App + Website
Still Human
Still Human runs wellbeing workshops for teachers and school staff across the UK. Their method is grounded in positive psychology. Edwin was brought in to turn that method into a native app. I led the design as the team’s Lead Product Designer, working with a cross-functional team of nineteen from discovery through to final delivery. Created using React, Strapi and AWS.
Impacts and outcomes
- The Still Human app is bundled into multi-million-pound MAT partnerships and deployed across 183 schools, including the North East Combined Authority, supporting 80+ schools. Piloted across 36 schools, it is also available to all Edwin supply staff, offering sector-leading wellbeing support. Beta results showed 74% of users completed the Daily Bubble at least four days in their first week, 68% felt the app was designed specifically for teachers, school leaders reported 40% greater confidence interpreting wellbeing data, and the app achieved a 4.6/5 beta rating.
74%
Beta users completed 4+ days/week
183
Schools with app access
4.6★
Average beta rating
90s
Average session length
Problem
Teaching is one of the most demanding jobs in the UK. 78% of education staff report chronic stress. Burnout drives absence and long-term sick leave. Staff feel isolated and unheard. The wellbeing tools that exist are either too generic to help or too slow to use. School leaders have no reliable way to spot a problem before it becomes a crisis.
Investigation
We ran discovery sessions with teachers and school leaders across different institution types. We mapped where in a school day an intervention could realistically land.
Insight
Research quickly showed that teachers didn't need convincing that wellbeing mattered. They needed something that fit into the small gaps of a school day. We ran discovery sessions with teachers and school leaders across different institution types. We mapped where an intervention could realistically fit into the day. That shaped the product: a primary layer for the two-minute window between lessons, and a secondary layer for the educator with more time and appetite.
We decided early on not to use stock illustrations. I briefed and art-directed Gabriel Silveira through the full process, from initial concept to a complete illustration system. The characters reflect the actual diversity of the UK teaching workforce. The scenarios came from what educators described in research. The system was built to flex across the whole product without losing its register.
Solution
The app runs on two layers. The Daily Bubble is a swipeable deck of evidence-based cards, built to take under two minutes. The Learning Environment holds courses, video and resources for people who want to go deeper.
Staff Voice gives leaders an honest picture of how their team is doing, with reporting that is anonymous by design. Notifications are built around encouragement, not pressure.
The app needed to feel made for educators, so I commissioned illustrator Gabriel Silveira and art-directed a bespoke illustration system from brief to delivery. The brief had three qualities: warmth, diversity and flexibility.
