A card-based whiteboard that turns messy ideas into structured and shareable outcomes — powered by AI and crafted with warmth
Web3
AI
Enterprise
B2B
Specs
A card-based whiteboard that helps people turn messy thoughts into structured, shareable ideas — powered by AI and crafted with warmth
Product Design, Brand Design
1 PM, 1 FE, 1 BE
Aug – Dec 2025
Result
Problem
We started from a simple frustration:
People use multiple tools for different stages of thinking, when we think or brainstorm, we constantly jump between tools.
People use multiple tools for different stages of thinking...
We take structured notes in Notion, brainstorm in FigJam or Miro, ask ChatGPT for ideas, collect data in Typeform, and finally build presentations in Slides.
All of these tools are amazing, but they’re disconnected throughout the thinking process.
So we wondered:
Can we create one single space that bridges between creative chaos and structured clarity?
Especially now, with so many AI tools emerging, we wanted to build something that still feels human, not robotic.
Design Challenge
We want to balance freedom and structure. Our design challenge was:
How might we design a space that feels simple and flexible enough for freeform thinking, yet offers AI-assisted structure when needed?
Concept
Before we designed anything, we thought about how people actually think.
Human thoughts are spontaneous. They don’t move linearly. Sometimes we write down an idea, connect it later, or revisit it weeks after.
So we imagined each thought as a card — something you can move, link, and reassemble. That became the foundation of CardTie’s experience: thinking in cards.
With CardTie, you can create text, visual, or even questionnaire in the form of card to help with your thinking process.
UX Exploration
We explored UX directions in how AI is going to participate in this process:
AI lead
We designed a guided path. You can describe your goal, generate an outline, and visualize it. It supported structured thinking.
However, it felt too rigid for brainstorming.
AI Support
We going back to let user starts everything from a blank space, where users drop cards, connect them,
when two or more cards are selected, we will have a button showing up suggest some actions that AI can help or summarize, user can decide if they want to do that
felt more natural. because it keeps AI lightweight and contextual, rather than controlling the user.
AI Suggest
For example, When creating forms or lists, we will always have this option let user can ask AI. AI can generate related options or content. In this design, AI doesn’t lead your thoughts, it assists when you ask. We wanted users to retain creative control while leveraging AI to accelerate the process.
Visual Exploration
Visually, we explored two styles.
A. SaaS style: clean, vector-based, familiar. Like the mainstream productivity tools.
B. Hand-drawn style: soft lines, imperfect edges, and a mascot that reacts subtly during interactions.
It brought warmth and a sense of companionship.
In the end, we blended both. The usability of SaaS with the charm of the hand-drawn style.
This mix helped CardTie feel more human and personal.
Final Design
Our core flow follows four simple stages:
01 Create
CardTie starts with creation on a visual canvas. AI unfolds your ideas into connected cards, helping you map concepts with clarity. Your thoughts become structured, fluid, and instantly understandable.
02 Interact
With one switch, your canvas becomes an interactive experience.
Turn flows into mini-websites or structured forms.
Let people explore your thinking the way you designed it—visually and intuitively.
03 Analyze
Select cards and use AI to find insights or summaries. Here’s how a user can create a quick report, link two thoughts, ask AI for a summary.
04 Showcase
CardTie shows how people engage with your work.
Viewer paths and form responses are automatically organized.
AI surfaces what matters so you can refine your content with confidence.
This single flow helps users move from brainstorming to presentation seamlessly.
like watching your thinking take shape in real time.
Final Thoughts
This project taught me a few important things:
Set clear goals early.
We work part-time, In early-stage products, if there’s no deadline, the feature list grows endlessly.
We focused on validating one core flow — create, interact, analyze, and showcase — before expanding.
Balance uniqueness and speed.
We could’ve used generic SaaS UI kits to move fast, but I invested in a custom expressive UI to make CardTie stand out. To manage time, I modularized the design system so future updates stay consistent.
How hard it is to make product experience and brand experience feel connected
Many tools look similar today — especially with open-source design systems and AI-generated UIs.
So I believe the designer’s value lies in bringing warmth and humanity into digital experiences.
Through small details like hand-drawn icons, a friendly mascot, we made tech feel personal again.
