Designing Befreed’s AI-powered book digest & discovery experience
Befreed, UX Designer Summer 2025
Overview
Who is Befreed?
What's the problem?
what is the result?
Approach
How I solve the problem. How I identify the ambiguity and seek for clarification and solutions
"User want more content, more engaging format. Knowledge is not engaging, and hard to consume."
——— Jisong, founder of Befreed
Define
But…who are the users? We don't know
Ambiguity 1:
Define our users
Befreed is still in the early stage to build up a solid user database, so instead of quickly dive into design, we need to solve the first ambiguity problem: who are the users?
Prototype here
Define
So…we want know the users, but how?
Amazon's working backward method
using the amazon's working backward method to jump start the define of users, start with a press release and persona ideation
Press Release & Persona Ideation
The product’s name The intended customer The problem the product solves The benefits to the customer
Personas
Crafted personas following the principle: Who is the user, Simple User Scenario, Pain point, User Needs
Define
Now that we understand our audience,
what do they truly care about?
Clustered Key User Insights
we collect all the user insight(raw data) and cluster them into themes
Define
How might AI effectively summarize, curate, and present information in ways that save time while ensuring depth and quality of learning?
Ambiguity 2:
How to convert research findings to the actionable design concepts?
We have a lot of findings, insights…but how to translate them into actual design solutions?
Prototype here
A glance for insights
Insight — Problem Statement ——Solutions ——Design Estimation
Ambiguity 3:
How to navigate from many ideas to one aligned direction?
There are multiple viable paths forward. However, we can’t pursue them all. To move strategically, we need to consider constraints like time, scope, technical feasibility, and business goals to determine the most effective direction.
Prototype here
Define
I learn how to prioritize
MoSCoW & Impact-Effort Matrix
Design Directions
Discover
Contextual Information
Product Description & Hero Image
Champion & Champion Skin
Ability Panel
Recommendations
Resourceful PDP
Product Description & Hero Image
Champion & Champion Skin
Ability Panel
Recommendations
Landing Page Optimztion
Product Description & Hero Image
Champion & Champion Skin
Ability Panel
Recommendations
Ambiguity 4:
How to manage the stakeholder review as a designer?
We worked so hard and we have different design variants.. but we only have 30 mins, how to share the outcome efficiently?
Prototype here
Consolidate & Measurement
Consolidate overlapping ideas into a unified, scalable design with a clear production tagline to align stakeholders on the product vision.
Note & Design QA
Use notes to help newcomers understand the screens. Keep it concise to leave time for Q&A and ensure clear alignment before moving forward.
Conclude & Next Step
Summarize key alignment points and share next steps with stakeholders to ensure everyone’s on the same page.
Design
Finally.. We nailed it
Designed to optimized AI -powered
book digest & discovery journey
Deliver
Retrospective
How to solve the ambiguity?
Working within an established design system challenged me to consolidate diverse content needs into a single, standardized format—without sacrificing flexibility. By developing a modular framework and clear content rules, we unified the shopping experience across products while allowing room for tailored merchandising. Early collaboration with UX and product teams was key to defining what must stay consistent versus where creativity could thrive.
