Empowering Scholars: Transforming academic research with AI-driven discovery and collaboration
founder
François Birori (learn more)
Sector
Education Technology
Duration
5 weeks (Dec 2024 - Jan 2025)
Services Provided
Product Discovery, MVP UI/UX Design
Platform
Desktop-First Responsive Web
About ScholarIQ
ScholarIQ is a unified platform aiming to empower scholars with smarter research, seamless collaboration, and meaningful discussions.
Early Traction & Milestones
ScholarIQ’s MVP is in pre-launch, with foundational research and phase 1 of product design completed. The focus was on speed, clarity, and building a strong design base for rapid development and iteration.
End-to-end onboarding and 3 core features fully designed and dev-ready
In-product feedback system integrated to support early user testing
Scalable UI kit delivered to streamline handoff and future iterations
My Role
François led product and engineering and brought me on to handle UI/UX for the MVP, while a separate designer worked on the brand identity. I focused on product discovery, user flows, and high-fidelity design—translating the new brand into a clean, developer-ready interface within a 5-week sprint.
The Opportunity
Academic research is vast and fragmented. Scholars face challenges in sifting through literature, staying updated on breakthroughs, and collaborating with peers. There's a market gap for a platform that streamlines workflows, empowering researchers to be efficient. ScholarIQ aims to bridge this gap with intelligent tools for modern scholars.
The Goal
Design a user-friendly web interface for ScholarIQ's AI features. Assess the need for smart literature discovery tools among researchers. Show how AI boosts research efficiency and collaboration. Collect user feedback to guide future development. Launch a functional MVP for initial testing and feedback before scaling up.
ScholarIQ has been built based on the real-world needs of early users. The MVP incorporates direct feedback mechanisms, including in-app surveys and dedicated feedback channels. This continuous loop of user insights will be crucial in identifying areas for improvement, validating design decisions, and iteratively shaping ScholarIQ into the most valuable tool for scholarly work.
Our primary focus for the MVP is to gather direct user feedback to validate our core assumptions and guide future development. We will actively utilize in-app surveys and conduct early user interviews to understand how researchers are using the platform, identify areas for improvement, and ensure we are building truly valuable tools.
AI is the core intelligence driving ScholarIQ, ensuring a personalized and efficient experience from the start. Intelligent onboarding subtly guides new users, while continuous learning enables proactive recommendations for relevant research and potential collaborators. Beyond powering the core features like intelligent search and in-depth document analysis, AI works behind the scenes to tailor the platform to individual research needs.
Process Overview
Each startup I work with has a unique pace and set of needs. Here’s how the process unfolded with ScholarIQ:
📍week 1
Laying the Groundwork
Collaborated with François to define key persona types. Listened in on early user interviews to gather insights, and conducted market research and a competitor analysis.
📍week 2
Structuring the Product
Created the app’s sitemap and prioritized MVP features. Provided strategic feedback to the freelance brand designer to help finalize the brand direction.
📍week 3
Branding Meets Product
Adapted the finalized branding into a scalable design system. Explored multiple visual directions (dark mode vs. light mode, search UX, etc.) before aligning on a direction.
📍week 4 – 5
Designing the MVP
Moved directly into high-fidelity mockups to meet the tight deadline. Focused on delivering polished, dev-ready flows for the core product experience.
User Personas
Profile
Early-career PhD student in Sociology.
Current Situation
Starting their dissertation research, feeling overwhelmed by the amount of literature.
Primary Goal
Quickly grasp foundational concepts and identify key scholars in their area.
Key Challenge
Filtering through irrelevant information and understanding complex academic jargon.
Motivation
Build a strong theoretical framework for their research and gain confidence in their understanding.
Success Metrics
Ability to summarize key papers and identify influential authors within a week of using the platform.
"There's so much to read! I just need to understand the basics before I can even start my own work."
Before aligning on the final light mode UI, I explored multiple visual styles—including dark mode variations—to help François evaluate what best supported ScholarIQ’s tone, users, and use case.
Final Designs Showcase
The final UI brings together research, branding, and function—optimized for early adoption and feedback.
About the Founder
Name: François Birori
Background: Solo founder of ScholarIQ; ex-Amazon and Microsoft software engineer
Why He Built ScholarIQ: While pursuing his master’s, François saw how inefficient academic research workflows were for him and his peers. He set out to build an AI-powered tool that could simplify and streamline the research process.
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Led all product strategy and full-stack development.
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Took on the role of solo founder, product owner, and engineer.
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Outsourced branding (logo, color palette, iconography) to a freelance designer to run in parallel with UX.
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End-to-end UI/UX design for the MVP.
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Help with early product discovery, including user interviews and surveys.
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Build a scalable design system once branding was finalized.
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Deliver a functional, developer-ready MVP within a one-month timeline.
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Weekly video check-ins to review progress and define next steps.
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Async feedback and alignment over WhatsApp.
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Highly focused and structured process to make the most of the short timeline.
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