The Atttic

The Atttic Web Platform & App

From 2017-2020, I attended various writing courses at The Attic in Portland, OR. The Attic offers classes in fiction, poetry, personal essay writing (and more) as well as an MFA alternative for aspiring writers. Many of the instructors and patrons are famous and-or published writers. While the physical location has changed in the past year or so, the analog process of printing paper pages to share drafts of work has not. On the website, payment and scheduling information are lost in an outdated UI. The students in class often complain about not having or understanding contemporary writing software. In addition, many of the students showed up for class toting new books and beverages purchased from shops on the same street as The Attic. It was clear that an opportunity existed to sell more than just writing courses, and that expanding the Attic’s products would not only help grow the business, but also bring the reality of national enrollment to online courses. The possibilities felt limitless—a haven for writers, indeed.

My goal: To create The “Atttic” web platform where writers write and critique groups gather, meet, and share their work, securely. At The Atttic online, writers would be supported as they create, edit, catalog, organize and outline with current technology, intuitive UX and assistive AI.

Turning Ideas into Action

personas

Developing personas was the second step of the modified research plan. These personas are sampled from the average writing class at The Attic and gauge profession, interests, gender, financial circumstance and goals. Actual quotes were recorded from casual conversation to further authenticate each persona. The Attic serves a wide swath of users and is one of just two, affordable continuing education institutions offering writing classes in downtown Portland, OR. This means that many types of users frequently purchase and attend courses online or in-person.

Attic STudent Survey

Prioritizing momentum and focus, a survey consisting of 10 questions was sent to the entire Attic student body via email. 70 students responded. Below is a sample of the survey data.

View full survey results

Outcome

In conjunction with survey results and stakeholder business needs, the refined idea funnel includes a proprietary video platform with real-time doc sharing and captures wysiwyg notes/comment section as a roadmap priority. The affinity roadmap diagram below also addresses tiers of features and product work.

USER Flow

Unique video meeting link, document share and real-time commenting / chat feature while on a video call.

WireframeS

Branding Evolution

Writebot becomes The Atttic

The initial brand aesthetic was created to evoke contemporary software, primary colors and an emphasis on the AI assisted writing tools. After developing personas and speaking to the business owner more in-depth, the updated brand is meant to act as an extension of the physical space and a bridge into the software, particularly for less technical users. Warmer tones and enriching nods to comforting, analog objects like attic windows, moleskine journals and looseleaf notebook paper are incorporated.

Features & Feature Icons