How to Select the Right EdTech Website Design Partner

One thing I’ve learned from building EdTech websites is that they have a harder job than most. They need to educate, sell the product, and support long-term visibility and adoption. All at the same time. 

One page often has to speak to students, educators, administrators, and sometimes even parents. All of them usually have very different concerns. 

This is where generalist design partners typically fall short. I often see visually polished sites that look impressive, but fail to educate, inspire, build trust, and sell. 

Considering nearly 1 billion people worldwide are expected to engage with online learning platforms by 2029, choosing the right partner to build yours is crucial.

In this guide, I break down the process of choosing the right EdTech website design partner into a practical checklist. You can follow it without needing to be a UX expert or speak design jargon.

Why EdTech Website Design Is a Discipline of Its Own

Designing an EdTech website is very different from designing a SaaS site or a marketing landing page. I have learnt this hands-on by building multiple successful EdTech websites.

Most EdTech websites serve multiple audiences at the same time, each with different needs and expected outcomes:

• Students want clarity and ease of use
• Educators want confidence that the tool supports their goals
• Administrators look for security and ROI

The key issue is that a single page on your website often needs to address all of these needs without overwhelming anyone. 

EdTech websites are also expected to meet accessibility and inclusion standards. Your platform needs to work across devices and suit different abilities and learning contexts. This may be an optional extra on other types of websites, but it is part of the foundation on education websites.

Trust plays a much bigger role as well. From what I’ve seen, decision-making in EdTech is rarely impulsive. Most prospective customers take their time to evaluate your platform, analyze its value, and assess credibility before moving forward and committing. 

Because of all this, EdTech website design is less about superficial visual trends and more about structure, clarity, and systems. The right education website design agency should understand this and design for conversion, not just aesthetics. 

8 Main Criteria for Choosing the Right EdTech Website Design Partner

Choosing the right EdTech website partner requires serious consideration due to the complex requirements of the market. Based on my experience, these are the eight criteria that matter most when evaluating whether a partner can build and support your platform:

1. Proven EdTech-specific experience
2. Deep understanding of multi-role user experience
3. Strategy-first, not page-first design
4. Accessibility and compliance expertise
5. Ability to communicate complex value clearly
6. Experience with integrations and ecosystems
7. Cost and value
8. Long-term partnership mindset

Below, I explain what each of these means in practice.

1. Proven EdTech-Specific Experience

Designing EdTech websites requires some very specific expertise. In my experience, education platforms come with very specific challenges that general product teams are often not ready for.

That’s why one of the first things you should evaluate about your potential EdTech website design partner is their portfolio. Before you choose them, you need to verify that they have real work in this space, such as:

• Learning management systems
• Online course platforms
• Assessment tools
• Student portals

If they’ve built any of these, it means they likely understand how education products are actually used.

To ensure that is the case, when reviewing their case studies, don’t just focus on the visuals. Instead, pay attention to the problems they were solving. For example, did they simplify complex learning flows? Did they design for multiple roles and permissions? And did they stay embedded for the adoption, not just launch?

Take, for example, our case study about Re:Coded’s website redesign. We gave the site a fresh look and feel that prioritized UX and functionality. We also relied on reusable elements, minimizing development time and ensuring a fast-loading website.

If a partner can clearly explain common EdTech constraints and design trade-offs, that probably comes from real-world experience.

2. Deep Understanding of Multi-Role User Experience

One of the things that characterizes EdTech platforms the most is that they are rarely used by only one type of user. When designing the interface and the functionality, you need to support students, educators, administrators, and sometimes even parents. And each of these groups comes to your site with different goals, questions, and expectations:

• Students look for clarity and ease of use
• Educators want to see how the platform fits their teaching workflows
• Administrators focus on reporting, security, and outcomes
• Parents worry about safety, trust, and the effects on their children

When choosing your future EdTech web design partner, make sure their proposal reflects these use cases. Navigation, messaging, and calls to action should adapt to different roles, instead of forcing everyone through the same path. By mapping these needs into clear journeys, each user will find what they need easily, lowering the chance of them leaving the site for a competitor. Not doing this properly is one of the key reasons why many EdTech websites struggle with engagement.

3. Strategy-First, Not Page-First Design

Considering how complex and multi-layered EdTech websites can be, they need to be designed with a clear strategy in mind. I’ve seen teams invest heavily in polished layouts, only to realize later that the structure does not support how people actually use the product. 

