Apptoyou.pl Academy is an online learning platform that allows non-technical individuals to enter the world of IT and learn app development using the no-code tool Bubble.io. It is the only accredited no-code course in Poland by Bubble Bootcamps.
Sharing expert knowledge in the field of no-code development and educating the IT community about the benefits of this approach is one of the key points of havenocode's mission. For many months, we searched for the right solution to do this more effectively. Since none of the available platforms on the market fully met our expectations, we decided to build our own platform from scratch, of course, using a no-code approach.
We are proud that the project was implemented from scratch by graduates of the first edition of the no-code course, personally led by Kamil Tarczyński, covering basic web development concepts and working on the Bubble.io platform. At the start of the project, all the developers involved had a maximum of three months of experience working with Bubble. With the experience and mentoring from havenocode's CTO, they built a fully personalized online learning platform in just four months.
We started the project with Product Discovery workshops, during which we established buyer personas, user stories, business goals, and functional requirements for the platform.
Through internal analysis and workshops, personas were developed, and target groups for the platform were identified:
We believe that using the platform must be intuitive, fast, and shouldn't require additional instructions. The focus of learning should be building applications using no-code, not operating the platform itself. Our team conducted an analysis of competitive platforms and third-party services to identify the problems and difficulties their users face.
We carefully traced the user flow through each functionality of the application, aiming to simplify the user experience to the maximum and eliminate any potential threats during the creation of user flows. Next, the UX/UI Design team created low-fidelity and high-fidelity wireframes for desktop and mobile, reflecting a modern, dynamic brand image and enabling smooth navigation through the extensive platform interface.
The project included three parts:
Challenges: convenient navigation through the extensive platform, impressive presentation of offered courses, create the "wow" effect.
The graphic design of the platform is based on a palette of three main colors: purple, yellow, and turquoise.
The psychological significance of these colors represents the values of the Apptoyou brand: the technological and professional aspects are represented by the purple color, which we have balanced with the harmonious and soothing turquoise color. Finally, we added a touch of excitement and encouragement to take action through the color yellow. The combination of these three colors with a handwriting-style font also evokes a retro atmosphere and the recurring fashion of the '90s.
The Apptoyou logo is composed of lines resembling a clickable mouse cursor icon. It symbolizes readiness for action and the desire for development, directly referencing visual interfaces of no-code tools, where users more often rely on a mouse than code.
Using a no-code approach, we built a fully personalized online learning platform from scratch, allowing for the presentation and purchase of courses, learning no-code development through on-demand video courses, tracking learning progress, and managing content and products from the administrative panel.
The platform was implemented by a team of three junior no-code developers with the support of havenocode's CTO and co-author of the course, Kamil Tarczyński.
The project was implemented on the Bubble platform. To customize the application to our needs, we utilized a range of integrations with third-party solutions:
Each implemented functionality was meticulously tested in the QA department, followed by testing by havenocode employees and invited ambassadors. After launching the platform, we also took into account the suggestions and feedback from early users.
To reach potential Apptoyou students, we conducted a wide, precisely targeted marketing campaign, including:
The main project management tool was ClickUp, supported by email communication and weekly status meetings of the involved team members. During these meetings, technical topics, issues, and blockers encountered by the developers during the application build were discussed and resolved, in addition to organizational matters.
Apptoyou was an important project for us and exceptional for many reasons. For those skeptical about no-code, it serves as proof of how versatile the platform is and the wide range of possibilities it offers. For people wanting to enter the world of programming without writing code, it is a tangible example of how quickly one can start their journey in creating their own applications. For us, it confirms the quality and substantive value of the courses we have created and the immense value of the knowledge shared by Kamil Tarczyński.
No-code is not just another approach to faster digital product development for us. It is a way of thinking about programming and a vision for its future direction in the coming years. We have dedicated and continue to dedicate hundreds of hours to become experts in the field of no-code development. By executing projects for dozens of clients worldwide, we have gained experience that we now want to share with anyone interested in pursuing a future in no-code or interested in the topic. Now we do it on our own platform. Of course, built with no-code!
