BetterCampus

Turning a Chrome extension into the study space Canvas should have been.

BetterCampus, a free browser extension that makes school platforms feel like home

Rolled out for back-to-school 2025. Today 2M+ students at 500+ schools use it.

"John was always able to push back on us and make us think differently."

Jake Silver, Cofounder, BetterCampus

Canvas, made to feel like home

BetterCanvas began as a free Chrome extension on top of Canvas, the platform students log into every day. It does two things: lets students make Canvas feel like their own with themes, and adds the tools Canvas leaves out, from to-dos and grades to notes and AI study help. By spring 2025 it had 1.5 million students, with no marketing. Jake's brief was simple: it shouldn't feel like a Chrome extension. It should feel like what Canvas should be.

From features to student actions

Our first round, in February 2025, wireframed the extension's structure around what students do rather than the features it had collected. That June, as the team rebuilt the product for back-to-school, we came back on weekly sprints: two or three flows a week, designed alongside their developer.

Saying no on the student's behalf

Notes got one "Generate smart notes" button instead of a menu of options. The planner gives every assignment a default slot the day before it's due, which students can move, and once they start the timer it gets them off the screen. In grades, any number a student changes is marked in blue, and GPA stays hidden until they want it. Theme Studio offers three corner styles, not a slider. Where an idea served the product more than the student, we said so.

A brand students want to show

The identity took BetterCanvas from utility to something students show off: a sun-and-figure mark, a cast of tactile characters, warm orange gradients, and glass borders around a calm, clear interface. It was on shirts and business cards before the product shipped. When BetterCanvas became BetterCampus in August 2025, the website we designed that autumn carried the new name on the same system.

Relaunch, then schools

The rebuilt extension started rolling out in September 2025, with the onboarding, themes marketplace and Theme Studio we designed. Then schools started asking for it. In February 2026, working from Jake's brief, we designed an institution portal in four weeks: licences, student analytics, AI usage, default settings, compliance and rollout, so the founders had something concrete to build and sell with. Today BetterCampus reaches 2M+ students at 500+ schools.

Canvas, made to feel like home.

Start from what students do,
not what the product has.

"Something I really appreciated was that you'd push back on me and find things I didn't think about, but also enable my own vision."

Jake Silver, Cofounder, BetterCampus

Built for students.
Ready for schools.

The result

Rolled out for back-to-school 2025. Today 2M+ students at 500+ schools use it.

"John was always able to push back on us and make us think differently."

Jake Silver, Cofounder, BetterCampus

Book a 30-minute call

Project information

Client: BetterCampus (formerly BetterCanvas)
Stage: Bootstrapped, 1.5M to 2M+ students
Discipline: Brand identity, product design, website, school portal
Deliverables: Identity and characters, onboarding and Pro trial, notes and AI co-pilot, assignments planner, grades and GPA, themes marketplace and Theme Studio, settings, website, institution admin portal
Year: 2025 to 2026
Timeline: Three engagements, February 2025 to March 2026

More work

Argo IQ, the QA layer for AI workflows

Pitch deck · 2026

PQAbelian, post-quantum blockchain

Website · 2025

Recapio, an AI second brain

Product design · 2025

Turning a Chrome extension into the study space Canvas should have been.

Canvas, made to feel like home.

Start from what students do,not what the product has.

Built for students.Ready for schools.

The result

Project information

More work

Cookies

Start from what students do,
not what the product has.

Built for students.
Ready for schools.