Let’s collaborate — open to all kinds of opportunities.
Let’s collaborate — open to all kinds of opportunities.
Let’s collaborate — open to all kinds of opportunities.
My Role
Product Designer
Platform
Android, iOS
PW Books: Reimagining Learning from Textbooks
At PhysicsWallah's AI/ML pod, we set out to rebuild how students interact with textbooks. I led the 0-to-1 design for PW Books, an AI-powered reading experience crafted to make NCERT textbooks intuitive, personalized, and helpful at every step.
At PhysicsWallah's AI/ML pod, we set out to rebuild how students interact with textbooks. I led the 0-to-1 design for PW Books, an AI-powered reading experience crafted to make NCERT textbooks intuitive, personalized, and helpful at every step.
At PhysicsWallah's AI/ML pod, we set out to rebuild how students interact with textbooks. I led the 0-to-1 design for PW Books, an AI-powered reading experience crafted to make NCERT textbooks intuitive, personalized, and helpful at every step.
The Impact
120K+ downloads, growing at ~10K/week
4.8 rating on the Play Store with glowing user feedback
Feedback highlights: "super easy to use," "changed how I study"
Metrics such as daily retention, DAUs (Daily Active Users), etc., are kept confidential.
Internally, the product's potential led to the creation of a dedicated PW Books sub-pod—one of only a handful within the org
120K+ downloads, growing at ~10K/week
4.8 rating on the Play Store with glowing user feedback
Feedback highlights: "super easy to use," "changed how I study"
Metrics such as daily retention, DAUs (Daily Active Users), etc., are kept confidential.
Internally, the product's potential led to the creation of a dedicated PW Books sub-pod—one of only a handful within the org
120K+ downloads, growing at ~10K/week
4.8 rating on the Play Store with glowing user feedback
Feedback highlights: "super easy to use," "changed how I study"
Metrics such as daily retention, DAUs (Daily Active Users), etc., are kept confidential.
Internally, the product's potential led to the creation of a dedicated PW Books sub-pod—one of only a handful within the org
Problem Statement
The textbook experience was stuck in the past:
Most NCERTs available digitally were PDFs with poor UX
Students struggled with comprehension—NCERT language is dry, dense, and assumes a lot
No way to know which sections were high-yield for exams (PYQs)
Studying, practicing, marking notes—all scattered across tools
Many students still preferred physical books, but needed on-demand help
From the business POV:
No player in the market was offering personalized textbook help at this depth—PW had a shot at first-mover dominance
We had roughly 40 days to design the entire app and create a mini design language for it while aligning with PW’s brand
The textbook experience was stuck in the past:
Most NCERTs available digitally were PDFs with poor UX
Students struggled with comprehension—NCERT language is dry, dense, and assumes a lot
No way to know which sections were high-yield for exams (PYQs)
Studying, practicing, marking notes—all scattered across tools
Many students still preferred physical books, but needed on-demand help
From the business POV:
No player in the market was offering personalized textbook help at this depth—PW had a shot at first-mover dominance
We had roughly 40 days to design the entire app and create a mini design language for it while aligning with PW’s brand
The textbook experience was stuck in the past:
Most NCERTs available digitally were PDFs with poor UX
Students struggled with comprehension—NCERT language is dry, dense, and assumes a lot
No way to know which sections were high-yield for exams (PYQs)
Studying, practicing, marking notes—all scattered across tools
Many students still preferred physical books, but needed on-demand help
From the business POV:
No player in the market was offering personalized textbook help at this depth—PW had a shot at first-mover dominance
We had roughly 40 days to design the entire app and create a mini design language for it while aligning with PW’s brand
Our Solution
We focused on two pillars: AI-powered help that's always accessible, and a modern reading experience that doesn’t feel like a digital PDF.
Key Design Moves:
AI Explanation: Students could long-hold on any word, sentence, or paragraph to get an AI-powered explanation (via AI Guru). We made this core interaction intuitive and added a walkthrough to ensure adoption.
