ShAI
FEB 2023 - MAR 2023 | TEAM: RUI ZHANG (UX/UI DESIGNER) & ERIC (DEVELOPER) | MY ROLE: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE, USER FLOW, UI DESIGN, USER TESTING | TOOLS: FIGMA.
An MVP that secured Pre-Seed Funding by Antler
Context
The First Creativity Saas Tailored to the Advertisement Industry.
Our challenge: crafting and delivering ShAI’s first MVP within a 5-week timeframe.
In April 2023 me and Rui Zhang signed up for an internship in Antler, a Start-Up incubator program where we got to collaborate with ShAI, an AI-powered software that facilitates ideation process for creative minds in the advertisement industry.
What Problem is ShAI trying to solve?
Cut the middle men.
Great advertisement ideas are difficult to come by as they often get tangled in inefficient processes and endless feedback loops. Leonardo Piumi and Jeroen van Gorsel interviewed 30 top-notch brands, including National Geographic and Bol.com uncovering three major time-consuming factors:
60% Brand and brief alignment.
56% Lost in collaboration back and forth.
78% Visualization challenges.
The price tag for these creative bottlenecks – around 300,000 EURO per year for a team of 50 and despite living in the age of Generative AI, these technologies didn’t fully solve this inefficiencies issues… yet.
How might ShAI help bring back to minutes process that usually take weeks?
HMW simplify and make this app accessible to non-technical audiences?
Core Features
From Creative Brief to Pitch Deck, From Weeks to Minutes
ShAI intends to be the first creativity Saas tailored for the advertisement industry.
The goal? Cut out the inefficiencies of the ideation and concepting phase taking you straight from Creative Brief to Pitch Deck.
ShAI is here to help creatives visualise their ideas in a specific brand style, supercharge communication with non-creatives and spark fresh concepts right from the project’s kick off.
We were navigating some ambiguity while doing the flows and noticed some inconsistencies in the briefing. We decided to align by going back to the whiteboard and remembering our core users. After our meeting these were the updated features:
#1 Custom-trained Ai Assistant.
#2 Auto-generated Pitch Decks.
#3 Train AI to match your brand style.
Wireframes and Testing
Designing for our users: Familiar tools, Unprecedented Innovation.
It was both challenging and exciting not to have direct reference for a tool as unique and innovative as ShAI. One thing we knew, our user’s were creatives from in-house studios. We got inspired in tools like Figma, Canva and Photoshop to keep it intuitive for those accustomed to such environments.
Due to lack of time we went straight into mid-fidelity for usability tests. Here’s what we discovered and immediately iterated on this feedback.
Visual Design
We went for a Dark theme with beams of diffused light to bring a futuristic look and opted for blue as our accent color to convey authority and trust, adding a touch of friendliness and less technical feel with more organic shapes.
What did I learn and enjoy?
Don’t make assumptions, align from the start.
What I enjoyed the most was tackling unexplored territory with limited references and ideating on possibilities that would still feel familiar through divergent thinking while making sure navigation was kept as smooth and easy as possible.
The cherry on the top? A team that's not just supportive and respectful but brings diverse perspectives and strengths to the table, resulting in better outcomes and a genuinely enjoyable working experience.
Did we succeeded?
Measuring success in an early-stage startup is a challenge. However, we are happy to have been part of how it started, crafting their first MVP which played a role in securing pre-seed funding with Antler, fills us with joy. Their success feels like our success too.
Startup journeys are never straightforward; ShAI pivoted into storyboards for the film industry and just secured a spot in the Top 20 at Slush. They'll be pitching live soon!
I’m always inspired by people who take the leap and bet on their ideas to innovate. It was inspiring to work with such bright, approachable and driven people. We’ll be following their journey closely for more exciting updates and hope to see ShAI emerge as the next big startup.
Let’s build something awesome!
marimaruxui@gmail.com
+32471593816