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Live prototype · Personal project
Study Buddy AI
A study app that turns a kid's messy class notes into easy guides, flashcards and practice tests, with a friendly tutor and a gamified world that rewards real studying. Designed and prototyped end to end with AI.
The idea
Studying that feels like play
Younger students often have notes but no friendly way to actually study them. Study Buddy takes whatever they wrote in class, even messy or photographed notes, and turns it into a simple guide, flashcards, and a quick practice test in their own words. A patient tutor helps when they get stuck, and every bit of studying earns rewards they spend building their own little world. There's also a calm parent area for tracking progress and test dates.
Process
Designed & built with AI
I wanted to see how far I could take a real, working product using AI across the whole workflow, from defining the problem to a clickable, testable prototype. Each tool played a distinct role:
Claude
Breaking down complex requirements, PRDs, and the underlying problem, scoping what Study Buddy should and shouldn't do for young learners.
ChatGPT
Research synthesis, UX strategy, information architecture, user flows, and shaping how the product would be communicated.
Claude AI
Exploring UI directions, generating variations, and accelerating iterations, the interface itself was designed and built in Claude.
The whole interface, from the rounded kid-friendly visual language to the accessibility-checked color contrast, was designed strictly in Claude AI, then refined through fast prototype iterations.
Try it yourself
The live prototype
This is the real, clickable prototype, not screenshots. Tap “Try an example” on the home screen to watch it turn notes into a study guide, flashcards, and a practice test, then feed your world.
In the full build, study guides, tests and the tutor are generated live by Claude. This public version simulates those responses so the flow stays fully interactive without a backend.
What's inside
Key features
Notes → study guide
Paste, type, or snap a photo of class notes and get a simple guide in kid-friendly language.
Flashcards & practice tests
Auto-generated cards and a fair multiple-choice test drawn only from the student's own notes.
Friendly tutor
A patient study buddy that gives hints and explains step by step, never just the answer.
Gamified worlds
Studying earns food to grow a Zoo, Aquarium, or Dino Park, motivation that rewards effort.
Progress & strengths
Scores are saved so kids see what they're great at and what to practice next.
Parent area
A calm space for grown-ups to add test dates, see a countdown, and follow along.
Reflection
What I learned
Building Study Buddy end to end with AI changed how I think about my own role. The tools moved fast, but every meaningful decision still came down to product judgment: who this is for, what to leave out, and how it should feel for a seven year old who is tired after school.
AI accelerates, it doesn't decide
AI gave me working screens in minutes, but it happily generated features kids didn't need. My job was editing: cutting scope, protecting the core flow, and keeping the experience calm instead of busy.
Designing for kids is a constraint, not a theme
Reading levels, tap targets, color contrast, and reward loops all had to serve a young, distractible user. Those constraints shaped the typography, the pacing, and the friendly tutor voice more than any visual trend did.
A clickable prototype beats a deck
Getting to a real, testable build let me feel the gaps a static mockup hides: empty states, loading moments, and what happens when a kid pastes messy notes. That is where most of the design work actually lived.
If I took Study Buddy further, the next step would be real usability sessions with students and parents to pressure test the reward loop and the reading level, then wiring the live AI back in behind a secure backend.