AI Group Planner for iOS
Objective:
To streamline how groups coordinate time and location by designing an AI-supported planning experience embedded directly within chat.
Graduate Prototyping Studio · Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)
Group chats are where plans start — but they’re not where plans stay organized. Important details get buried in conversation. Users tolerate this because it’s familiar, not because it works well.
Role: UX/UI Designer
Research, Wireframing, UX/UI Design, Testing
Figma
Deliverables:
End-to-end iOS group planning prototype
AI-assisted conversation flow design
Interaction system for pinned and shared plans
Usability testing framework + iteration updates
I found two primary behaviors.
The Scroll-Back User just wants quick reassurance — where and when.
The Organizer carries the cognitive load and wants fewer repeated questions.
The challenge wasn’t just adding planning tools. It was making structure feel conversational, not like leaving the chat to complete a task.
The most important insight was that users don’t reject structure — they reject disruption. When plans felt embedded in the chat, they were embraced.
Users & Research
This project reinforced that UX isn’t about adding features — it’s about aligning structure with human behavior. Planning already happens in chat. My role was not to redesign planning — but to reduce the friction around it.
Reflection
In the first iteration, plan creation felt like starting a separate task. Based on feedback, I added conversational context before AI plan creation. This aligned the feature with users’ mental models — planning as an extension of conversation.
Participants consistently preferred structured plans over scrolling. The key success was preserving the natural social flow while reducing cognitive friction.
While users preferred the structure, scrolling is a habit. Continued reinforcement through inline visibility and notifications would support behavioral shift.