Shortcut

Online

Description of the Project in Relation to the Challenge Prompt

Shortcut is a learning app for beginner and intermediate design tool users that helps them master keyboard shortcuts through real-time AR guidance and AI-driven conversational support. The project addresses the confusion, overwhelm, and uncertainty many users face when trying to learn and apply shortcuts in creative software. As design tools evolve rapidly, shortcuts remain one of the most powerful ways to work efficiently, but they often feel inaccessible or intimidating.

To help users navigate this uncertainty, I focused on reducing cognitive overload by making shortcut learning intuitive, contextual, and visually guided. The final solution reimagines how people learn invisible systems like keyboard shortcuts through interactive, real-time support that adapts to each user's goals and experience level.

User Insights to Solution

My solution combines AI and AR to teach shortcuts in a contextual, hands-on way. Each feature was designed to address a specific user pain point uncovered through research and testing.

• Insight 1: Users felt overwhelmed by how quickly tools and features evolve. To help users stay confident over time, I made the system tool-agnostic and scalable. Shortcut is not tied to any single platform, allowing users to stay fluent across evolving tools through one consistent learning experience.

• Insight 2: Users struggled to remember shortcuts after learning them once. To support long-term memory, I designed a flashcard-style practice system that uses spaced repetition. The interface is intentionally simple to make practice sessions feel lightweight and easy to integrate into daily routines.

• Insight 3: Users found traditional shortcut information too text-heavy and difficult to visualize. I used AR overlays that show shortcuts directly on the keyboard in real time. This helps users visually connect physical key presses to their functions, making the learning process more intuitive and spatially grounded.

• Insight 4: When searching for shortcuts, users were overwhelmed by the volume of information and had trouble finding what they needed. I designed an AI assistant that provides contextual shortcut suggestions based on the user’s current task and design tool. This reduces cognitive load and ensures that users learn shortcuts that are immediately relevant to what they are doing.

• Insight 5: Many users did not know where to begin or which shortcuts were relevant to them. I created a personalized onboarding flow with goal-setting to tailor the learning experience to each user’s skill level, tool, and intention. This structured entry point sets users up for early success and builds the foundation for deeper engagement.

Design Process

When I saw the challenge prompt, an idea came to me almost instantly. My roommate often asks if I know any Excel shortcuts while she is working, and I never have an answer. As a design student, I am more familiar with tools like Figma and Photoshop, but that moment made me realize how common it is to feel lost when trying to learn shortcuts in any tool.

That small frustration sparked a bigger question for me. Why do shortcuts feel so powerful yet so inaccessible? To better understand this problem, I started with user research. I talked to classmates, non-design friends, and early-career professionals who use creative software on a regular basis. I conducted seven one-on-one interviews and a short survey with thirty participants. I also sat next to friends while they worked in Figma and noticed that they often hovered their mouse over icons instead of using shortcuts. Some paused to search how to do something, while others repeated the same manual steps without realizing a shortcut existed. These moments helped me see how much friction comes from not knowing where to start.

From this research, I identified five key pain points. These insights helped me define the core challenges, which guided my ideation process. I sketched out multiple directions and prioritized three main features: AR overlays to make shortcuts easier to visualize, an AI assistant to provide contextual guidance, and a flashcard-style system to help users practice and remember what they learned.

I prototyped each feature using low-fidelity wireframes and interactive mockups and tested them with real users. Iteration shaped each part of the design. In an early version of the AR overlay, I asked users to try the shortcut immediately after seeing it by pressing the keys while sharing their screen. The app provided feedback based on whether they used the shortcut correctly. But during testing, I noticed that users did not take action right away. They spent more time scanning the keyboard and studying the visual overlay. They were not looking for feedback or further instruction. They simply wanted to understand where each shortcut was. Based on that, I removed the action prompt and simplified the screen to focus on visual clarity and space to explore.

From the beginning, I focused on creating an experience that felt approachable and grounded in how people actually learn. Every design decision came back to the same goal: making shortcuts feel less intimidating and more human.

Impact I Hope to See

Keyboard shortcuts might seem like a small detail, but they shape how people interact with creative tools every day. For beginners, not knowing them often leads to slower workflows and moments of hesitation that build up over time. For intermediate users, learning just a few more can unlock a smoother, more confident creative process. With this project, I wanted to lower that barrier by making shortcuts more approachable, more memorable, and more useful in the moment they are needed. Whether someone is just starting out or building on existing skills, my hope is that Shortcut helps them feel more confident in their tools and more connected to their work.

Credits

Some iconography used in this project was sourced from the Figma Community and adapted for this prototype.

Please use the link below to try the prototype and view the slideshow

Built With

• figma