User flow · UI system · Icons · Illustrations
PhotoStudy connects students with subject-matter tutors in seconds — 24/7, on mobile. I designed the UI and user flow for the entire app, from the core tutoring experience to the illustration system. The product reached #2 in the Education category on the App Store and won the A'Design Award 2018–2019.
📌 Company:
Got It (PhotoStudy)
📌 Role:
Senior UI Designer & Illustrator
📌 Platform:
iOS & Android
📌 Market:
US K–12, 200+ institutions
sessions completed
learners reached
Education on the App Store
sessions rated 5★
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🏆 A'Design Award — Iron Award 2018–2019 Winner in the Mobile Technologies, Applications, and Software Design Category. Featured on the App Store’s “New Apps We Love” and “Best Homework Helper” editorial lists.
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PhotoStudy was built on the insight that students need help right when they’re stuck on a problem—not tomorrow, not after a 30-minute wait. The product must match students with tutors in seconds, no matter the time.
The design challenge isn’t just about creating a beautiful UI—it’s about designing a flow that’s fast enough to keep students from giving up, clear enough for them to know where they are, and trustworthy enough to reassure parents.
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Callout: Speed is the core UX metric — every second of delay in the matching flow is an opportunity for students to exit the app. We must design the waiting state as an experience, not just a loading screen.
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Challenge 1 — Waiting shouldn’t feel like waiting Matching a tutor takes a few seconds to a few minutes. We must design the waiting state with continuous feedback—progress signals, expectation setting, micro-interactions—to maintain engagement while the system processes the request.
Challenge 2 — Trust signals for both students and parents Parents decide to download and pay — but students are the actual users. The UI must convince both: students find it engaging, parents find it safe and professional. Two expectations, one screen.
Challenge 3 — The illustration system must scale across the entire app Onboarding, empty states, subject icons, social assets — we need a visual style that is flexible enough, consistent enough, and simple enough to produce quickly within a sprint.