A random internet interaction connected me to the team at Maximal Learning, and I got offered the chance to help build an VC-funded AI-first product from the ground up, helping to lead it all the way to Series A. I never had a chance to work with AI so closely, and team and learnings at Wick have been truly career defining. ✨
Problem Space
Drowning
The product pitched to me was an idea that was very close to me: using AI partnered with good solid design principals to make an experience that gives relief to beleaguered students. If you have a high school or college student in your life, especially one with an an attention or learning disability, you know how many channels of information they must manage to keep on top of their lives, a nearly Sisyphean task. This was a fight I wanted to be a part of.
I knew I had found the right team when I realized that I was the 2nd hire at the company, after the Founders. For a Designer to be the 2nd hire says a lot about the team and its positioning.
Solution
Bringing the Human to the AI
If you spend 5 minutes browsing the app store for productivity or study tools, you’ll nearly fall asleep, the designs are so minimalist and anodyne. Combine that the abysmal state of for the learning systems students are forced to use (Canvas, et all) it was definitely a space that needed some visual disruption. I decided to lean heavily on the hand-crafted, the soft, the gentle and the nearly juvenile. Kids have enough to suffer as it is. Shouldn’t their tool be pleasing and calming?
Early explorations went in many directions...
...but the brand we eventually landed on was one that straddles the line between ed-tech futurist and soft nostalgia. Using Caprasimo, an adjacent typeface of Cooper, and the Wick mascot, along with some soft focus illustration, created a nice blend of the approachable and the modern feeling.
Solution
A Product made with students
One of the biggest wins in this role is how user-focused we made the process. We had an efficient flywheel of user discovery → feature development → user test → feature adjustments that have made the product extremely responsive to user needs, with the feedback and user growth to match.
Solution
Craft + Constant User Insights
I’m extremely proud of the product that we have made with Wick, a truly AI first edtech product that is 10% user and student first. As our numbers grow, I have no doubt that this product will e in lecture halls all around the world, and I’m deeply honored I got to be a part of it.
Try it out for yourself: wick.app
