Giving every learner one clear place to begin
PT Erlangga Mahameru, widely known as Erlangga Publisher, began as a school textbook publisher. Over time, it expanded into children’s books, fiction, and non-fiction titles from Indonesian and international authors. Its business growth also created a broader digital education ecosystem.
Students, teachers, parents, principals, and librarians could access digital services such as ERKLIKA, Beelang, Solutest, E-Book, E-Library, Erlanggapedia, Sarana Guru, and Kelasku. But each platform operated separately, requiring users to switch applications, remember different access points, and navigate different interfaces.
Suitmedia helped Erlangga design a unified Superapp website that became a central entry point to these services. The new experience was designed to make learning, teaching, class management, content discovery, and progress tracking feel like parts of one connected ecosystem rather than eight unrelated products.
A growing digital portfolio had become a user problem
1. More services had created more places to search
Each of Erlangga’s digital applications served a useful purpose. One supported assignments, another offered books, another provided learning content, and others helped teachers or students manage educational activities.
The problem was not the number of services itself. The problem was that users had to understand and navigate the relationship between them.
A student might receive an assignment in one context but need to complete it in Kelasku. A parent might want to monitor learning activity but need to move between different platforms. A teacher might use one application for teaching resources and another for class management.
The digital ecosystem had grown, but the user experience had not yet grown around it.
2. Repeated logins created unnecessary friction
Users were required to access the applications separately. This meant remembering where each service lived and, in some cases, signing in more than once.
Repeated login creates friction, especially for students and parents who may access the platform from mobile devices or under time pressure. It also makes the overall ecosystem feel fragmented.
Erlangga wanted to introduce single sign-on, or SSO, so users could access connected services through a more unified identity. This would reduce repeated authentication and make the transition between platforms more natural.
3. Different systems produced inconsistent experiences
Each application had its own interface, navigation patterns, and promotional logic. Users could encounter different ways of completing similar tasks depending on which platform they opened.
Inconsistency increases learning effort. People must remember how each system works instead of focusing on the educational task itself.
It can also weaken confidence. If one application feels modern and another feels difficult to use, users may question the quality or reliability of the wider digital ecosystem.
4. Switching platforms interrupted learning and teaching
A digital learning journey often involves several steps. A student may read material, complete a task, review progress, and join a class activity. A teacher may assign work, access resources, and monitor student activity.
When these actions are distributed across separate platforms, users must repeatedly stop and reorient themselves. They need to remember which application contains the next step and how to return to it.
This creates small interruptions that accumulate. The educational experience becomes more about managing tools than learning or teaching.
5. Each audience needed a different path
Erlangga’s platform served multiple roles: Students, Teachers, Parents, Principals, and Librarians.
Each group had different priorities. Students needed assignments, books, classes, and progress information. Teachers needed instructional resources and classroom tools. Parents needed visibility and support. Principals and librarians needed management and content access.
The Superapp could not simply display every service equally. It needed to guide each user toward the tools and information relevant to their role.
6. The platform needed to support both learning and commerce
Erlangga’s digital ecosystem included educational services, books, subscriptions, and paid access. This meant the website had to support learning journeys as well as commercial actions.
Subscriptions for existing applications and payment gateway integration needed to be incorporated without making the platform feel like a conventional online store.
The challenge was to connect payment and access naturally. Users should understand what they were subscribing to, why it was relevant, and how payment affected access.
7. Business expansion required a stronger digital foundation
Erlangga was no longer only selling textbooks. Its growing portfolio included children’s content, fiction, non-fiction, digital books, learning services, and educational tools.
The digital platform needed to reflect this broader role. A unified Superapp could help Erlangga present its products as parts of one learning ecosystem instead of isolated offerings.
The design therefore had strategic importance. It could influence how users understood Erlangga’s evolution from publisher to digital education provider.
