myWorld Atlas Interactive Application for Jacaranda

The Background

This one is older, and we debated whether to include it. We couldn’t leave it out. The Jacaranda Atlas had been in Australian classrooms for over 40 years, and being asked to bring it into the digital age was one of those briefs that stays with you. It’s a big part of who we are.

Jacaranda needed a digital partner who could take that legacy and build something worthy of it: a fully interactive application that would engage a new generation of students without losing the authority the Atlas had earned over four decades in Australian classrooms.

The Challenge

Digitising an iconic print product is not just a conversion exercise. The Atlas had to become something students actually wanted to use, something that made geography feel less like a subject and more like exploration. It also had to perform as a serious educational tool, with curriculum alignment, progress tracking, and depth of content. Getting that balance right, engaging enough to hold a student’s attention and rigorous enough to satisfy teachers and publishers, was the core challenge.

Our Approach

Mettro worked closely with the Jacaranda team across strategy, design, and development to build myWorld Atlas from the ground up. The centrepiece was a 3D rotating globe that students could navigate intuitively, making exploration feel natural rather than instructional. GIS capability, video content from National Geographic and ABC, and a bank of over 1,000 interactive questions gave the product genuine educational depth.

Students could test their geography skills, receive instant feedback, track their progress, add their own notes and media, and publish case studies to the myWorld Atlas website or social networks. The UX design and digital product development work was built around making a complex product feel simple and rewarding to use.

The Outcome

myWorld Atlas became the highest selling digital product of Jacaranda’s parent company Wiley, selling seven times the original sales target.

The Australian Educational Publishing Awards judges described it as pushing publishing into a whole different league, noting the intuitive interface, depth of information, and relevance across secondary education.

The product won five major awards: the Australian Educational Publishing Award for Best Digital Student Learning Resource, two Interactive Media Awards for Best in Class in School and Reference categories, an Outstanding Web Award, and an AIMIA Awards finalist nomination.

Jill McGuire, Director of Digital Product Development at Jacaranda:

“Mettro are really good at partnering. Rather than seeing themselves as just a supplier that took the brief and ticked the boxes, they took the project on as their own baby. This project was technically very complicated, there were a lot of problems to solve. Mettro worked with our technical teams every step of the way and made sure the application was a success. Integration work is where a lot of these projects fall over.”