That’s why you should look for a partner that promises strategy-first, not page-first design. This means that their work should prioritize goals, audiences, and decision paths before visuals. 

The full strategy should define what each page needs to achieve, how pages connect, and how users move from the first visit to taking meaningful action or converting. This is especially important in EdTech because making decisions takes time and often involves multiple stakeholders. 

4. Accessibility and Compliance Expertise

Accessibility can be a bonus touch on platforms in other markets, but it is one of the core requirements in EdTech design. Your website needs to work equally well for users with different abilities, devices, and learning contexts.

That’s why, when choosing your EdTech partner and evaluating their proposal, make sure they understand this and plan for accessibility early. Some of the key elements that support accessibility in EdTech include:

• Readable typography
• Sufficient color contrast
• Closed captions for videos
• Keyboard navigation
• Alt text for images

These are mainly centered around the WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 Level AA guidelines (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust) to ensure all students, including those with disabilities, can access educational materials.

Compliance awareness matters as well, because EdTech platforms come with specific constraints like data sensitivity and institutional standards. These constraints influence layout decisions, content structure, and how information is stored and presented. Before signing the deal, make sure your future web design partner understands and accounts for these nuances.

5. Ability to Communicate Complex Value Clearly

EdTech products are not always easy to explain, and users are sometimes left wondering what’s in it for them after reading your page. Their value often shows up in long-term improved results and outcomes. 

Your design should make this value easy to understand. Pages should explain clearly what the platform does, who it is for, and why it matters, without forcing visitors to piece things together themselves. This is typically done through visuals, examples, and real use cases that support the message. 

How do you check if the partner you’re considering understands this? When evaluating their portfolio and case studies, check whether the design communicates the value of the platform clearly. 

6. Experience With Integrations and Ecosystems

Most EdTech websites are not standalone projects, but exist in a larger ecosystem. They support sales, onboarding, reporting, and ongoing communication, all of which typically rely on third-party tools behind the scenes.

To achieve this complex functionality, EdTech platforms need to connect to other systems, such as:

• Learning management tools
• CRMs
• Analytics platforms
• Internal databases
• Payment systems
• Enrollment systems

The partner you choose to build your platform needs to understand this and showcase experience in building integrations. To evaluate them, ask the right questions, such as how they design with existing systems in mind. And, most importantly, ask about which integrations they support and whether these align with those that you need.

7. Cost and Value

Cost always matters, but focusing only on price is one of the most common mistakes I see. When it comes to design, “what you pay is what you get” is often true because good design takes time, and time costs money. In EdTech, a website is not a one-time asset, but a growth engine your team will use, update, and rely on over time. That’s why it needs to be designed well from the get-go. 

When evaluating the cost, look at what you are actually getting. Does the proposal include clear structure, reusable components, and detailed documentation? The contract you sign needs to explain what work is going to be done, how it’s going to be done, and when it’s going to be finished. 

Most importantly, don’t fall for the cheapest bid mistake. The cheapest option upfront often becomes expensive later through redesigns, fixes, and workarounds. So instead of asking how much it costs, ask what problems it solves and how long it will serve your team well.

8. Long-Term Partnership Mindset

I often see design agencies treat a website as a finite project. Once the final designs are delivered, they move on, leaving your team to maintain, fix, and evolve the platform on their own. But that’s not the right approach. 

When this happens, your team ends up spending time managing design, updating layouts, and troubleshooting issues on a platform they likely don’t understand fully. Meanwhile, growth, education programs, and revenue are sidelined. 

A stronger approach is to work with a partner who thinks beyond delivery. That might mean staying involved after launch, supporting iteration, or at least ensuring a clean and well-documented handoff. 

Conclusion

Choosing the right EdTech website design partner is not about visuals alone. It is about finding a team that understands education, multi-role decision-making, accessibility requirements, and long-term adoption. 

The strongest partners design with strategy, structure, and scalability in mind, not just pages and layouts. They help you communicate value clearly, support real workflows, and avoid costly rework later.

If you want to see how these principles translate into real projects, you can explore the EdTech websites we’ve built for schools, institutions, and education businesses. And if you want to discuss your platform, you can schedule a call to see whether we are a good fit.

FAQ for Choosing the Right EdTech Website Design Partner