Pioneering a voice-first AI product.
MasterClass members don't just want to learn from the world's greatest experts, they want to connect with them. When AI began to mature, MasterClass saw an opportunity to address its most consistent member feedback: the desire for personal, practical guidance from the icons they admire. The result was a brand new standalone AI product, a voice-first experience that lets members call an AI persona of their favorite expert and have a real conversation. I was the sole designer on this project, taking it from concept to MVP entirely from scratch.
Client: MasterClass
My Role: Product Designer
Project Time: One year
The Challenge
Design a new AI product that lets anyone have a real conversation with the world's greatest experts.
My Role
I worked as the sole product designer on this project. I led all UX research, concept development, and end-to-end design from scratch, collaborating closely with engineering and marketing to bring the MVP to life.
Our beta generated 6,000 conversations with 81% positive sentiment
Understanding the Problem
I conducted competitive research across the AI landscape to identify key opportunities, then led a full-team brainstorm with stakeholders to align on what our product should be.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
What does the current AI landscape look like, and what can we learn from it?
I conducted a wide-ranging analysis of 30 AI products, looking at features, pricing, membership structures, voice capabilities, and unique value props. I synthesized everything into key learnings, standout products, and opportunities we could act on.
AI TEAM BRAINSTORM
“How can I generate a large amount of diverse solutions?”
I reframed my research learnings as user problems, then facilitated a full-team brainstorm across marketing, leadership, product, engineering, and data to generate ideas around each one. We voted as a team to align on direction, which set me up to move into visual explorations.
HMW create a more human-like AI experience?
HMW create features that stand out?
HMW create practical tool and a trusted advisor?
Our MVP should be voice-first, transparent about AI, easy to start a call, and allow for feedback
Early Concept Testing
After defining our MVP, I built a lo-fidelity prototype and ran usability tests to get an early read on the design direction.
LO-FIDELITY PROTOTYPES
“What are all the different ways we can design this experience?”
With our MVP requirements locked in, I jumped into lo-fidelity prototypes to start exploring what this product could look and feel like. The goal here was to pursue as many different directions as possible in order to narrow our vision for usability tests.
Wireframe Explorations
USABILITY TESTS
“Are we headed in the right direction?”
After narrowing down to a single solution, I conducted usability tests on usertesting.com with 12 participants on mobile devices. The goal of these tests was to determine if there were any major usability issues and to discover opportunities for iteration.
“I don’t need a tutorial to get started. 2-Minute Learnings is pretty self-explanatory”
“I’m confused by the button at the end. Where does it take me?”
“I prefer to swipe between the different cards instead of clicking. This didn’t behave how I thought it would. ”
Building the Solution
After gathering insights from users, I iterated on our early concepts and collaborated with our marketing team to create hi-fidelity designs.
VISUAL EXPLORATIONS
“What should OnCall look and feel like? ”
I began my design explorations with wireframes and focussed on the discovery of this feature and the user flow. After that, I mocked the wireframes up into hi-fidelity designs and prototyped for user testing.
Home Page Explorations
Call UI Explorations
Transcript Explorations
The Solution
After iterating on the feedback, I handed off the designs to our engineering team
SOLUTION REVIEW
“Do these designs meet the product requirements and solve the user problem?”
I iterated to the final version based on close collaboration with Product stakeholder, leadership, and the Marketing team. I handed the designs off to engineering and was highly involved in the QA process up until the new product shipped.
Voice First & Transparent About AI 🤖
Learning tiles stand out from the rest of content and communicate that a user can expect a different kind of content than usual.
Easy To Start A Call ☎️
Each 2-Minute learning includes:
Quick introduction to what will be learned
Visually stimulating screens that are easy to skim
Summary of learnings with delightful sense of completion
Allow for Conversation Feedback 👍👎
Each 2-Minute Learning flows into the next which helps keep users learning and eliminates decision fatigue of what to watch next.
Winner
🤑
Winner 🤑
77% of users rated their call experience as 4 or 5 stars
Increased frequency
📈
Increased frequency 📈
Reflecting on the Process
Once I finished the project, I reflected on what I would have done differently and provided next steps.
REFLECTION
“What would I have done differently?”
I would have connected with our engineers earlier in the process because they were incredibly innovative during this project and had capabilities that I wasn’t aware of at the start of this project. It would have helped have a clearer picture of what was feasible to build.
“What would I do next?”
I would create a more involved learning experience that includes video and checks for learning to make it feel more practical and fun.
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