link to company text
Overview
Khoj is an open-source AI copilot that connects across platforms including Notion, WhatsApp, Notes, and PDFs to deliver personalized, context-aware answers. The product had strong technical foundations but a fragmented experience: unclear onboarding, inconsistent branding, and an information architecture that buried its best features. I came in to fix the first impression and build a visual identity that could hold the product together as it scaled.
Role: Lead UX Designer Tools: Figma, Miro, Notion Team: Founders, 2 developers Timeline: September – December 2023 (16 weeks)
The Problem
New users landed in a product that could do a lot: chat, search, generate, automate, connect apps, talk. But there was no clear way to understand any of it. The current homepage said "Merge AI with your brain" while the in-product experience dropped users into a blank chat with a slash-command list. The gap between promise and first use was too wide.
Redesigning Onboarding From the Ground Up
I explored two distinct onboarding frameworks before converging on a solution. The first was task-based, orienting users around what they want to do: organize, generate, find. The second was personalized, adapting the flow based on who the user is (professional, student, AI enthusiast) and what data they bring. Both frameworks went through multiple sketch iterations before the final direction was chosen: a clean, stepped onboarding that surfaces the product's core capabilities immediately and gives users a clear fork between connecting their apps or jumping straight into chat.
The resulting flow took users from a capability overview directly to a choice point, with suggested prompts lowering the barrier to that first meaningful interaction.
Branding and Visual Identity
The product needed a coherent visual language to support its positioning as a serious but approachable AI tool. I developed a brand system across two directions: a warm, energetic palette anchored in Khoj's lantern icon, and a cleaner nature-inspired alternative. The system covered typography (Platypi, TT Commons, Chiaroscura, Ping Fang HK), color tokens organized around four brand states (Clarify, Energize, Create, Reflect), button styles, and core UI components. It gave the founders a consistent visual foundation to build from.
Mobile Vision
As a forward-looking deliverable, I designed a responsive mobile onboarding experience translating the desktop flow into a native-feeling mobile journey that maintained the same clarity and capability orientation across screen sizes.
What Changed
A product that felt technically powerful but experientially opaque became one where users could immediately understand what Khoj does, why it's different, and how to get started. The onboarding redesign, identity system, and IA restructure gave the team a launchpad not just for this version, but for what comes next.
