Rune

A powerful AI platform that bridges the gap between educators and students, enabling objective, real-time assessments of writing development.

Background

With Rune, we empower educators and support students by transforming writing assessment from subjective observation to precise, data-driven insight. All while enhancing class engagement and the learning environment.

Our pen design and intuitive UI offer an integrated approach that enhances understanding, fosters student confidence, and promotes academic success.

Solution

Rune integrates a smart pen with an intuitive user interface to provide real-time insights into student writing. By combining advanced data tracking with a user-friendly design, Rune allows educators to identify and address student challenges with precision. This solution fosters student confidence, streamlines assessment, and promotes academic success through actionable feedback and engagement tools.

As Design Lead, I guided a multidisciplinary team to integrate branding, human factors, and functionality, creating a solution that bridges physical tools and digital insights.

Role

Design Lead

Team

Max Bloom (Project Manager)

Austin Joseph (Physical Designer)

Max Clardie-Hook (Digital Designer)

Skills

UX/UI Design

Brand Identity Design

Human Factors

Industrial Design

Timeline

8 Weeks

How did we get here?

Let's jump into it.

Every classroom has students who face unseen challenges. One of the most overlooked yet impactful difficulties is related to writing development. Writing difficulties often go unnoticed or are misunderstood, affecting students confidence, academic performance, and engagement.

At first our team researched ways to ease and relieve writing pain associated with dysgraphia and fine motor regression, but once we stepped back and examined all our insights, we realized a much bigger gap in the education system as it is today.

We heard numerous stories of people experiencing misunderstanding with their teachers. Expressing a student-teacher disconnect across all of our insights. This became a large problem area we felt the need to address.

Respondent 1

“I had accommodations very late in my scholarity. Before that teachers considered me as someone who put no effort in writing.”

Respondent 2

“No accommodations are yet made for me, my teachers aren't even aware of anything named dysgraphia."

90%

90% of those we reached out to said they received little to no support for their dysgraphia and other writing difficulties.

Why is this?

Traditional educational approaches rely heavily on teacher observation to identify issues. While dedicated, teachers face large class sizes and limited resources, making it difficult to catch nuanced writing issues.

What if we could catch and monitor writing difficulties objectively, instead of relying on teacher observation?

This is about empowering both educators and learners.

AI-powered detection of writing irregularities and difficulties—integrated into a smart writing device—has the potential to transform how we approach writing development.

A diagram of the Rune pen highlighting its features.

Equipped with multiple sensors, the pen tracks key handwriting metrics such as letter formation, angle, grip, pressure, and speed. This data helps identify students who may be struggling with writing mechanics, offering a more objective and actionable way to assess and support student development.

By transforming handwriting assessment from a subjective challenge into a data-driven process, Rune enables educators to monitor and address writing difficulties more effectively.

A diagram showing the design, test, and improve lifecycle.

Prototyping

Developing a tool that could integrate seamlessly into classrooms required multiple designs, iterations, testing, and refinement. Here’s how we approached the design process, taking feedback and usability to heart.

Form Exploration

We started by exploring different form factors to test, with human factors taken into consideration.

Prototype 1

Design 1 included a 3 sided rudimentary form with a helix grip. During testing some of the edges felt uncomfortable to users, but they liked how the form guided their fingers into position.

Prototype 2

Design 2 was found to be more familiar in form. People tended to pick this one up first. Our biggest feedback was the lack of clear finger placement, making it difficult for users to know how to hold it.

How do we integrate this into classrooms?

Inspired by game-based learning platforms, Rune replaces digital input with a smart pen, allowing students to participate in activities and quizzes by writing on physical paper.

Low-Mid Fi Designs

By evolving from low-fi to mid-fi, we aimed to bridge the gap between analog and digital learning, making Rune an intuitive, effective tool for classrooms.

As we tested different physical form factors for Rune, we also refined the digital experience that would integrate seamlessly with the smart pen. Our low-fidelity wireframes focused on structuring core interactions, ensuring intuitive navigation, and defining essential features for teachers and students.

Through iterative feedback, our mid-fidelity designs incorporated visual hierarchy improvements, data visualization refinements, and enhanced usability for large classroom settings. We focused on simplifying teacher workflows, providing actionable insights, and ensuring a smooth transition between physical writing and digital assessment.

We combined quantitative surveys with qualitative interviews to assess usability and gather deeper insights. The Likert scale responses provided measurable data on navigation and design, while open-ended feedback revealed pain points and areas for improvement. This mix helped refine both the interface and user experience.

The Rune desktop UI shown on a MacBook Pro

The dashboard offers real-time, AI-driven insights into individual writing habits, alerting teachers to early motor skill issues and suggesting interventions. By bridging physical handwriting with digital intelligence, Rune streamlines classroom management and enhances student outcomes.

A portion of the Rune UI showing how written responses are notated.

Rune digitizes student handwriting, allowing educators to review responses in real-time. The system flags potential concerns like inconsistent letter formation, high grip pressure, or writing fatigue, providing actionable insights. By identifying early signs of writing difficulties, Rune helps teachers offer targeted support without manual observation.

Reflection

We tackled an often-overlooked problem—how handwriting struggles impact learning. It took time to refine our approach, leading to a later pivot than ideal. With more time, I’d have expanded the UI system, but despite constraints, we created a solution that makes writing challenges more visible and actionable for educators.