Designed an AI trading platform from zero in 8 weeks. The user research I pushed for shifted the entire product direction -from portfolio optimization to AI-powered trading signals. The company raised $12.2M+.
Wisdomise (formerly Horos) had built strong AI market prediction technology, but it lived entirely in the backend. There was no real product -just raw data and models built by engineers and scientists. The company needed an investor-ready experience that could turn that technology into something users would trust with their money. I had 8 weeks, zero existing design foundation, and no design system to start from.
The existing platform was unusable. No visual hierarchy, no onboarding, no way for a user to understand what the AI was actually doing or why they should trust it. Complex trading logic and model outputs were exposed raw, with no translation layer for non-technical users. There was also no landing page, no design system, and no clear product narrative for investors. Everything needed to be built from scratch.
I owned the entire design surface: research, design system, dashboard architecture, desktop and mobile platform design, landing page, and micro-interactions. But the most impactful thing I did was push for user interviews when nobody thought there was time. I created the interview guide, ran the research with my manager, and the findings changed everything -the company pivoted from portfolio optimization to AI-powered trading signals, a shift that reshaped their fundraising narrative.
Why: The product direction was based on assumptions, not data -building the wrong thing fast is worse than slowing down
Trade-off: Cost a few days of design time, but the findings triggered a product pivot that changed the company's trajectory
Why: Crypto users are skeptical by default -the interface needed to make AI decisions feel transparent and explainable
Trade-off: Meant fewer features at launch, but the ones shipped actually made sense to users
Why: With 8 weeks and no existing foundation, I needed a way to move fast without creating inconsistency
Trade-off: Less comprehensive than a full system, but it kept the product visually coherent and cut iteration time significantly
Shipped a complete, investor-ready MVP in 8 weeks -from zero to a fully designed platform across desktop and mobile. The user research I pushed for led to a product pivot from portfolio optimization to AI-powered trading signals. That pivot reshaped the company's fundraising narrative and supported $12.2M+ raised across multiple funding rounds. The design system I built enabled the team to iterate quickly after launch.
This project shows what happens when a designer pushes beyond pixels. I didn't just make the product look better -the research I initiated changed what the product was. In 8 weeks, I took raw AI technology and turned it into something users could understand, trust, and act on. The fact that the company's fundraising story changed because of design research is the point.