Designing a central portal around real user scenarios
1. Start with a centralized entry point
Suitmedia adopted a user-centered design strategy focused on creating one central portal and redirection center for Erlangga’s eight digital applications.
The Superapp was not intended to replace every underlying application immediately. Instead, it provided a clearer front door through which users could discover and access them.
This approach protected the value of existing systems while improving the experience around them. Erlangga could retain specialized tools while giving users one place to begin.
2. Design around user roles and responsibilities
The team analyzed how students, teachers, parents, principals, and librarians interacted with Erlangga’s services.
This role-based view helped determine which content and actions should be most visible to each audience. The platform could then provide a more relevant experience rather than showing all features in one undifferentiated list.
The goal was not to create completely separate websites for each role. It was to make the shared platform intelligent enough to guide users toward what mattered to them.
3. Analyze existing business processes before redesigning
Suitmedia conducted requirements analysis sessions and reviewed the existing business processes behind each digital service.
This helped identify where the current experience created unnecessary steps, where platforms overlapped, and where users needed a clearer transition.
Process analysis was important because interface problems often originate in business logic. A better design could not be created by changing colors and layouts alone if the underlying journeys remained disconnected.
4. Create user flows based on real scenarios
The team developed user flows showing how people would move through the Superapp and into the relevant application.
One example involved a student accessing an assignment and being redirected automatically to Kelasku. This scenario helped test whether the transition felt logical and whether the student understood what happened next.
Designing around real situations made the platform more practical. The team could assess whether each step supported the user’s goal rather than merely connecting systems technically.
5. Use wireframes to test structure before visual refinement
Wireframes helped define the placement of navigation, content, actions, and application access points before detailed design began.
This made it easier to discuss the information structure with stakeholders and identify problems early. If users could not understand where to find assignments or books in a wireframe, adding visual styling would not solve the issue.
Wireframes created a practical foundation for the final interface and reduced the risk of expensive changes during development.
6. Highlight immediate priorities through My Task Highlight
The design included a “My Task Highlight” feature to bring important user actions into view.
This was especially valuable for students and teachers, who may need to act on assignments, class activities, or pending tasks quickly.
Highlighting tasks reduced the need for users to search through multiple services to discover what required attention. It turned the platform into an action-oriented starting point rather than a passive directory.
7. Use an Activity Dashboard to show progress
The Activity Dashboard helped users understand their recent or ongoing activity across the ecosystem.
A dashboard provides context. Users can see what they have completed, what is pending, and where they may need to continue.
For students, this can support learning organization. For teachers and parents, it can provide greater visibility into participation and progress. The dashboard therefore connected separate activities through one understandable view.
8. Explain Erlangga’s value through Why Choose Us
The “Why Choose Us” section was designed to communicate the value of Erlangga’s broader educational ecosystem.
This was important because users needed to understand not only how to access services, but why the integrated platform was useful.
The section could explain Erlangga’s content, learning support, digital capabilities, and relationship with education. It helped connect the interface with the wider brand story.
9. Make application access feel like one journey
The Superapp design allowed users to access learning materials, assignments, classes, and other services without repeatedly working out where to go.
Automatic redirection supported this continuity. A user could begin from the central portal and arrive at the application required for the next task.
The technical destination might change, but the user’s mental model could remain stable. This distinction was central to the design.
10. Implement single sign-on
SSO was introduced to reduce the need for users to log in separately across connected applications.
This simplified access and reduced a common source of frustration. Users could move between relevant tools with fewer interruptions.
SSO also strengthened the sense that Erlangga’s services belonged to one ecosystem. One account and one entry point made the relationship between the applications more visible.
11. Add subscriptions for existing applications
The unified platform included subscription capabilities for existing Erlangga applications.
This made access to paid or subscription-based services easier to understand and manage. Users could discover the service, review its value, and complete the necessary subscription process in a more connected environment.
The design needed to make the commercial step clear without allowing payment actions to overwhelm the learning experience.
12. Integrate a payment gateway
Payment gateway integration supported secure and convenient transactions within the platform.
