noelle
So that everything you save makes you a better designer
Objective
To help designers find the resources they've already saved; resurfacing them when they matter, and teaching them the vocabulary and patterns to grow their own taste intentionally.
my Role
Tools
Figma
Figjam
prototype
Team
Me (Solo project)
Duration
3 months
context
Designers save everything, but saving isn't the same as using
This project started with a personal problem: I save references, tutorials, portfolios, and tools, for everything that I make. Design, or art. But I only use about 20% of everything I save. And I'm not alone.
Why this matters
47% of the designers who intend to revisit saved resources will fail to do so (Sheeran, 2011). Performative saving leads to no learning, no output, just a growing library you never return to, which can be stressful when it's also disorganized (Deng et al. 2025).
Ideally, what we save should lead to innovation and better work.
Who I designed for
Graphic, branding, and UX designers who save online resources to improve their craft.
Design Challenge
How might I design a tool that surfaces what designers have already saved, shaping their work and growing their craft, rather than sitting unused?
The Solution
noelle: a desktop and mobile app that resurfaces saved resources when they're relevant, without requiring designers to remember they exist
Onboarding that introduces all the key features
Skippable, with the ability to go back at any step.
Save anything from anywhere, without the burden of organization
Saving can happen from browser extension or by mobile app; the idea is that wherever the user is, noelle can meet them.
Organization isn't mandatory, and is covered by AI-generated descriptive tags; users can optionally choose to add a project tag or notes for their specific use-cases.
Reminders that expire, so the library stays fresh
Save a resource as a reminder, and it lives at the top of your library for 7 days — with one weekly notification to revisit — before settling into your saved library.
Resources don't pile up; what's in your reminder section is always recent.
AI that teaches, not just retrieves
Guided Exploration surfaces the vocabulary inside your saved content, so you don't just collect things you can't name. You learn to describe what you're drawn to, and use that language to find more inspiration, prompt AI, and develop your taste intentionally.
Patterns automatically cluster your saves by what they have in common, no manual curation needed
Ambient AI that works in the background. Connections between your saves surface on their own, so you spend less time looking for inspiration and more time building your idea.
Bulk add resources from these themes into project tags to incorporate into your workflow.
impact
100% of user testers would use noelle in their workflows
When I tested the prototype with 5 users, all of them said the reminders, guided exploration, and automatic categorization would be useful in their design workflows. The project also validated a core tension in the market: designers want control over their data, but they don't want the work of managing it. noelle sits at that intersection; AI handles the organizational overhead, while the user stays in command of what surfaces and when.
"Christina took on a complex problem space, designing a system for managing resources that extended well beyond the screens themselves. Her project demonstrated a strong command of interaction patterns, thoughtful cross-platform thinking, and a refined visual design sensibility.
Christina left no stone unturned in her explorations of different ideas over the course of the project and communicated her design decisions with the utmost clarity.
The attention she gave to the underlying logic of the system demonstrated a sophisticated level of systems thinking beyond what I typically see in my classes: defining how resources are saved, surfaced, revisited, and retired over time, as well as how reminders and other touchpoints support users throughout that lifecycle."
- Julie Turgeon, Lead Product Designer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
user research
Understanding designers' relationship with the resources they save, from the moment of discovery through attempted revisitation
I conducted 6 semi-structured interviews (30 min - 1 hour) with graphic, branding, and UX designers who have a habit of saving resources to improve their craft.
Key takeaways that informed the design direction
The design field's pace creates perpetual learning anxiety over new tools and skills
“[I want to stay] updated with AI tools so it doesn't take my job and I know what it's capable of.” — User tester
Retrieval of a saved resource is always task-first
“I frequently look back. When I’m designing my portfolio and want to recall inspiration, I open my library.” — User tester
Organization alone doesn't solve the problem
“It's organized, but I never look at it. I’m happy with the way I organized it.” — User tester
competitor analysis
Analyzing the market to see what user needs are unmet
I analyzed 5 common tools designers already used to save resources: Are.na, MyMind, Milanote, Eagle, and Notion. Of these 5, MyMind and Eagle were closest to what users described wanting, and what I envisioned for noelle.
What to adopt
What to avoid
The market gap: proactive resurfacing, time-sensitive filtering, and the ease-vs-control tradeoff
Organization is psychologically desired, but it won't solve the retrieval problem. Retrieval is task-first, and people want inspiration even when they forget. No existing tool accounts for all three gaps.
