Innovative Educational Platform

Prongo.com & Family of Websites + IOS Mobile App Design

Situation

While working for Computer Associates in 1997 as a web designer, I was deeply passionate about creating art and learning emerging technologies. I maintained a portfolio website to showcase my work and my programming skills and noticed it was receiving a high volume of traffic.

Task

Seeing the potential in this traffic, I aimed to create an educational platform for kids that could leverage my skills in art, game development, and web design. My goal was to design a unique and engaging website that would be both fun and educational.

ACTION

I founded Prongo.com on February 15, 1999. I started by creating simple games and drawing cartoon characters, which became the core content of the site. Overcoming several technical challenges, I managed high website traffic, learned about dedicated servers, and mastered new programming languages like PHP and Perl. Additionally, I researched various ad companies and partnered with Burst Media to monetize the site. Key actions included:

  • Creating and designing simple games and drawing cartoon characters to engage the target audience.
  • Managing high website traffic and learning about dedicated servers to ensure smooth site operation.
  • Learning new programming languages like PHP, Construct 3, Html5, and CSS to enhance the website’s functionality.
  • Researching and partnering with ad companies such as Adsense, FastClick, Adverising.com and Burst Media to implement effective online advertising strategies.

Result

Prongo.com quickly gained traction, attracting over 10,000,000 monthly page views and reaching a top global Alexa ranking of 4,000 at its peak. Prongo.com, along with its complementary websites like KidsPlayPark.com, Petcheers.com, and others, became some of the leading children’s educational platforms globally. They provided interactive and educational content that resonated with a vast audience, maintaining a top 100,000 ranking among all websites until 2017. This experience significantly honed my skills in programming, web design, and online marketing, paving the way for my future success in UI/UX design and digital education​​​​.

Today

I still run the website, using it as a learning model to explore emerging technologies and stay on top of UI/UX design trends. This ongoing project continues to receive traffic and allows me to keep my skills sharp without affecting my ability to dedicate myself fully to a full-time role​​​​.

Fascinated by AI-generated images and their commercial use, I decided to channel my learning into creating coloring books. Combining my love for drawing with AI, I created 14 coloring books now available on Amazon.