UPSC.PRO

Digitizing UPSC Coaching with UPSC.PRO

End-to-End UPSC EdTech Platform for LA Excellence

By Srijan

2023-25

UI/UX DESIGN

About the Project.

LA Excellence, a premier UPSC coaching institute with a strong offline reputation, aimed to digitize its offerings to reach a pan-India audience. The goal was to design an integrated digital platform—including mobile and web apps—for Prelims and Mains preparation, along with robust admin systems for internal management and scaling operations.

Brief

Aug – Oct

2023

MAr– AUg

2024

NOV – FEB

2023-24

Sep – MAY

2024-25

Initial UPSC App

(Prelims + Mains combined)

UPSC Student App

(Mains Web App)

UPSC Prelims App & Web App

(Final Direction)

UPSC Admin App

(Admin Apps)

Title

UPSC.PRO

Duration

August 2023 – May 2025

Tools

Figma, Zoho CRM

Team

Developers, Product Managers

I was the lead product designer for this project, responsible for designing both the user experience and interface across the mobile app, web app, and backend admin systems. I worked closely with developers, product managers, educators, and students to ensure the design met real user needs and translated into scalable, intuitive solutions.

My role

Problem. Insights. Solution.

LA Excellence had an exceptional offline teaching model, but its reach was limited. Students outside metro cities or with full-time jobs found it hard to attend in person. Manual evaluations, paper-based tests, and classroom-only interaction made scalability and personalization difficult. There was also no digital system for feedback, analytics, or content publishing.

The Challenge

Understand the gaps in existing coaching models when brought online.
Identify student needs across Prelims and Mains.
Explore educator pain points in content creation and evaluation workflows.
Study existing EdTech platforms to extract successful patterns.

Goals:

Modular Practice is Key

A majority wanted topic-wise tests and daily quizzes instead of lengthy mock tests every week.

Admin & Faculty Needs

Educators and admins wanted a streamlined backend system for test creation, content uploads, result generation, and user management.

Demand for Analytics

Survey responses showed high interest in features like trend analysis, performance graphs, and percentile ranks to gauge competitive standing.

Key insights

User Interviews: UPSC aspirants (freshers, repeaters, toppers) + educators.
Competitor Analysis: Unacademy, InsightsIAS, VisionIAS, Testbook, Physics Wallah, PrepAiro
Surveys: Responses collected via LA Excellence’s offline classroom network.

Methods:

UX Research

72%

Mobile-first Learning

Surveyed students said they prefer accessing study material and tests via mobile apps due to portability and ease of use.

60%

Lack of Structured Answer Writing

Mains aspirants felt unprepared due to limited access to model answers and evaluation feedback.

Tailored for daily practice and consistent self-evaluation, this platform enabled topic-wise MCQs, current affairs quizzes, full-length mock tests, and instant performance analytics. Students could track accuracy, speed, and ranks across test series in a clean, mobile-first interface.

UPSC Prelims App & Web App

Admin Platform

Designed for focused, structured preparation, the platform supported both online and offline answer submissions. It included study plans, tasks, personalized evaluations, and peer benchmarking—making Mains prep more disciplined, flexible, and feedback-driven.

UPSC Mains Web App

The Solution

Visual Identity.

LOGO

Colors

typography

Vibrant Blue

#3A5BCD

Pure White

#FFFFFF

Fiery Orange

#E75D24

Subtle Gray

#36393E

Open Sans typeface

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

1234567890.,!?&()*’”%@

Montserrat typeface

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

1234567890.,!?&()*’”%@

Explore the UPSC.Pro Ecosystem

A mobile-first experience built for consistent daily practice, featuring topic-wise tests, current affairs, mock exams, and detailed performance analytics.

UPSC Prelims App & Web App

Explore Prelims App Design

Download From

UPSC PRELIMS

Empowering Your Journey to Success

A structured answer writing platform with mentor-curated study plans, online/offline test submission, detailed evaluations, and peer benchmarking.

UPSC Mains Web App

Explore Mains Web Design

A powerful internal system for LA Excellence’s team to manage content, evaluate answers, publish ranks, and scale test operations effortlessly.

Laex.pro Admin Platform

Explore Admin App Design

Project Reflections & Next Steps

The Prelims App & Web App have been successfully launched and are actively used by LA Excellence students for daily test practice and performance tracking. The platform has improved engagement, enabled remote learning, and brought structure to the prelims preparation phase.

The Mains Web App and Admin Platform have been fully designed, developed, and handed over to the client. They are currently undergoing internal testing and bug fixes before public rollout.

Impact & Current Status

Designing for different user types (aspirants, mentors, admins) taught me to think in systems and modular workflows.

Balancing offline habits with online UX needs helped me create hybrid solutions like dual answer modes.

Scaling the design across multiple platforms while maintaining brand and usability consistency was a major design exercise.

Real-world collaboration with educators, devs, and product stakeholders strengthened my communication and delivery process.

Key Learnings

The live Prelims platform is now setting a new standard in how structured daily practice can work in civil service prep.
The Mains and Admin tools are on their way to launch—bringing the full UPSC.pro ecosystem to life.

Dive into each platform to explore UX decisions, UI systems, challenges solved, and how the product evolved—starting with the live Prelims App.

What’s Next?

70%

85%

of students use the Daily Practice feature at least 5 days a week.

of surveyed users reported improved self-assessment and clarity on weak areas.