Clean reading layout: Built using HTML from official NCERTs—preserved trust while making it mobile-optimized
Simplified structure: Books >Select whether to Read/Practice/View Solutions > Chapters > Topics > Actions (AI Explanations/Videos/PYQs)—no fluff
Notes, highlights, voice memos: Gave students power to personalize
Scan from a physical book: An Optional feature to scan any paragraph from a Physical book and get help instantly.
On the UX & Design Front:
Worked closely with PMs in rapid brainstorming loops
Started with low-fi wireframes due to a tight timeline and got stakeholders aligned early on
Iterated heavily on AI Explanation UX (esp. paragraph-level, as it was mainly what students looked for)
Reused PW's design system with visual tweaks to create a semi-standalone identity (optimising for speed)
Things I tried but got iced:
Swipe gesture to view explanation of paragraphs—tested, prototyped, but dropped due to dev constraints
We focused on two pillars: AI-powered help that's always accessible, and a modern reading experience that doesn’t feel like a digital PDF.
Key Design Moves:
AI Explanation: Students could long-hold on any word, sentence, or paragraph to get an AI-powered explanation (via AI Guru). We made this core interaction intuitive and added a walkthrough to ensure adoption.
Clean reading layout: Built using HTML from official NCERTs—preserved trust while making it mobile-optimized
Simplified structure: Books >Select whether to Read/Practice/View Solutions > Chapters > Topics > Actions (AI Explanations/Videos/PYQs)—no fluff
Notes, highlights, voice memos: Gave students power to personalize
Scan from a physical book: An Optional feature to scan any paragraph from a Physical book and get help instantly.
On the UX & Design Front:
Worked closely with PMs in rapid brainstorming loops
Started with low-fi wireframes due to a tight timeline and got stakeholders aligned early on
Iterated heavily on AI Explanation UX (esp. paragraph-level, as it was mainly what students looked for)
Reused PW's design system with visual tweaks to create a semi-standalone identity (optimising for speed)
Things I tried but got iced:
Swipe gesture to view explanation of paragraphs—tested, prototyped, but dropped due to dev constraints
We focused on two pillars: AI-powered help that's always accessible, and a modern reading experience that doesn’t feel like a digital PDF.
Key Design Moves:
AI Explanation: Students could long-hold on any word, sentence, or paragraph to get an AI-powered explanation (via AI Guru). We made this core interaction intuitive and added a walkthrough to ensure adoption.
Clean reading layout: Built using HTML from official NCERTs—preserved trust while making it mobile-optimized
Simplified structure: Books >Select whether to Read/Practice/View Solutions > Chapters > Topics > Actions (AI Explanations/Videos/PYQs)—no fluff
Notes, highlights, voice memos: Gave students power to personalize
Scan from a physical book: An Optional feature to scan any paragraph from a Physical book and get help instantly.
On the UX & Design Front:
Worked closely with PMs in rapid brainstorming loops
Started with low-fi wireframes due to a tight timeline and got stakeholders aligned early on
Iterated heavily on AI Explanation UX (esp. paragraph-level, as it was mainly what students looked for)
Reused PW's design system with visual tweaks to create a semi-standalone identity (optimising for speed)
Things I tried but got iced:
Swipe gesture to view explanation of paragraphs—tested, prototyped, but dropped due to dev constraints
Getting started on PW Books
Frictionless onboarding with a quick walkthrough of AI features. No guesswork, just start learning.
Getting started on PW Books
Frictionless onboarding with a quick walkthrough of AI features. No guesswork, just start learning.
Getting started on PW Books
Frictionless onboarding with a quick walkthrough of AI features. No guesswork, just start learning.
Effortless navigation, down to the paragraph
Straightforward IA that matches how students think.
Effortless navigation, down to the paragraph
Straightforward IA that matches how students think.
Effortless navigation, down to the paragraph
Straightforward IA that matches how students think.
AI Explanation trigger
Long-hold text to summon AI Guru’s contextual help. Clean UI, deep support.
AI Explanation trigger
Long-hold text to summon AI Guru’s contextual help. Clean UI, deep support.
AI Explanation trigger
Long-hold text to summon AI Guru’s contextual help. Clean UI, deep support.
Ask Follow ups (in context with the chapter)
Students can ask anything about the chapter they’re reading—in real time.
