Mona Mehus Portfolio

Design Internship at Gyldendal Norsk Forlag

Internship: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, with Amanda Rosengren-Blom and Guro Lehn Viset, guided by Kristin Tobiassen

Duration: 5 weeks

Output: Interactive Figma prototype and presentation

Role: Worked across the design process end-to-end, from research and fieldwork to concept development, prototyping, and iteration, with an emphasis on user-centered interaction design and exploring the use of AI.

Impact: Received outstanding feedback and presented the project to an EdTech company developing publisher-specific AI.

Skolestudio 2028 explores how Gyldendal’s digital services could be designed to better meet the needs of teachers and students in the years to come.

To understand user needs, we visited a school and interviewed teachers and students. We also reviewed reports and current research to better understand education today and how it may develop in the coming years.

Our research pointed to four key areas for scoping the project.

We found that differences within schools are increasing, and teachers struggle to meet diverse student needs. Motivation is also falling, but interviews showed that giving students more autonomy can improve engagement. From game design we drew on the concept of flow, where challenge must balance with competence to sustain interest.

These insights guided our idea development.

To build on these insights, we created prompts that guided a series of rapid ideation exercises. This helped us explore the identified challenges and consider how existing and emerging resources could be used.

Through several rounds of ideation, discussion, and testing, we developed a coherent concept that we then prototyped, tested, and iterated.

Our process combined fieldwork, interviews, and scenario building with a strong focus on exploring AI and emerging technologies in education.

After several iterations and tests, we developed a detailed prototype addressing some of the most pressing challenges for pupils and teachers. The concept was demonstrated through the fictive pupil Oliver and his teacher Silje.

We gathered further insight through a workshop focused on teachers’ everyday work and their most challenging tasks.

We invited people with recent experience from schools, educators, and designers working in the field.

To develop the concept further, we turned our ideas into wireframes that we could test and gather feedback on.

These evolved into quick prototypes, which we iterated into a final interactive prototype.

Sketch of a wireframe

We developed a prototype of Skolestudio within Gyldendal’s design system, envisioning how it might look in 2028. The platform was redesigned as a tool to simplify teachers’ workflows and give them better oversight of both content and students. For students, we explored features that offered greater influence over their own learning.

Our solution made it easier to plan lessons and adapt assignments by combining artificial intelligence with input from both teachers and students.

For me, this project sparked a deeper interest in AI safety, ethics, and the potential applications of AI in education.

The project was guided by our mentor, Kristin Tobiassen, whose direction was crucial in the success of the project.