This reduced the need for users to move to an unrelated payment process or manage subscription details through separate channels.
A connected payment journey also improved confidence. Users could understand the relationship between their payment, subscription, and access to the selected application.
13. Create a consistent visual language
The Superapp used a consistent interface across its central portal functions.
Consistency helped users recognize common actions and reduced the effort required to learn the system. Navigation, cards, buttons, redirects, and status information could follow shared patterns.
This created a sense of order across the eight applications, even where the underlying services remained specialized.
14. Make the design engaging without distracting from learning
An education platform needs to be appealing enough to encourage use, but not so visually busy that it distracts from assignments, reading, or class activity.
The design balanced visual interest with functional clarity. Interactive elements and clear presentation helped create a more inviting experience while keeping educational tasks central.
This was especially important for younger users, who may respond strongly to presentations but still need guidance toward meaningful learning activity.
15. Test the experience through usability studies
The designs were tested through usability testing to assess whether users could navigate the platform and complete representative tasks.
Testing helped verify whether the proposed flows matched user expectations. It could reveal whether students understood automatic redirects, whether teachers could find resources, or whether parents could locate relevant information.
This created evidence for refinement before the experience was finalized. User-centered design became a process of observation and improvement rather than a matter of internal preference.
16. Design for long-term ecosystem growth
The Superapp was created as a central platform capable of supporting Erlangga’s evolving digital services.
New applications, content, subscriptions, and educational features could be added within the same broader structure.
This reduced the risk that future growth would recreate the original fragmentation problem. The platform could expand while preserving a consistent starting point for users.
One platform made Erlangga’s digital education ecosystem easier to use
1. Users no longer needed to manage eight separate entry points
The Superapp created a central access point for ERKLIKA, Beelang, Solutest, E-Book, E-Library, Erlanggapedia, Sarana Guru, and Kelasku.
This reduced the effort required to understand where each service lived and how the applications related to one another.
The benefit was especially meaningful for users who interacted with several services during one learning or teaching journey.
2. Students could move from tasks to the right application more easily
The example of automatic redirection to Kelasku showed how the platform could simplify student workflows.
Students could begin with a highlighted task and be guided to the application where it needed to be completed. This reduced confusion and protected attention for the assignment itself.
The platform became a coordinator of learning activity rather than another system students needed to manage.
3. Teachers gained a clearer way to access digital resources
Teachers could use the central platform to reach educational content, teaching tools, and relevant applications.
This reduced the need to remember different systems and created a more coherent way to manage teaching-related activity.
The improvement also supported the wider education ecosystem. Teachers could spend less effort navigating technology and more effort using it to support students.
4. Parents received a more understandable digital environment
Parents often need to support learning without being experts in every platform their children use.
A central portal with clearer navigation made it easier to understand how Erlangga’s services supported the student journey.
This reduced the distance between the digital ecosystem and the family environment. Parents could more easily recognize where to find information and how the tools related to their child’s education.
5. Users spent less time logging in and switching systems
Single sign-on reduced repeated authentication across connected applications.
This removed a common barrier to use and made the experience feel more continuous.
Less friction at the access stage also increased the likelihood that users would engage with more of Erlangga’s services.
6. The design created a more consistent user experience
Before the Superapp, users encountered separate platforms with different systems, promotions, and interfaces.
The new design created shared patterns and a unified entry point. This improved predictability and reduced the need to relearn basic navigation.
Consistency strengthened the overall perception of Erlangga’s digital ecosystem. The products felt more connected and intentionally designed.
7. Tasks and progress became easier to see
My Task Highlight and Activity Dashboard helped users understand what needed attention and what had already happened.
This supported better organization for students and greater visibility for teachers and parents.
The features also gave the platform a more active role in learning. Users were not only browsing content; they could track their interaction with the ecosystem.
8. Access to learning materials became more convenient
Users could reach books, e-books, e-library resources, courses, and other learning services through one platform.
