Capsula AI: iPhone app for content creation
Role: Sole Product Designer
Duration: Early 2024 (3 weeks)
Team: 1 PM, 2 iOS Developers
Domain: iOS · B2C · Creator Tools · Mobile AI
Long story short
I designed a mobile app that turns raw videos into ready-to-publish clips with automatic captions. The goal was to make subtitling fast and effortless for creators. I streamlined the workflow, added AI-powered speech-to-text, and built a simple editor for styling and timing. As a result, users could produce accurate captions in minutes instead of doing it manually.
Context
Capsula AI is a mobile-first AI application that helps content creators generate and style video captions directly on their iPhone.
The project started from scratch - with only an idea - and was designed and shipped to the App Store within 3 weeks.
The core hypothesis was that for modern creators, the smartphone is the primary working tool, while most captioning solutions remain desktop-first or overly complex.
The goal was to deliver instant value while keeping creators in full control of quality and visual style.
Context
Capsula AI is a mobile-first AI application that helps content creators generate and style video captions directly on their iPhone.
The project started from scratch - with only an idea - and was designed and shipped to the App Store within 3 weeks.
The core hypothesis was that for modern creators, the smartphone is the primary working tool, while most captioning solutions remain desktop-first or overly complex.
The goal was to deliver instant value while keeping creators in full control of quality and visual style.
! Problem
Capsula AI aimed to introduce AI into complex business workflows, but existing solutions struggled to provide reliable, usable, and trustworthy outputs in real scenarios.
Creators need captions fast, but captioning is still one of the most repetitive parts of video publishing.
Capsula AI had to fit into a mobile-first creator workflow: upload a video, generate captions, review mistakes, adjust style, and publish - all from an iPhone.
One more challenge was to make AI feel useful without turning it into a black box. Creators needed instant results, but also clear control over text, timing, and visual style.
Design challenges
Very tight timeline
Full design cycle and App Store launch in 3 weeks.
Mobile + AI constraints
Complex flows, text, and timing on small screens
AI output had to be fast, accurate, and editable.
Solo designer
UX, UI, flows, caption editing logic, motion, onboarding, and App Store assets were fully owned by me.
Solutions
What was done and what benefits were achieved for each solution:
IOS focused
Designed around:
bottom navigation
one-hand usage
gesture-based interactions
Live caption preview
Captions are edited directly on top of the video, eliminating context switching and reducing friction.
Editable AI output
AI delivers instant results while allowing users to:
fix recognition errors
adjust text
change caption styles in real time
Minimal UI for complex tasks
A deliberately minimalist interface keeps focus on content while handling text-heavy editing on mobile.
Onboarding focused on fast value
To minimize first-time friction and ensure users experience value immediately, a lightweight onboarding flow was designed.
Research, Discovery & Validation
Capsula AI was rolled up in October 2024. For discovery & research, I used different technics:
Customer review & CustDevs
Ran user tests, quick corridor tests, and customer interviews.
Prototype / MVP test
Got feedback from users through support and product analytics.
Competitors analisys
Analyzed App Store apps to identify common patterns and gaps.
Impact & Results
4.6 rating in Apple App store.
Stable in-app purchases.
Clear early user interest and validation.
Reflections and Takeaways
Designed and shipped a mobile AI caption editor from idea to App Store in just 3 weeks as a sole product designer.
Coming from a B2B SaaS background, this project was a conscious shift into consumer mobile UX, where:
speed matters more than configurability
UI should disappear rather than explain itself
AI only creates value when it delivers instant results with user control
This experience significantly strengthened my mobile-first and AI-driven product thinking.
