College Application Essay Assistant
Creating the first guided platform for students to tackle their college application essays through structured workflows.
TL;DR
College Application Essay Assistant is an initiative to create the first guided platform for students to tackle their college application essays. By breaking down the writing journey into Background, Brainstorm, Outline, and Writing, I helped students reduce anxiety, improve confidence, and complete drafts faster.
Problem
Students struggled to start and structure essays, facing blank-page anxiety, unorganized drafts, and wasted hours.
Solution
A guided, AI-assisted workflow with prompts, templates, and examples to move students from background info to final draft.
Impact
• 150+ students tested
• 40% faster time-to-first-draft (5h → 3h)
• 75% reported higher confidence
• 90% positive feedback
Context
Before this project, students had no structured way to approach college application essays. Tools like Google Docs and Grammarly focused only on grammar and editing, while AI chatbots offered generic content with no connection to students' personal stories or progression across drafts.
Through user interviews and testing, I uncovered that the biggest blocker wasn't writing skill, but emotional resistance—particularly in the form of blank-page anxiety and story uncertainty. Students often delayed starting essays until deadlines loomed, feeling unsure about how to begin or whether their ideas were "good enough." Even when they tried to write, the lack of structure led to disorganized drafts and wasted time.
The AI Trust Problem
Additionally, early attempts to incorporate AI-generated content revealed another issue: students didn't trust or relate to the output. Generic language and prewritten paragraphs felt detached from their experiences, which made them hesitant to use the tool and undermined the goal of helping students find their authentic voice.
These insights pushed me to design a system that didn't just generate text, but scaffolded confidence. The goal was to break the essay journey into progressive, manageable steps—Background, Brainstorm, Outline, and Writing—each paired with AI-powered prompts, examples, and partial suggestions that preserved student ownership.
Our Guiding Question
How might we reduce emotional resistance to writing while preserving individuality and creativity in a high-stakes setting like college applications?
With this in mind, we began designing a guided essay-writing experience that combined workflow clarity with just enough AI support to unlock momentum without sacrificing voice.
Goal
Establish First Guided Platform
Establish the first guided essay-writing platform for college applications—integrating Background, Brainstorm, Outline, and Writing into one workflow.
Increase Confidence & Efficiency
Increase student confidence and efficiency by reducing blank-page anxiety and accelerating time-to-first-draft.
Empower Educators
Empower educators and consultants with a scalable, AI-assisted tool that supports more students while reducing equity gaps.
Protect Student Voice
Protect student voice and trust with prompts that preserve individuality, transparent AI support, and clear opt-in guidance.
Approach
Discovery & Research
Conducted interviews with students to uncover their biggest pain points: blank-page anxiety, difficulty structuring ideas, and lack of feedback.
Reviewed competitor tools and found they focused on editing or raw generation, not storytelling or structure.
Competitor analysis grid
Definition & Information Architecture
Mapped the end-to-end essay journey: Background → Brainstorm → Outline → Writing.
Defined the product's value: a guided, step-by-step workflow that reduces anxiety while preserving authenticity.
Created the chatbot-driven IA to ensure continuity across stages.
Information architecture diagram (four-stage flow)
Design & Prototyping
Built interactive Figma prototypes with dedicated modules:
- • Background (inputs)
- • Brainstorm (guided prompts)
- • Outline (scaffolds + examples)
- • Writing (editor with reference panel)
Prioritized simplicity and clarity to reduce cognitive load.
Low-fi wireframes for each module
Brainstorm Start
AI Chat Interface
Outline Generation
Essay Writing
High-fi mockups showing the guided flow
Deep Dive: Tackling Blank-Page Anxiety through Structured Design
One of the most critical user problems I addressed was the anxiety students faced at the very beginning of their writing journey.
Design Strategy
To combat this, I applied principles from workflow thinking and cognitive load theory, breaking down the experience into smaller, actionable steps:
Background module
to gather life experiences
Brainstorm prompts
that scaffolded idea generation
Structured outline templates
to help organize thoughts
AI as Coach, Not Writer
Rather than having AI write for the student, I designed it to act like a coach—offering sentence starters, templates, and examples that empowered students to shape their own stories.
Impact Results
reduction in time-to-first-draft
(from 5 hours to 3)
boost in confidence
This validates that structured guidance beats open-ended AI generation when it comes to deeply personal writing tasks.
Validation & Iteration
Usability Testing: Ran studies with 15+ students to measure time-to-first-draft and confidence in writing.
AI Draft Flow: Iterated on the AI-generated essay draft to make the output more relevant and easier to build upon.
Outline Templates: Refined narrative arcs and structural prompts to balance guidance with creative freedom.
Editing Interface: Simplified toolbar and layout so students could focus on clarity and flow instead of formatting.
Feedback Integration: Incorporated peer and mentor feedback to refine hierarchy, improve readability, and reduce friction.
💡 Impact: Students drafted essays 30% faster and reported higher confidence in revising their own voice.
AI-Generated Essay Draft
Essay Editing Interface
Key iterations showing the essay generation and editing process
Design System
The design system for Aispire was built with accessibility and clarity in mind. Here are the key style guidelines and components that shaped the user experience.
Color Use
Background
#FAFCFF
Upload/Letter
#DCE6FF
Naming
#6B7B9F
Blue Highlight
#417BFF
Typography
Headings
Font: Inter, Weight: 700, Line-height: 1.2
Body Text
Font: Inter, Weight: 400, Line-height: 1.6
UI Elements
Font: Inter, Weight: 500, Line-height: 1.4
Elements
Background
Brainstorm
Outline
Writing
Accessibility Guidelines
- • Minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for all text
- • Focus indicators for keyboard navigation
- • Semantic HTML structure for screen readers
- • Touch targets minimum 44px for mobile
- • Color not used as the only visual indicator
Impact
Students Tested
Comprehensive testing with diverse students across different backgrounds and writing levels.
Faster Drafting
Reduced time-to-first-draft from 5 hours to 3 hours, helping overcome blank-page anxiety.
Higher Confidence
Three-quarters of students reported significantly higher confidence in their writing abilities.
Positive Feedback
Overwhelmingly positive user feedback with students appreciating the guided approach.
What Students Said
"This felt like having a coach on my screen. I actually finished my first draft in one sitting — something I'd been putting off for weeks."
"I can't afford a private consultant, but this gave me the structure and confidence I needed to make my essay stand out."
Reflect
What I Learned
Clear workflows reduce cognitive load more effectively than adding "AI magic." Sometimes the best solution is structured guidance rather than complex automation.
What I'd Improve
More personalization in prompts based on user background, and improved onboarding for first-time users to better understand the four-phase process.
Lasting Influence
This project reinforced my belief in combining structure with inspiration when designing AI-powered writing tools. The key is scaffolding creativity, not replacing it.