In 2014, Andy Hunter and Elizabeth Koch founded Catapult with a vision to create a book publishing platform that championed fresh, diverse voices. Within a few years, they had established themselves as a powerhouse in the literary space—releasing award-winning books, reviving an independent press, launching a digital magazine, and building a global writing education program.

As Catapult’s digital presence grew, they needed a custom-built platform to showcase their literary magazine, foster a community of writers, and streamline their growing online writing classes. They turned to HFC to bring this vision to life.

The challenge

As they were planning out a new, cohesive digital ecosystem, Catapult had to consider several obstacles and requirements:

Limitations of existing platforms. Off-the-shelf solutions like WordPress just didn’t have the flexibility to support Catapult’s vision for a dynamic online literary magazine and community space. They needed a custom-built platform that could serve both professional editorial content and user-generated stories with a seamless user experience.

The need for one seamless space for books, classes, and editorial content. As Catapult’s brand and offerings grew, they needed a unified platform that could not only house their editorial content but also integrate their writing classes and book sales in a way that felt natural to users.

An online learning experience built for writers. Catapult’s team had experimented with using generic tools like Google Docs and Zoom to host online workshops, but this approach wasn’t ideal and created friction for both students and instructors. They needed a purpose-built online learning environment designed specifically for writing workshops, enabling inline feedback, real-time discussions, and seamless video integration.

Catapult chose HFC to help them:

• Design and build a digital magazine and community space that supported a bustling editorial team while offering an intuitive publishing experience.
• Develop a custom online learning platform that addressed the limitations of existing tools and provided a rich, engaging space for writing workshops.
• Expand Catapult’s digital course offerings by designing a scalable class structure, refining enrollment flows, and enhancing user engagement through better UX.

The approach

HFC took a two-pronged approach, focusing on both the editorial and educational experience.

1. Catapult 2.0: A reimagined digital magazine

The first phase of the engagement involved a major redesign of Catapult’s digital presence. HFC built a custom content management system with a WYSIWYG (“what you see if what you get”) editor that streamlined content workflows while providing an elegant front-end experience. To ensure Catapult’s digital platform met the needs of both its editorial team and its growing writing community, HFC focused on three key areas:

• Editorial and community balance. HFC developed a custom publishing platform that empowered Catapult’s editorial team to create professionally curated content while also making it easy for their community to edit their own stories and add supporting images. The 1.0 version of this platform launched in fall 2015, and HFC’s team used the learnings and feedback to iterate on a 2.0 release in 2016.
• Design system thinking. A flexible, component-based design allowed for consistent execution across different sections of the site while maintaining unique visual identities for the professionally written pieces versus the more user-driven content side of the community.
• Responsive storytelling. The site was built with a mobile-first approach, ensuring readability and usability across all devices.

2. Revolutionizing online writing classes

Recognizing the shortcomings of existing online class platforms, HFC designed and built a custom learning experience that was tailored to the needs of writers:

• Inline commenting for workshops. Students and instructors could provide contextual feedback directly on submitted pieces, which improved the revision process. HFC integrated the commenting UI into a clean, minimal writing experience—and comments could even be filtered to streamline the feedback process (for example, focusing on the instructor’s comments or specific participants’ feedback). 
• Integrated live sessions. HFC developed a virtual writing salon with a custom video call interface that allowed students to engage in real-time discussions without switching between multiple tools, and that supported larger call sizes while maintaining good call quality. The team also built out a feature where users could see the live call and access call controls in a popover window, but reclaim most of their screen space for text editing. 
• An improved enrollment process. The new platform introduced an apply-first, pay-later model, making it easier for students to explore courses before committing financially.

As the program grew, HFC conducted user research through surveys and interviews to refine the course offerings. One major insight was that longer, high-ticket classes filled just as well as shorter ones, leading to a strategic shift in Catapult’s course catalog.

The results

After the initial launch, HFC continued iterating based on user feedback, experimenting with new landing pages to improve Catapult’s visibility in search engines and advertising with AdWords. 

The most important insight came from examining ROAS (return on ad spend): While moderate-length classes filled at a reasonable cost, the team discovered that the more experimental, lengthier classes were filling at similar levels—with much higher price tags. HFC recommended offering more of these classes in the 2018 course calendar as a top priority to meet Catapult’s 100% year-over-year growth goal. 

• 100% YoY growth. The online program grew to hundreds of sessions and millions in revenue per year. By optimizing course offerings and refining marketing strategies, HFC helped Catapult meet its ambitious revenue goals well ahead of schedule.
• A thriving digital magazine. The new Catapult platform provided an engaging home for editorial content and user-generated stories, enhancing community participation.
• A best-in-class online writing school. With a seamless UX and features tailored to writers, Catapult’s online classes scaled up significantly, with hundreds of course offerings.

By building a digital ecosystem tailored to both editorial and educational needs, HFC helped Catapult cement its place as a leader in the literary world.

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