Build IRL Cohort 19
Taking the work out of building in-real-life communities
BuildIRL is a platform designed to support and connect people who are working on ambitious real-world projects. It serves as a hub where builders—whether they’re engineers, artists, scientists, or DIY enthusiasts—can gather a group, do things together, find collaborators, and access the resources they need to bring their ideas to life. We aimed to make BuildIRL a more welcoming and transparent space, ensuring that both builders and joiners have the best possible experience as they collaborate to bring ambitious real-world projects to life.
Get to talk to the builders (future users) while we are building the App.
80% of our research participants reported a similar pain point.
We have cat that tries to join our meetings since day 1.
Why we're excited
Working on BuildIRL was an exciting and dynamic experience, not just because it’s a brand-new startup, but because we got to grow with it—helping shape its vision from the ground up. The mission was compelling: empowering people to bring their ambitious real-world projects to life by connecting them with the right resources, community, and support.One of the most exciting parts of the process was getting to interview club builders—passionate, hands-on creators from a wide range of disciplines. From engineers to artists to inventors, they each had a unique perspective, making research not just insightful but genuinely fun.The challenge? Our client wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, and the requirements were ambiguous. But instead of being a roadblock, this gave us the freedom to explore and be creative, shaping the product strategy in a way that truly resonated with users. Navigating that uncertainty and turning it into something tangible made the work even more rewarding.
The how
01
02
03
THE BEGINNING | Our first 3 weeks
We did a ton of auditing, comparative and competitive analysis, and some very intentional user interviews with club builders. This helped us identify some possible key features and flows early on, as well as establishing personas to help us identify who we are building for and why.
.png)
ideate, constrain, & test
This shows some of our preliminary design work, where we explored core flows through mid-fidelity wire flows and experimental visual design. We even made some mockups to help us visualize the final product and get excited!
.png)
innovate, spec, & ship
In the final stretch, we polished our high-fidelity designs, leveraging our team’s strong background in visual design. We especially focused on highlighting lively, creative, and authentic designs to align with Build IRL’s brand. These final three weeks were filled with constant iterations and refinements, bringing us one step closer to our final product.
The what - impact & shipped
When we started our design journey, we were handed over some MVP designs that were missing parts of core flows and lacked visual consistency. We audited the product we were handed along with our competitive analysis to understand their current designs.
What is the future of AI native interface and how do we bridge the gap?
• Designing workspaces that morph based on context vs static documents
• Canvas adapts in real-time to your workflow - not just another doc editor
• Content self-organizes based on relationships vs manual folder structures
• Information flows between blocks naturally, like liquid vs rigid containers
• Elements reshape and connect based on AI understanding of your work
• Built for flow state - content appears where needed, then vanishes
• Designing workspaces that morph based on context vs static documents
• Canvas adapts in real-time to your workflow - not just another doc editor
• Content self-organizes based on relationships vs manual folder structures
• Information flows between blocks naturally, like liquid vs rigid containers
• Elements reshape and connect based on AI understanding of your work
• Built for flow state - content appears where needed, then vanishes
We focused on creating refined, consistent core flows based heavily on our qualitative user research and UX best practices. We wanted to ensure a smooth experience for both club builders and club joiners and designed with a playful aesthetic that touches on nostalgia and fosters joy while also following Jakob’s Law by not deviating too far from modern design styles. Ultimately, this product this product is about IRL experiences, so we wanted to ensure an easy, familiar experience digitally to support the experiences of our users out in the real world.
A novel feature we designed allows potential joiners to talk and connect with current members before officially joining a club. This helps them get a real sense of the community, ask questions, and feel confident about their decision.
Another important feature we developed addresses a common pain point—helping joiners to understand why builders charge a fee. Many clubs require funding for materials, space, etc. but this isn’t always clear to new joiners. We created an intuitive way to make it easier for joiners to see the value behind the fees and feel more comfortable / willing to support.
Some of our team memories
Team pic!! This picture shows our Coach Jen (top left), Stella, Julia, Brandon, and Rachel
Rachel interviewing a community leader/club builder as a part of our formal user research process. This is a tool called fathom which helps summarize and organize interview notes.
.png)
Hanging (IN REAL LIFE!) with BuildIRL builders from their current cohort of their accelerator program. Rachel went to this workshop session to connect with builders IRL, test some hypotheses, get new ideas, and do a lot of listening (and laughing :D)