an easy way to act.
Insight
Traditional methods put the effort on the parent.
After the research, one pattern became very clear: Traditional methods put the effort on the parent. WhatsApp groups require parents to scroll and search. Notice boards require physical presence. Recovering a lost item requires a repeating phone calls or a trip to school. Every single touchpoint added friction — and friction is where user behaviour breaks down. The opportunity wasn't just to build an app. It was to remove every unnecessary step between a parent and the information they needed.
Decision
Build one app with three focused features:
* Announcement * Event update * Lost and found
After the research, one pattern became very clear: Traditional methods put the effort on the parent. WhatsApp groups require parents to scroll and search. Notice boards require physical presence. Recovering a lost item requires a repeating phone calls or a trip to school. Every single touchpoint added friction — and friction is where user behaviour breaks down. The opportunity wasn't just to build an app. It was to remove every unnecessary step between a parent and the information they needed.
