Inkling. A new standard in learning.

Acquired — Senior Product Designer

What began as a laborious process of rebuilding textbooks by hand became a platform for reinventing the way people learn. Inkling is comprised of a full ecosystem: Habitat, Inkling for Web, Inkling for iPad & iPhone, as well as the Inkling Content Discovery Platform. Each offering helps Inkling transform traditional learning materials like textbooks into interactive digital editions. I'm proud to have led design initiatives reaching across offerings from the fledgeling 15-ish person startup to a 125 member team Inkling.

Translating a product to a new device

What happens when your book is connected to the web? Why don't more people read long form content in the browser? How can we leverage search now that we have a keyboard again? We asked questions, lots of them, before embarking on the creation of Inkling's second client. Each answer led us to believe that customers want a delicate balance of consistency across platforms and native interaction. We followed this principle with vigor in the creation of Inkling for Web. Each and every interaction from the iPad was rethought within the context of the web on both laptop and desktop devices.

Shrinking a textbook

Along with the new form factor came a host of new challenges and opportunities. Connecting the structured content of an Inkling title to the web meant deeper knowledge on any given topic. Wikipedia became the new connected source of reference. A meta layer emerged allowing quick access to topical information. We chose to acknowledge the ergonomic limitations of reading in the browser in favor of increased productivity and reference-based learning.

The back cover

Consolidating information from publishers, marketing, and product teams, Inkling.com and Store complete a flexible purchase flow. You can buy by the chapter, unit, or book, and all purchases automatically sync across your devices. Each title detail page supports multiple media formats while highlighting the power of the platform. The Inkling brand remains consistent and clear through every point of contact with each customer.