Phia x Design Meetup: Designathon Finalist

Phia and Design Meetup ran a two-round designathon around making shopping smarter and more personal. I designed The Rundown for the semifinals and Style Edit for the finals.

Role

Product Designer

Event

Phia x Design Meetup

Timeline

Apr 2026

Tools

Figma, Loom, Claude

01 Overview

How might Phia make shopping smarter, more personal, and less frustrating?

Phia is an AI-powered personal shopping assistant and application that helps fashion shoppers find the best prices across thousands of new and secondhand retailers. Across two rounds, I designed two features: 1) The Rundown, and 2) Style Edit. I made it to the finals as one of 15 designers from over 500 applicants.

01 The Rundown

WHAT: An AI-powered insights panel inside each product page.

IMPACT: Shortens decision time and reduces returns by surfacing price, sentiment, and real-shopper photos in one place.

02 Style Edit

WHAT: A gamified swipe game that teaches Phia your style in under a minute.

IMPACT: Gives Phia the personalization signal it normally takes weeks of sessions to build, sharpening recommendations from day one.

02 Semifinals

Redesign a frustrating shopping moment into a smarter, faster, more enjoyable experience.

Helping shoppers make confident decisions right at the product page.

The Rundown

An AI-powered insights panel that lives directly inside each product page. It includes three main features:

1. Price check: surfaces the lowest prices across new and secondhand options and lets shoppers track prices as they change.

2. AI review summary: pulls sentiment, common pros and cons, and the real questions shoppers care about out of hundreds of reviews.

3. Real photos: a gallery of photos from real shoppers, organized by size, so people can see how the product actually looks.

For shoppers

Confident decisions right at the product page, without scrolling endless reviews, hopping between tabs to compare prices, or guessing how something will look in their size.

For Phia

Higher conversion where uncertainty is highest, fewer returns from misjudged fit, and a stronger reason to come back.

03 Finals

Design an end-to-end feature that addresses a high-friction shopping moment, with two to three use cases.

Personalization is where I saw the most room for growth. Phia's algorithm takes a while to learn what shoppers like, so I wanted to close that gap in a fun way.

Style Edit

A gamified swipe-card feature for building your style profile. It surfaces in three moments inside the app:

1. Onboarding: the first personalization moment new users hit, so Phia starts learning their style right away.

2. Explore page: a weekly drop-in that keeps Phia's read on each user fresh as their taste evolves.

3. Recalibration: when a user clicks "see less" three or more times on items in Suggested for You, Style Edit surfaces to reset Phia's understanding of their style.

For shoppers

A fun, low-effort way to personalize their profile and discover new styles. It's a quick break from browsing that makes the shopping experience feel more personal.

For Phia

Sharper recommendations from day one. Phia's algorithm learns each user's taste right away, so their feeds feel personalized from the first session.

04 Reflections

Designing under time pressure clarified what to keep and what to cut.

Learnings

My first time designing under real time pressure taught me to think and commit fast. The feedback session with Phia's founders let me build, get honest feedback, and iterate before the pitch.

Challenges

The hardest part was scoping under time pressure, especially in the 24-hour finals sprint. Committing to an idea took longer than I'd like, so next time I'd lock it in earlier and start sooner.

What worked

My business background helped me think end-to-end and stay grounded. AI was allowed, so I leaned on Claude to iterate faster and focus on design decisions.

Takeaway

We all had the same prompts, but every execution was completely different. Seeing my peers' different takes was the most inspiring part, a reminder of how much individuality shapes design.