Ask Follow ups (in context with the chapter)
Students can ask anything about the chapter they’re reading—in real time.
Ask Follow ups (in context with the chapter)
Students can ask anything about the chapter they’re reading—in real time.
Personalized your Textbook
Mark what's important, add voice notes, and make the books your own.
Personalized your Textbook
Mark what's important, add voice notes, and make the books your own.
Personalized your Textbook
Mark what's important, add voice notes, and make the books your own.
Everything at your disposal
Need Video Explanation of a section or want to see PYQs from it? Got you covered!
Everything at your disposal
Need Video Explanation of a section or want to see PYQs from it? Got you covered!
Everything at your disposal
Need Video Explanation of a section or want to see PYQs from it? Got you covered!
Practice from the Books
No solving in rough copies anymore, solve questions of Book directly in the app and get proper summary.
Practice from the Books
No solving in rough copies anymore, solve questions of Book directly in the app and get proper summary.
Practice from the Books
No solving in rough copies anymore, solve questions of Book directly in the app and get proper summary.
An idea ahead of its time
A gesture interaction I designed but shelved due to feasibility. Still proud of this one.
An idea ahead of its time
A gesture interaction I designed but shelved due to feasibility. Still proud of this one.
An idea ahead of its time
A gesture interaction I designed but shelved due to feasibility. Still proud of this one.
Post-Launch Phase
User response was great, but not perfect. Students loved the simplicity, but some features went unnoticed. Drop-off happened in subtle parts of the flow.
Key improvements in the next version:
Shortened onboarding animation, auto-moved to login
Introduced subtle product marketing touchpoints (e.g., microcopy, UI highlights)
Moved book selection into the signup journey to boost feature discovery
Fixed IA flaw: previously, users had to pick read/practice/solutions first, then the chapter—we flipped it. Now it's chapter-first, then action.
Cannot show designs publicly until it's live
User response was great, but not perfect. Students loved the simplicity, but some features went unnoticed. Drop-off happened in subtle parts of the flow.
Key improvements in the next version:
Shortened onboarding animation, auto-moved to login
Introduced subtle product marketing touchpoints (e.g., microcopy, UI highlights)
Moved book selection into the signup journey to boost feature discovery
Fixed IA flaw: previously, users had to pick read/practice/solutions first, then the chapter—we flipped it. Now it's chapter-first, then action.
Cannot show designs publicly until it's live
User response was great, but not perfect. Students loved the simplicity, but some features went unnoticed. Drop-off happened in subtle parts of the flow.
Key improvements in the next version:
Shortened onboarding animation, auto-moved to login
Introduced subtle product marketing touchpoints (e.g., microcopy, UI highlights)
Moved book selection into the signup journey to boost feature discovery
Fixed IA flaw: previously, users had to pick read/practice/solutions first, then the chapter—we flipped it. Now it's chapter-first, then action.
Cannot show designs publicly until it's live
Reflection & Learnings
Working on a 0-to-1 app at this scale taught me more than any course ever could. The biggest lesson? Always discuss with tech early. Some of our best ideas, like gesture-based explanations, died later due to constraints.
Also, design is never done. Iterating with real user data post-launch was just as valuable as the first sprint. This project wasn’t just about pixels; it was about rethinking how millions learn.
Thanks for reading :) You can check the live product by clicking the button below
Working on a 0-to-1 app at this scale taught me more than any course ever could. The biggest lesson? Always discuss with tech early. Some of our best ideas, like gesture-based explanations, died later due to constraints.
Also, design is never done. Iterating with real user data post-launch was just as valuable as the first sprint. This project wasn’t just about pixels; it was about rethinking how millions learn.
Thanks for reading :) You can check the live product by clicking the button below
Working on a 0-to-1 app at this scale taught me more than any course ever could. The biggest lesson? Always discuss with tech early. Some of our best ideas, like gesture-based explanations, died later due to constraints.
Also, design is never done. Iterating with real user data post-launch was just as valuable as the first sprint. This project wasn’t just about pixels; it was about rethinking how millions learn.
Thanks for reading :) You can check the live product by clicking the button below