Visual direction · AI behavior UX · Illustration system · 5.17M messages
Starting from an AI product with no visual identity, I defined the visual direction, UI theme, and illustration system — laying the foundation for a platform that scaled to hundreds of thousands of users worldwide.
📌 Company:
Got It (MathGPT)
📌 Role:
Senior UI Designer & Illustrator
📌 Scope:
Visual direction · UI theme · Illustration system
📌 Team:
Cross-functional, Vietnam + US
total interactions
messages exchanged
registered users
active learners
MathGPT is an AI tutoring platform aimed at K–12 students in the US — helping them solve problems step-by-step and personalize their learning path. When I joined, the product already had a working AI backend but no visual identity: no consistent color system, no illustration style, no clear UI patterns.
The challenge wasn't to "make it prettier" — it was to define what an AI education product should look like to earn trust from students, reassure parents, and get recommended by teachers.
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Callout: Users are students aged 10–17. Trust signals matter just as much as usability — the interface needs to communicate "I'm a serious learning tool," not a game or a casual chatbot.
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Challenge 1 — AI behavior UX AI responses aren't instant — there's streaming delay, occasional errors, and the need to regenerate. I had to design these states (loading, streaming, error, correction) so students wouldn't lose orientation or trust in the AI mid-session.
Challenge 2 — Visual identity from zero, while the product was already shipping No time to finish branding before starting UI. I had to build a visual system flexible enough to apply immediately within each sprint, while remaining adaptable as the product evolved.
Challenge 3 — Remote collaboration, 11-hour timezone gap Design decisions had to be clearly documented and justified inside Figma. I built design rationale directly into the files so US PMs and engineers could implement correctly without a sync.
First step: establish visual personality before touching any UI screens. Competitive audit across Khan Academy, Photomath, and Wolfram Alpha to map positioning — MathGPT needed to feel "smarter than tutoring apps, friendlier than academic tools."