About
Unreal AI is an innovative platform that merges AI-powered art generation with social connection. As the product designer, I set out to create an experience that feels intuitive, inspiring, and deeply human – a place where anyone can transform photos into stunning digital art and share them confidently within a vibrant creative community.
Challenge
While there are many AI art tools available, most feel cold, technical, and transactional. Unreal AI wanted to change this by building an experience that feels warm, playful, and socially engaging. The challenge was to design an interface that simplifies technical AI workflows for users with no background in art or AI while fostering a sense of community, collaboration, and creative exploration.
Design Approach
As the product designer, I led the end-to-end user experience and interface design. I started by understanding user needs through informal interviews and competitor analysis, uncovering that creators value simplicity, control over their outputs, and meaningful social engagement around their work.
In mapping out user flows, I focused on making the journey from generating and sharing AI art feel effortless and rewarding. Each screen was designed to build user confidence, showcase artwork beautifully, and encourage continued exploration. For the visual identity, I developed a bold yet minimal design system with a dark, gallery-inspired aesthetic that lets AI artworks pop while maintaining an elegant and approachable feel.
The Solution
The home and explore feed was designed as a dynamic gallery showcasing trending and new AI creations from the community. Each artwork card was crafted to feel spacious and inviting, allowing users to browse with ease and focus on the images themselves.
The prompt and generate flow guides users step by step, from uploading an image to selecting styles and reviewing outputs. This flow was streamlined to reduce cognitive load, making the process approachable even for first-time users.
The style selection screen allows playful exploration through clear, scrollable previews. Users can easily browse styles before choosing, helping them feel confident about their creative decisions.
The image detail and sharing pages were designed to highlight each AI artwork prominently, accompanied by user captions and community engagement features like likes and comments. This transforms each generated piece from a standalone output into part of a living, connected creative community.
A distinctive feature I designed enables users to download AI-generated images along with their original prompts. This fosters collaboration and learning within the community, as members can reuse prompts to inspire their own creations.
Reflection & Learnings
Designing Unreal AI reinforced my belief that AI products become truly powerful when they are human-centred and community-driven. This project taught me the importance of simplifying technical processes into intuitive flows that feel magical rather than mechanical. It showed me how thoughtfully designed social features can transform isolated creative experiences into thriving communities. Most importantly, it reminded me that design is not just about screens or interfaces but about empowering people to express themselves, connect, and grow.
