Lumen is an AI-powered platform that consolidates scattered user feedback into actionable insights. Built in LavaLab, USC’s premier startup incubator, it won Best Demo from a panel of judges.
Role
Cofounder & Sole Designer
Timeline
2024 (8-Week Sprint)
Skills
BrandMotionPitch DecksProduct Validation
BACKGROUND
During my work on client-facing apps like The StoryGraph, I faced a common struggle: user feedback is everywhere. Social media, app store reviews, emails — it all can be a mess to sift through.
Even just 2 StoryGraph Instagram posts contained 300+ comments with insightful feedback! This wasn't just my problem — my team had faced the same struggles firsthand at their own workplaces, whether that was at large companies or small startups.
Even just 2 StoryGraph Instagram posts contained 300+ comments with insightful feedback! This wasn't just my problem — my team had faced the same struggles firsthand at their own workplaces, whether that was at large companies or small startups.
THE PROBLEM
Critical insights are everywhere — scattered, unstructured, and time-consuming to consolidate. Our interviews with 5 industry professionals confirmed this leads to wasted time, money, and resources.
In my early concepts, I explored ways to surface key insights quickly while keeping the interface simple and visually engaging. Branding quickly surfaced as a core aspect of what could differentiate our platform in making feedback consolidation more fun.
Our Solution
Walkthrough
Lumen automatically scrapes the web and social media platforms like Instagram and X for relevant user feedback.
Users can also submit direct feedback through an in-app integration with any platform.
From there, all feedback is collected into Lumen’s main dashboard and automatically analyzed.
📚 Organized Feedback
All feedback (both scraped and directly submitted) is sortable by type, source, and recency—depending on what you’re looking for.
💡 Insights
Similar thoughts are consolidated into insights to see an organized view of what’s most important to users.
Clicking into each insight opens each piece of individual feedback it’s composed of, with each linked to the original posting location.
Save feedback for later, or file it away by bookmarking & archiving!
Motion
Motion and animated storytelling were key to Lumen’s identity, bringing the platform and pitch decks to life!
LEARNINGS
- Branding communicates functionality.
Strong motion and storytelling can make a platform feel real and usable, even before extensive UI/UX. - Clean, simple designs = happy developers.
More isn’t always better! Oftentimes the simplest UI ends up being the most modular and scalable. - Being a designer goes beyond just thinking about visuals.
My work on this project spanned so many roles and disciplines, including copywriting and pitch development. - Always stay receptive to change.
Putting so much time into your designs often means it’s hard to let go of what’s not working. However, it’s only through an open mind that can properly listen to and integrate user feedback you receive that you can ultimately make the best product for everyone.
