Nesil Noble / Case study / upGradInteractive concepts, 2026

Three different doors into upGrad.

The same catalogue of degrees, doctorates and certificates, walked into three ways: as a fourteen year story, as a night sky world, and as a gallery you hold and drag. Every design below is live. Scroll, click and drag inside the frames.

Designer
Nesil Noble, design, motion and prototype
Client
upGrad, online higher education for working professionals
Work
Three interactive web concepts, designed and prototyped in code
Built with
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, GSAP and Canvas, on upGrad Website Design System tokens

The three concepts

Concept 01 / Narrative

Every program becomes a chapter in one learner's life.

Instead of a catalogue, the homepage tells a story. A single red thread runs from Kodihalli in 2012 through a degree, a certification, a PG, a master's, placement, study abroad and a doctorate. Each chapter pins, draws its line illustration, counts the year forward and lands a real program card. The finale zooms out to a canvas of thousands of lines like hers.

Pinned scroll chaptersSVG line drawingYear counterHorizontal interludeCanvas finaleMeera / Arjun switch
upgrad.com / one line
Open

Scroll inside the frame to move through the chapters. Use the tabs at the top to follow Arjun instead.

The flow

  1. 01

    Kodihalli, 2012

    The village draws itself in, the sun rises on scroll and the red thread starts at the bottom of the screen.

  2. 02 to 06

    Pinned chapters

    Headline words rise from masks, the year ghosted behind counts up, and a program card lands last.

  3. 03

    The small chapters

    Scroll turns sideways. Free courses and workshops slide past on a track that fills with red.

  4. 07

    The flight

    The thread becomes a flight path and a plane follows it from Bengaluru to San Francisco.

  5. 09

    One line, 100,000+

    Her line draws first, then thousands of others. The counter runs to 100,000+ and ends on program chips.

Concept 02 / World

Learning happens after the shift ends.

A complete multi page site built on one idea: the people upGrad serves study in the evening. The palette runs from night ink to dawn amber, programs become stars in a constellation grouped by domain, and the admissions route is a road with a walker on it. It carries a working filter, a shortlist drawer, program detail pages, stories and a small game.

Loader and curtain transitionsCustom cursorProgram constellationPinned routeLive filtersShortlist drawerHash routing
upgrad.com / after hours
Open

Jump straight to a page from the flow below, or navigate inside the frame.

The flow

  1. 01

    Night falls on the homepage

    A sky loader, the hours of a working week, then a constellation where each domain lights its programs.

  2. 02

    Filter to the one that fits

    Filter by credential, field and duration. Results count live and every card can be saved.

  3. 03

    Read one program

    A detail page breaks the months down, lists what you get, and suggests close alternatives.

  4. 04

    Keep a shortlist

    Hearts collect programs in a drawer that follows you across every page.

  5. 05

    Hear from people who did it

    Stories from managers and founders who studied mid career, with video.

Concept 03 / Gallery

Eight programs, shown one at a time.

A focused way to browse the flagship catalogue. Program posters sit on a strip you hold and drag, scroll or step with the arrow keys. The poster pattern encodes the field, the ambient light shifts to each program's own colour, and an index and detail panel sit either side. Sound is optional and off by default.

Drag, wheel and keysAmbient colour crossfadeFilm grainIndex jumpDetail panelSound toggle
upgrad.com / programs
Open

Click the frame first, then drag or press ← → to move between programs.

The flow

  1. 01

    Enter

    A short intro names the eight programs and a tips card explains how to move around.

  2. 02

    Drag the strip

    Posters tilt and scale as they pass the centre. The background light takes on the new program's colour.

  3. 03

    Jump from the index

    The side index and the bars below go straight to any program, from the DBA to General Management.

  4. 04

    Open a program

    A full panel shows partner, type, duration and what the program covers, with a next program link.

Side by side

Same brand, three interaction models.

One lineAfter HoursPrograms
Leads withA learner's storyA mood and a promiseThe programs themselves
MovementVertical scroll, pinned chapters, one sideways sectionPage scroll plus routed pages with curtain transitionsHorizontal strip by drag, wheel or arrow keys
Main interactionChoose whose story to followFilter, save to shortlist, open a programBrowse, jump from the index, open a panel
Colour worldupGrad white and red, dark chapters for nightNight ink to dawn amber, stars in domain coloursBlack stage, one ambient colour per program
Signature momentThousands of lines drawing out from onePrograms as a constellationThe ambient light changing as a poster centres
ScopeSingle pageFull site: home, programs, detail, stories, free courses, helpSingle view with panel

What holds them together

One token set under three art directions.

One line

Design system red, highlight purple on the chapter rail, pink for chapters already passed.

--red #ee2c3c / --highlight #6a11b0

After Hours

Ink blues for night, amber for the glow of a desk lamp, cream for type.

--ink #080b22 / --amber #ffb547

Programs

A neutral black stage so each program's own ambient colour carries the screen.

--black #000 / --red #ee2c3c