It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession, but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment.
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Learning is an enjoyable journey that could lead to outstanding accomplishments. We believe our students can achieve great things if they set their minds to it. To help them succeed, we constantly look for ways to improve their learning experience by making it engaging and inspiring.
This is why we redesigned our 365 learning platform. Every feature on it—from the course content to the gamified elements and the collectibles—is designed to make learning enjoyable and motivate students.
Read on to learn about the cards’ creation process and watch the video to peek behind the scenes.
Our Inspiration
We created collectible cards with hand-drawn portraits of the pioneers of mathematical sciences to share our admiration for them.
To convey that feeling, the 365 team looked for inspiration within.
One of my personal heroes is Alan Turing. He invented algorithms and laid the foundation of computer science as a field—the thinking of how to construct a problem in computer science terms and solve it with the help of a machine. His contribution is in the mechanism behind every application we use today. When you turn on your GPS to find the shortest route to your destination—that’s based on an algorithm. When YouTube suggests the next video for you to watch—algorithm.
Head of Data Content at 365 Elitsa Kaloyanova
Even though it wasn’t widely celebrated during his lifetime, Alan Turing’s contribution changed the world in unforeseeable ways. The Card Collections include stories like this to remind students how significant and exciting the world of science is.
We can get bogged down in everyday tasks, focusing for hours on a single piece of code, and forget the big picture. I hope the stories resonate with people and inspire them.
Elitsa
Beautiful Portraits and Hidden Benefits
You can find 6 card collections on our 365 learning platform—Mathematics, Statistics, Geometry, Algebra, Calculus, and Computer Science. Each one contains 4 portraits of pioneers in their respective fields.
To gain ownership of a card, you need to study consistently. By watching courses and taking exams, you collect XPs, level up, and unlock new collections. You can also buy cards with in-app coins.
Once you’ve unlocked a card, you can see the portrait of the pioneer, a video of how it was drawn, a short bio, and a timeline of the milestones in their life and contributions to science.
To further motivate students, we added unique benefits, such as video greetings, new courses, in-app coins, XPs, freeze steaks, and even discounts on the subscription fee.
The Scientists
The 356 team worked restlessly for over 4 months to create the collections you see today. It was a long but rewarding process filled with surprises and challenges.
First, the 365 Course Creation team selected some of the most important contributions that led to the development of data science as we know it today. They started with a long list of disciplines and scientists. Narrowing down the choice to just 4 pioneers and 6 fields was a big challenge.
The choice of which contributions we’ll honor was hard. We could’ve put a lot more people in the collections. We focused on those relevant to data science to narrow down the choices, but our main priority was to include truly inspiring advancements that have transformed science and technology in unforeseeable ways.
Elitsa
Distinguishing fact from fiction wasn’t always an easy task. Many of the scientists in the collections have made significant contributions to several fields. Sometimes, one individual’s idea spurred years of research on a topic, with several scientists working on it afterwards. What’s more, the information available online was often scarce and conflicting. 
Another challenge was to find records of women’s contributions to mathematical sciences because, historically, women had fewer opportunities to work in science than men. Those who did pursue their devotion often had to endure restrictions, lack of acknowledgment, and sometimes even more severe consequences. This further motivated us to discover the stories of the women who persisted despite the difficulties.
Sadly—although to a lesser extent—the gender gap still exists today, so example and representation are of utmost importance. We believe opportunities should be equally spread and want to make data science learning accessible to all. With the card collections, we celebrate all scientific achievements, hoping to inspire more women to pursue a career in science.
The Art
The idea of creating something that could inspire our students and motivate them in their learning path was amazing. We were excited to work on such an innovative project and incorporate digital art into data science learning. We created the card collections with passion and learned a lot in the process.
365 Design Team Head Martina Videnova
Given the project's magnitude, the creative process involved the entire 365 design team and external digital art experts. Making a single portrait took around 8 hours of tireless work, sometimes even more. But time wasn’t even the biggest challenge. Often, the artists had to envision the portraits from fragments of scribbles and sculptures, or paintings created long after the founders had lived.
It was challenging to create a realistic portrait from fragments, interpretations, and the fantasies of other artists, and achieve the desired realistic style. It felt like we were inventing a time machine, trying to envision the color of Pythagoras’s beard.
Martina
With great effort and research, the team brought the founders of Mathematics, Calculus, and other sciences “back to life”. Ultimately, the hard work was worth every minute because the result is a collection of beautiful hand-drawn portraits 365’s students can enjoy today.
To Be Continued…
The list of individuals with outstanding scientific contributions doesn’t end with the names in these collections. We’ll keep updating them with more scientists, new collections, and limited-edition cards.
Sign up for the 365 learning program to explore the new functionalities on the platform, build your Card Collections, and celebrate the pioneers of mathematical sciences. Unlock hidden benefits, obtain exclusive, hand-drawn cards, and—as the 365 team would say—collect knowledge!
