IB Solved — Australia's Leading IB Tutoring Platform
Role
Web Designer & DeveloperUI/UX Strategist
Tools Used
Wix Studio, Figma, Velo by Wix, Custom Code
Overview
IB Solved is Australia’s top-rated International Baccalaureate tutoring platform, offering a comprehensive suite of services including one-on-one tutoring, assessment feedback, digital resources, and university admissions support. With over 15,000 tutoring sessions and 110+ tutors, they needed a website that could communicate their credibility, support conversion at multiple touchpoints, and scale with new services and content.
My task was to reimagine their digital experience: ensuring a high-performing, conversion-driven platform that catered to both students and parents—while maintaining a strong academic brand image and enabling ease of content management.
Design Goals
Elevate brand trust and authority through visual design.
Design a conversion-optimized and responsive experience across all devices.
Build scalable content structures for tutoring services, study resources, and testimonials.
Improve accessibility and simplify navigation for both students and parents.
Highlight success metrics, outcomes, and credibility proof points (testimonials, stats, awards).
Design Approach
1. Visual Identity Refresh
To maintain academic credibility while appearing friendly and student-focused, we applied:
Professional Color Palette: Soft blues and whites, complemented by navy and gold for trust and prestige.
Rounded UI Elements: Softened edges for a friendly, student-centric feel.
Real Imagery: Used authentic student photos and video-call snapshots for relatability and connection.
Academic Typography: Balanced serif + sans-serif pairings to reflect both professionalism and modernity.
2. UX & Layout Enhancements
✦ Mobile-First Responsiveness
Given the student-first nature of the audience, mobile was a critical priority:
Built with a mobile-first mindset, optimizing every component for tap targets, thumb scrolling, and readability.
Created fluid layouts across breakpoints (320px → 1440px), ensuring seamless performance on phones, tablets, and desktops.
All CTAs remain accessible at all times, with sticky navigation and context-aware callouts.
✦ Navigation & Information Architecture
The content was rich but disorganized. We tackled this by:
Implementing a sticky, simplified header with scroll-to anchors.
Consolidating complex menus into parent-level categories (Tutoring, Courses, Resources, About).
Using FAQ toggles, service cards, and sectioned layouts to chunk content for better scanability.
Ensured parent-focused UX too: easily accessible contact, pricing, and results info.
✦ Conversion-Focused Layouts
Every page was designed with conversion in mind, supported by clear CTAs and testimonials:
Service pages used visual proof (score improvements, tutor credentials, student outcomes) and strategic CTA placement.
Testimonials placed contextually — just before booking or inquiry steps.
Key performance stats (e.g., “1.8+ Band Score Increase”) highlighted early on to reinforce credibility.
Components & Content Architecture
✦ Homepage
Hero area with value proposition, awards, and primary CTA: “Book Your IB Tutor.”
Secondary modules for services, stats, testimonials, and blog previews.
Highlighted free lead magnet (IB Guide) to capture emails.
✦ Service Pages
Each service—Tutoring, Study Courses, Resources, Assessment Review—was given a dedicated page with:
Overview + key benefits.
Visual breakdown of what’s included.
Pricing context (where applicable).
Related testimonials.
Relevant CTAs (e.g., “Find My Tutor”, “Explore Courses”).
✦ Shop (IB Resources)
Structured into filterable categories with product previews, preview access, and Band 7 proof labels.
✦ Blog + Awards
Dynamic blog CMS with category filtering and metadata optimization.
Added award banners (e.g., “Telstra Finalist 2025”) to homepage and footer for credibility.
Real-World Challenges
🧩 Challenge #1: Balancing Complexity with Simplicity
With services, shop items, course offerings, and blog content — the site risked overwhelming users. To solve this:
I introduced progressive disclosure (e.g., toggles, modals) to show just the right amount of information per screen.
Split heavy pages into modular, task-oriented sections with strong typographic hierarchy.
🧩 Challenge #2: Aligning Parent & Student Needs
The audience included both stressed-out parents and tech-savvy students. I addressed this by:
Writing clear, non-jargony language paired with education-first visuals.
Highlighting outcomes and structure for parents, while offering easy-to-navigate UX for students.
Implemented live inquiry logic (via Velo) to allow users to pre-select their goals (tutoring, assessment review, etc.), showing them the most relevant service flows.
🧩 Challenge #3: Showcasing Scale Without Slowing Load
The site had to feature:
100+ tutors
Dozens of courses and shop products
Hundreds of testimonials
To handle this:
I used Wix CMS with repeater elements and dynamic dataset filtering.
Optimized every image and implemented lazy loading to keep the experience light and fast.
Key UX Features
Contextual CTAs — Users get "Find My IB Tutor" or "Submit My Assessment" based on the service page.
Awards & Press Mentions — Used real estate to boost trust (Telstra Business Finalist, Young Entrepreneur 2025).
Tutor Highlights — Built individual CMS-driven tutor cards with subject specialities and IB scores.
Testimonial Carousel — Dynamic slider showing real student/parent reviews across services.
Results & Impact
30% improvement in inquiry-to-booking conversion.
25% longer average session duration after new UX launch.
Increased mobile engagement due to improved hierarchy and responsiveness.
Reduced bounce rate on resource shop by 22%, thanks to better filtering and preview UX.
What I Learned
Designing for dual-audience platforms (students + parents) requires extreme clarity, emotional understanding, and careful attention to hierarchy. Working with an education-first brand like IB Solved deepened my understanding of how thoughtful UX and accessible content directly impacts learning confidence and user trust.