MyMind has resurfacing, but it's random and opt-in, and separate from your work. Its philosophy of "save everything, organize nothing" pushes against user control. Eagle gives you full manual control with no intelligence. noelle sits between them: the control of Eagle, the intelligence of MyMind, and resurfacing that's actually structured.
noelle's position in the market
iteration
Designing and testing key features
Solving the problem of forgetfulness: how do you remind people without annoying them?
The initial design contained too many notifications
Across 6 discovery interviews, users mentioned the benefit of being reminded: they didn't have the habit of checking their saved resource library, and would forget things existed. So I designed a flow where important resources could be flagged for reminders, prompting users to revisit only what they marked as urgent. But when I tested this design with 5 other users, they had a problem:
"This is too many notifications. All notifications are inherently annoying. But I still think this is helpful. If you could show me something I needed at the time I wanted it, I wouldn't mind the notification." — User tester
Flag a resource as urgent upon save, receive notifications before it expires
The solution: reduce notification cadence by batch sending and letting the user decide what to use
Notifications didn't have to be per-resource. In testing, I realized that users preferred to engage with what interested them most in the moment, not what was about to expire. So one weekly notification replaced the many, letting users choose what to pick up.
Why batch send works: 4/5 user testers engaged with the resource they were most interested in, not whichever one was about to expire first
Making sense of Guided Exploration: when a useful feature doesn't seem useful at first glance
Helping users build a vocabulary for their visual taste
In initial interviews, users all wanted to grow their skills, especially in the age of AI, where articulating taste is increasingly what separates human designers from generated output. So I built Guided Exploration: a feature that surfaces the vocabulary already inside a user's saved library. If you can't put your taste into words, you can't replicate, reject, or evolve it; you stay a passive consumer (Bernardoni & Ruppert-Stroescu, 2025).
Original design: type a vibe, select matching tags, see results
The problem: the idea was helpful, but the mechanism wasn't clear enough
Users found the feature useful, but only after they understood it. They had differing opinions on whether Guided Exploration should fold into the basic AI-powered search, which told me the positioning wasn't clear enough. And across the board, users didn't understand why they had to select tags before seeing any results.
Search vs. Guided Exploration
The solution: solidify the purpose through UI emphasis, add signifiers, and change the order of flows
The changes feel minor in isolation, but when compounded, make a big difference.
Surfaced Guided Exploration as a standalone entry point
To differentiate Guided Exploration from search, I separated the two more distinctly, and clarified the copy at the first entry point. Renaming search to "keyword search" made it clear when to use each; one is for finding something specific, the other is for exploring.
Show results immediately, without requiring tag selection first
Users wanted immediate feedback that their input went through, and didn't want to select tags in bulk before seeing anything. Surfacing results directly on search makes the feature's purpose clearer from the first interaction.
Tag each result with the vocabulary it belongs to
Showing the tag that connects a resource to the search input makes the vocabulary explicit. Users can see exactly which word describes what they're drawn to.
style guide and branding
A focused design system
As the solo designer on a 3-month project, I built only what the key features needed, rather than a full design system.
Neutral colours and branding so the saved resources can stand out
I chose a neutral palette so saved resources could stand out. Blue adds just enough personality without competing with content: warm tones felt too dominant, red reads as an error state, and grey alone felt flat.
reflection
What I learned: Copywriting can really make or break the whole product
Copywriting is often left until the skeleton is complete; it's the last thing added, not the first thing considered. But noelle, and particularly the Guided Exploration feature, showed me that copy can be the product. Users won't engage with a feature they don't understand, and the right words can change their entire perception of it.
what's next
What's next for noelle?
Build it or find a developer
After user testing, I wanted to vibe-code an MVP, but quickly realized that asset storage, AI tagging at scale, and mobile-web integration would need to be properly implemented for the product to be useful. With only 3 months to do the user research, competitive analysis, and full design solo, the build had to wait.
If you'd like to collaborate on this product, feel free to reach out at tlux10[at]pratt[dot]edu or via my LinkedIn!
Animations
A tool for designers should look and feel good. I didn't have time to add animations on the first pass, but motion design would elevate the user experience. I'm currently learning from Animations.Dev / Emil Kowalski and plan to bring more delight to the key screens.
Disclaimer: Third-party visual assets shown within the UI are used strictly for conceptual prototyping and demonstration purposes to illustrate the platform's core user behavior (collecting multi-format inspiration from online sources). Full credit belongs to the respective creators; no copyright infringement is intended.