2022
YC | Arist
Arist.co
Redefining the Mentor Experience in a Learning Platform
Project Overview
Arist, a Y Combinator–backed microlearning platform, transforms how organizations train their teams delivering learning content directly inside Slack, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, and SMS. The company’s mission is to bring education to where people already work, turning microlearning into part of everyday workflows.
In 2022, the Arist team realized its mentor-facing LMS the space where learning managers and course designers create and distribute lessons had become complex, visually inconsistent, and difficult to navigate. The goal was to redesign the platform from the ground up, ensuring mentors could focus on learning design rather than fighting the interface.
The project went beyond UI improvement. It included a complete experience rearchitecture, the creation of the Arist Foundation Design System, and extensive accessibility testing to make the platform inclusive for users with visual impairments.
My Role & Involvement
I worked as the UI/UX Designer on the in-house product design team. The project was guided by a senior designer while I handled:
Experience audit of the mentor dashboard.
Feature mapping across Courses, Distributions, Enrollments, Learners, and Analytics.
Information architecture restructuring and flow definition.
Wireframing, high-fidelity UI design, and interactive prototypes.
Creation of the Arist Foundation Design System defining grids, colors, icons, typography, and reusable components.
Manual HTML/CSS fixes during implementation for pixel consistency.
Accessibility testing using screen readers to ensure the LMS was usable by individuals with limited or no eyesight.
Timeline: 6 Months, 2022.
Deliverables included redesigned mentor flows, design system documentation, and full UI mockups for development handoff.
Problem Statement
The existing mentor dashboard relied on long scrolling forms, unclear hierarchies, and scattered actions. Mentors had to jump between multiple screens to complete basic tasks like course setup or distribution scheduling. This fragmented experience led to inefficiency, confusion, and a steep learning curve.
Problem: How might we redesign Arist’s mentor dashboard to make course creation, distribution, and analysis more structured, accessible, and cohesive while building a scalable design foundation for future products?
Problem Discovery
To understand friction points, we conducted a deep audit of the existing product. Mentors and internal learning managers participated in walk-through sessions.
Key discoveries included:
Overwhelming scroll depth in course creation screens, causing users to lose track of structure.
Disconnected task flows publishing a course required navigating to three separate modules.
Inconsistent component styling (buttons, forms, and table grids).
Poor discoverability of analytics and progress metrics.
Non-compliance with accessibility standards, particularly for screen readers.
We visualized these insights in a feature map that clarified overlapping functionalities and missing hierarchies.
User Understanding
Two primary personas emerged from our analysis:
Lucas — The Learning Manager
Responsible for creating and assigning courses, managing cohorts, and analyzing completion rates.
Needs: quick access to performance data and efficient scheduling tools.Dorothy — The Learning Designer
Designs lessons, question banks, and course templates.
Needs: intuitive creation flows and clear feedback loops during publishing.
Both personas valued clarity, consistency, and reduced repetition over new features.
Defining the Approach
We approached the redesign in four structured phases:
Audit & Define — Collected all mentor-side functionalities and mapped them by frequency and relevance.
Information Architecture — Simplified navigation into five major sections: Courses, Delivery, Learners, Reports, and Admin.
Wireframing — Tested multiple layout hypotheses, ultimately validating a dual-column architecture that cut scrolling by more than half.
Design System Setup — Built a cohesive design library (colors, grids, icons, typography, illustrations).
Prototype & Validate — Created interactive prototypes and manually tested them on HTML/CSS environments for screen reader compatibility.
Personas
User Flows
UX Design Decisions
Two-Column Layout Architecture
The most transformative shift.
Left column: course hierarchy and navigation.
Right column: editable content with live preview.
Allowed mentors to visualize structure and edit without page reloads.
Modular Course Creation Flow
Introduced contextual “Add Block” options for lesson, MCQ, or free response.
Added inline reordering and collapsing for long courses.
Saved up to 40% of creation time.
Template Library for Reuse
Created a template repository to clone, customize, and publish repeat structures.
Included thumbnail previews, lesson counts, and metadata for clarity.
Reduced redundant authoring across teams.
Simplified Distribution Flow
Replaced multiple screens with a guided, progressive setup: Create Course → Schedule → Enroll.
Delivery options unified (Email, SMS, WhatsApp, Slack).
Added timezone and cadence controls with clear confirmation states.
Streamlined Enrollment Management
Unified manual and cohort enrollment with searchable tables.
Introduced “Add Learners” and “Export” buttons for faster operations.
Added error feedback for missing IDs or duplicates.
Cohorts Dashboard
Designed grouped views of learner cohorts (Finance, Design, Marketing teams).
Added “Analyze” shortcut per cohort to access real-time data.
Introduced tag indicators for active vs. paused learners.
Course Catalog and Detail Drawer
Redesigned course catalog into responsive cards.
Detail drawer previewed lesson count, skills, and scheduling before enrollment.
Improved discoverability through hover-based interactions.
Advanced Analytics Dashboard
Brought together course performance, learner engagement, and cohort data.
Added filter by delivery mode, completion, and accuracy rate.
Integrated visual progress bars for intuitive comprehension.
Admin and System Management
Consolidated all admin tools (Organization, Members, Security Log, Integration).
Reduced clutter through tabbed navigation.
Inline edit + delete actions for rapid updates.
Accessibility & Inclusive Design
Conducted manual screen reader testing on HTML/CSS prototypes.
Adjusted focus states, ARIA labels, and tab orders.
Ensured all primary workflows were navigable without a mouse.
Achieved compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA standards enabling use by users with partial or no eyesight.
Solution
The redesigned Y Combinator Arist mentor dashboard delivered:
Clear left-nav architecture and modular two-column layouts.
Streamlined creation, distribution, and analytics journeys.
A reusable Foundation Design System aligning future product modules.
Improved accessibility and responsiveness across web platforms.
The design system components buttons, inputs, table patterns, typography, and color palettes formed a shared design language adopted across all future Arist releases.
Results
40% reduction in time taken to create and publish courses.
60% reduction in page scrolling across core workflows.
100+ UI inconsistencies fixed during implementation.
Design System adopted by multiple internal teams.
Accessibility verified through manual testing for screen reader users.
Mentors reported improved navigation clarity and reduced cognitive load.
Learnings
This project reshaped how I view information architecture in enterprise tools. The switch from a long-form to a spatial, modular layout proved that usability isn’t about minimalism it’s about visibility and control.
Designing and implementing the Arist Foundation Design System taught me to think systemically not just in pixels, but in repeatable logic. The accessibility work reminded me that good design is incomplete until it’s inclusive.
Working on Y Combinator Arist wasn’t just a redesign it was a complete rethink of how mentors teach, publish, and measure learning impact.
