WellComm Digital
Product Development Project
The Client
GL Assessment is a leading international education company specialising in educational assessment, measurement, and insight. It supports schools, school groups, and education authorities by providing data-driven tools that help improve teaching, learning, and student outcomes.
WellComm Digital is an early-years and primary speech, language, and communication assessment tool, developed to help identify and support children’s communication needs from an early stage. It is part of GL Assessment’s portfolio, specifically targeting early intervention.
The Problem
WellComm has been around for 25 years in the paper format, and there have been attempts to digitise the assessment to improve the reporting on it.
GL assessment was not ready to fully digitise the experience and convert the original paper books into the digital world. The core UX challenge was to enhance the experience for practitioners and children without altering the assessment itself. This required carefully improving usability, guidance, and support around the assessment while preserving the familiarity, flow, and validity of the original paper-based tool.
The Process
The project began with an initial discovery phase focused on understanding the different user types and their needs. A key part of this stage was analysing the existing paper-based assessment, which consisted of four separate books. I mapped the connections between these books in detail to ensure that no questions, logic, or supporting elements were missed.
Initial Discovery
This work was essential in establishing a clear audit trail, ensuring the digital assessment accurately mirrored the original paper assessment in both structure and intent. Maintaining this equivalence was critical for trust, validation, and future adoption of the digital product. Alongside this, I worked closely with stakeholders to gain a full understanding of the assessment process and the overall scope of the product, mapping a rough framework through user journeys and storyboards to visualise end-to-end user interactions.
Concept Creation and Research
The next phase centred on concept creation and early testing. I reviewed the first iteration of prototype video recordings and carried out a thorough analysis to identify opportunities for improvement. New question layouts were explored through paper prototypes before being developed into interactive Axure prototypes, enabling remote testing of the concept.
In parallel, I collaborated with the marketing and sales teams to recruit participants and build a user bank for ongoing research. Throughout this stage, the work was supported by a speech and language therapist, ensuring the product met professional and clinical requirements.
Three key prototype iterations were developed:
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Exploration of general layout options
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Refinement of the final layout and question types
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Optimisation of comment box placement and time-based interactions
Following multiple rounds of research and feedback, the wireframes were finalised and the overall look and feel of the WellComm product was defined. The visual direction was inspired by the blue of the original paper books, enhanced with improved colour palettes and typefaces optimised for digital screens.
At this stage, I also created a bespoke design system for the product, ensuring visual and interaction consistency across all screens. The design system improved accessibility and readability, enabled faster and more scalable development, and provided a single source of truth for both design and development as the product evolved.
Development and Alpha Testing
Once the designs were finalised, the project moved into development. I worked closely with developers to define and implement the assessment logic, ensuring question flow, scoring, and conditional behaviour accurately reflected the underlying methodology. I also designed the initial child selection screen, allowing practitioners to select or create a child profile before starting an assessment, setting clear context and reducing friction at the beginning of the experience.
After an initial review, the product was ready for in-person alpha testing with real users. Testing took place on site across multiple locations nationwide, allowing us to observe how the digital product supported practitioners in real-world environments. These sessions provided valuable insights and highlighted areas for refinement, helping to further improve the overall digital experience before wider rollout.
Pre- and Post Launch Success
Before we were able to launch the product, we had to go through a comparison trail study to ensure the digital product was equivalent to the paper product. We did pass the trail with flying colours. The only "problem" was that the digital product produced more accurate results as it was guiding the user in a better way than the paper product, which was a compliment and proof of the great work the team did.
The Product launched in April 2024 as an MVP. This meant that the team had to develop features that enabled the User and Account management for internal users, expand on the tools reporting feature not just for schools and nurseries but also for local authorities and Multi-Academy Trusts.
Once the feature was launched we were able to continuously work with our now users, understand their needs and ways of working. Through this relationship, we were able to really see the impact the tool was able to make on children's development.
"The tool is so much more efficient! It normally takes 4-5 weeks to assess all children in my school, this time it took us only 7 days"
-SEND lead in a primary school
We were honoured that in November 2024 we received the Dynamo award in the category "Tech for Good" for the positive impact the tool brought to schools across the UK.
What's Next?
There are so many more features that could be added, but here are the next big milestones:
March 2026: WellComm Digital International
May 2026: Reporting Improvements
End of 2026: Child Data Portability