Role
Product Designer
Timeline
Oct. 2024 - Jan. 2025
Team
2 Product Managers
3 Product Designers
6 Engineers
1 Marketing Lead
Skills
Interaction Design
Prototyping
UX Research
Design Systems
User Interviews
APP concepting
CONTEXT
Helping Future Software Engineers Master Coding and Ace Interviews
AlgoAce is a B2C iOS app designed to help students and early-career engineers practice coding problems and build communication skills for technical interviews.
As a product designer, I led end-to-end UX design from 0→1, and collaborated cross-functionally to create a playful, gamified learning experience. Our MVP is scheduled to launch on the App Store in Q4 2025.
Consistency & Motivation
Many users struggle with consistency, leading to gaps in their learning progress
Steep Learning Curve
The number and difficulty of problems can quickly overwhelm beginners, leading to frustration
Communication Skills
Even strong problem-solvers struggle to clearly explain their thinking in real interviews
How might we improve the coding practice experience to help users stay motivated and confidently communicate their thoughts in technical interviews?
GOAL
Build an app that helps users improving their coding and speaking skills
With all these challenges in mind, we aim to research and design a solution that is practical for users and makes a meaningful impact in the software engineering world.
FINAL DESIGNS
Customized Onboarding
• An engaging start to user's coding journey
• Create an account and choose an avatar
Explore exercises
• Unlock different worlds
• Browse problems or take an assessment quiz to skip ahead
• Receive feedback after lessons
• Track learning progress through a results page
AI Interview
• Practice real-world prompts through voice-recorded AI interviews
• Strengthen articulation of problem-solving with rubric-based AI guidance
• Realistic, back-and-forth sessions build confidence in technical communication
• Low-pressure format
Community Building
• Boost motivation, consistency, and retention
• Foster friendly competition among users
• Connections promote collaboration through quests and friends
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Understanding the Gamified and Educational Market
There is not really an existing app like AlgoAce, but we conducted market research and SWOT analysis on similar gamified and educational apps.
Competitors
✔ Strengths:
• Effective use of gamification elements (e.g. virtual pets, streaks, karma points, XP)
• Habit and progress motivation
• Cross-platform accessibility
• Personalization and adaptability
• Community and social motivation
✖️ Weaknesses:
• Paywalls block core features
• Weak progress communication
• Onboarding gaps
• Heavy reliance on extrinsic motivators
USER INTERVIEWS
Uncovering What’s Frustrating in Leetcode for Users
To gain deeper insights into users' experiences with LeetCode and software engineering interviews, my team and I conducted interviews with 10+ students. Through this process, we created an affinity map to identify patterns and synthesized the following key insights:
Change #2
I added a short tutorial of the AI interview after users having trouble navigating it during the testing sessions,
DESIGN SYSTEM
Refining with Cool Tones and Retro Type for an Immersive Feel
We expanded our universe theme with a cool-toned palette and retro-inspired typography to balance playfulness with a polished, game-like design system.
Key Insights
Lack of Meaning in Streaks and Ranks
“Streaks? I never have more than two.”
“Ranks based on categories? I wouldn’t care. Just do easy, medium, hard.”
Confusing Ranking System
“Global rankings and contest scores are too abstract, category ranks (like ‘Gold in Arrays’) are unclear to me.”
Leetcode Doesn’t Help Identify Weaknesses
“I’d love to see my strengths and weaknesses and get better questions.”
Leetcode Isn’t Mobile-Friendly
“I want better ways to practice or track my Leetcode progress outside the website.”
USER PERSONAS
Targeting the Right Users
To better understand our users, we created personas based on interviews and research - highlighting those who struggle with consistency and clarity during LeetCode prep.
USER FLOW
Navigating Like Users
We used insights from competitive analysis, user research, and general online research to create user journey for our app. This process allowed us to visualize how the app helps address pain points and aligns with AlgoAce’s goal.
IDEATIONS & ITERATIONS
Putting Ideas on Figma and Iterating Over and Over
Here’s a glimpse of some of our low- and mid-fidelity wireframes. After designing low-fidelity wireframes for each section, we conducted design critiques, shared feedback, and did usability testings.
Through multiple rounds of iteration and over 100 screens, we refined our ideas and finalized the high-fidelity designs and prototypes for developer handoff.
TAKEAWAYS
Collaboration and communication spark great design.
This app wouldn’t be what it is without all the late-night work sessions, tiny debates over button placements, and constant “wait… does this actually make sense for the user?” moments. Building something meaningful is never a linear path - it’s full of trials, errors, and unexpected breakthroughs. And honestly, that’s what made it fun.
Empathize with users and consider different perspectives.
Testing features, analyzing competitors, and stepping into users' shoes made me realize product design isn’t just about making something look cool - it’s about making intentional decisions that genuinely improve user experience. Every button, flow, detail, and iteration needs to serve a functional purpose.
NEXT STEPS
On the APP Store
Our development team is actively preparing for a public launch on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, targeted for Q4 2025. On the design side, we’ll continue refining the user experience based on feedback and usage data, while exploring opportunities to expand core features.
USABILITY TESTING
Going Through with Users
After conducting usability testing with 7 users, we identified opportunities to enhance the user experience and design. We focused on understanding where users struggled and how we could improve the app.
Change #1
Most users mentioned that they prefer to see their progress and want the answers to be the same size as the others. I added a progress bar and experimented with different color choices.
