Overview
Pear Decorating System is an AI-driven interior design app that uses LLM technology to provide thoughtful, personalized home decorating guidance. Through a natural, chat-based experience, users can share text, images, and Pinterest boards to receive curated product recommendations and design inspiration. The goal was to make AI feel less robotic and more like a helpful, intuitive design companion.
My role in Pear.
As the Lead UI Designer, I played an important role in shaping the product from its earliest stages. I partnered closely with the UX lead to conceptualize and design the entire user experience, ensuring it was both functional and visually engaging. My contributions were deeply embedded in every phase of the project:
Design System Development
Built a scalable chat-focused design system in Figma, ensuring consistency and efficiency across light and dark themes. This system included microinteractions that enhanced the conversational experience.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Worked closely with developers, product managers, and stakeholders to ensure smooth design-to-development handoff using Figma prototypes, significantly reducing implementation errors and enhancing workflow efficiency.
Brand Integration
Conducted brand research and collaborated with the client’s brand designers to establish a harmonized visual identity, contributing to the color palette and typography while aligning with existing brand elements.
High-Fidelity UI Design
Designed intuitive, visually cohesive interfaces, working closely with the UX team from the conceptual stage to final execution.
Challenges and solutions.
Creating a seamless and engaging AI-powered chat experience required balancing technical constraints, user expectations, and brand identity. By focusing on interaction design, strategic feature prioritization, and efficient collaboration, we built a product that felt both intuitive and human-like.
Creating a Human-Like Chat Experience
Instead of a robotic AI interaction, the goal was to make the assistant feel like a personal interior decorator. I introduced microinteraction animations and refined the tone of responses to create a more natural, engaging conversation.
Feature Prioritization for MVP
Balancing innovation with a realistic go-to-market timeline was crucial. I helped prioritize core features that provided maximum user value while ensuring the design system was scalable for future iterations.
Seamless Design-to-Development Handoff
Recognizing the potential for misalignment between design and development, I introduced an interactive prototyping workflow in Figma. This reduced development errors and improved turnaround times, ensuring a smoother product launch
Design system components.
Key learnings.
Through this project, I deepened my understanding of balancing technical innovation with user empathy.
Scalable design systems are essential
Establishing a flexible design system early on ensures consistency and efficiency as a product evolves.
Collaboration strengthens outcomes
Partnering closely with developers, product managers, and brand designers led to a more polished and cohesive experience.
Microinteractions make a difference
Subtle design choices—like animations and nuanced AI responses—can significantly improve user perception and engagement.