MindMax
Designing AI-Powered Learning from Scratch
Project Overview
I joined MindMax on a full-time contract from March to June 2025 to lead design through the launch of their AI-powered learning platform. After establishing the core UX, UI, and design system, I continued part-time post-launch to support the transition to a longer-term designer and evolving team needs.
I worked directly with the two cofounders (CEO and CTO), leading design across the entire product. This included helping define the launch feature set, shaping the visual direction, and delivering over 90 Figma pages with dozens of iterations based on user feedback across key features.
The Problem
MindMax set out to rethink how people learn — making it possible to generate short, interactive audio lessons on any topic, tailored to each learner’s interests, preferences, and time.
But there were real challenges:
- Rapidly evolving product vision as ideas were tested and refined
- Unclear target audience and no proven product–market fit
- High expectations combined with fast-changing priorities
- Early alpha revealed usability issues and lacked scalable, consistent design
We needed to shape an experience that felt intuitive, engaging, and resilient — all while working with minimal upfront definition and an ever-shifting scope.
The Actions
One of my most impactful contributions was designing the Course Creation flow — the engine behind MindMax’s “learn anything” promise.
This work spanned several connected experiences:
Onboarding
Explored and tested voice-led vs. traditional onboarding, ultimately designing a short flow to get users to their first generated course quickly
Course Creation
Designed a multi-step flow where users could define their interests and instantly generate a course with AI
Course Screen
Created the central hub for each course — showing structure, lesson types, progress, and ways to edit or regenerate
Lesson Player
Designed an interactive, audio-first player for consuming and responding to lessons (think podcast meets Duolingo)
Other contributions included:
- A push notification strategy to bring users back daily
- A TikTok-style discovery feed for surfacing new content
- Light exploration of monetization flows
- Organized and documented a full handover and began work on a new design system
I also ran usability tests throughout and iterated based on real user feedback — balancing experimentation with clarity in the final designs.
The Results
MindMax launched in beta with a fully functional product, now live in the Canadian App Store.
- Our usability testing panel gave strong feedback on the course creation flow and onboarding
- Early beta users responded positively to the interactive player and learning format
- I delivered 90+ pages of designs, with over 10 variations per feature in some cases
- After launch, I stayed on in a part-time role to support the design system and ensure a smooth handover as the team transitioned into its next phase
It’s still early in the product lifecycle, but I’m proud of the clarity, polish, and pace of delivery — especially given the ambiguity, speed, and high expectations of a startup at this stage.