This created a more efficient way to explore Erlangga’s educational offering. Users could move from a general need to a relevant service without starting a new search from outside the ecosystem.
The result was a stronger connection between Erlangga’s content and its digital tools.
9. Subscriptions and payments became more connected
Subscription functions and payment gateway integration allowed users to manage access to existing applications through a more unified process.
This supported user convenience and strengthened the commercial side of the platform without separating it from the learning experience.
Erlangga could present digital services more clearly while users could complete the relevant transaction with less disruption.
10. The platform reinforced Erlangga’s digital transformation
The Superapp helped Erlangga move beyond its identity as a traditional publisher.
The company could now present books, learning tools, classroom applications, library services, and digital education features as one broader ecosystem.
This strengthened the relationship between Erlangga’s business expansion and its digital presence.
11. The platform created more efficient internal growth
A central portal reduced the need to build separate access logic and communication patterns for every new application.
Future services could be introduced through a familiar structure, making adoption easier for users and management more straightforward for Erlangga.
The second-order effect was greater digital velocity. Erlangga could expand its digital offering without increasing fragmentation at the same rate.
12. The design made learning technology feel less burdensome
The final experience simplified the user journey and made the ecosystem more appealing.
Students, teachers, and parents could focus more on learning, teaching, and supporting education rather than managing multiple disconnected applications.
This was the central outcome: technology became a facilitator of education instead of an additional obstacle.
The deeper lesson: digital ecosystems need one understandable front door
1. Integration is successful when users stop thinking about system boundaries
Users should not need to know which application owns a task or which backend system processes it.
A central portal and clear redirection can hide technical complexity while preserving the capabilities of specialized tools.
2. Single sign-on is more than a convenience feature
SSO reduces login friction, but it also changes how users understand the relationship between services.
One identity can help multiple applications feel like parts of one ecosystem rather than unrelated products.
3. Role-based design prevents a shared platform from becoming generic
Students, teachers, parents, principals, and librarians have different needs.
A unified platform should not show every feature equally to everyone. It should guide each user toward the information and actions relevant to their role.
4. Learning platforms should make progress visible
Tasks and activity dashboards help users understand what they have done and what remains.
Visibility supports organization, motivation, and accountability. It is especially useful when learning activity spans multiple tools.
5. Payments should be connected to value
Subscription and payment features work best when users understand what access they are receiving and why it matters.
A secure transaction is important, but so is clear communication before and after payment.
6. User testing is essential when merging legacy systems
Existing applications often contain different assumptions, labels, and workflows.
Usability testing helps reveal where the combined experience feels inconsistent or confusing. It protects users from inheriting the complexity of the old system structure.
7. Centralization should simplify, not erase specialization
A Superapp can provide one entry point while allowing each underlying service to remain focused on its own purpose.
The platform should coordinate the ecosystem without forcing every application into the same functional model.
8. Education ecosystems must be designed for cumulative growth
As publishers and education providers add services, fragmentation can return quickly.
A central design system, shared access model, and clear governance help protect the user experience as content and applications expand.
Strategic Insights for the C-Suite
- Give complex digital ecosystems one clear front door. Users should not need to understand your application architecture to access the right service. Centralized entry points reduce confusion and strengthen adoption.
- Design around roles, not only products. Students, teachers, parents, principals, and librarians use the same ecosystem differently. Personalizing pathways by responsibility creates relevance without duplicating platforms.
- Use integration to remove cognitive effort. SSO, automatic redirection, shared navigation, and visible tasks allow users to focus on learning rather than managing systems.
- Connect commercial functions to user value. Subscriptions and payment gateways should make access clear and secure. Transactions are more effective when users understand exactly what they receive in return.
- Test the combined experience continuously. Merging applications can preserve hidden inconsistencies. User research and usability testing help ensure that the ecosystem becomes simpler for people, not merely more centralized for the organization.
