Buildable
Reimagining how DIYers plan and complete creative projects through the power of AI
Role
Product Designer
Team
1 Designer
Overview
Note
This concept was developed during Maheen Sohail's Become a Product Designer course, where I explored how emerging technologies can better support makers. This project is consistently explored and refined.
DIY inspires millions, but common pain points stall creativity.
Decision paralysis
“I never know what’s realistic for my space or tools.”
Lack of scaffolding
Projects often skip critical steps.
Fragmented experience
Ideas live in one place, instructions in another.
Research
Understanding the audience
First I needed to understand who I was targeting. DIY is broad but most people have done some level of DIY in their life. I broke the audience up into three groups.
The Dabblers
People who occasionally take on small DIY projects (home décor, crafts, holiday projects, TikTok-inspired builds).
Lose interest quickly when instructions are unclear or materials are too niche.
Hobbyists
People with consistent DIY hobbies (woodworking, sewing, electronics, gardening).
Endless searching across forums, YouTube, and Reddit to find reliable, project-specific guidance.
The Builders-in-Residence
Highly engaged makers, often with workshop setups or niche specialties
Managing complex projects with lots of moving parts (sourcing, planning, iterations).
Methods
Insights
This led me to ask How might we make DIY easier to manage to help people finish their projects?
Design approach
I applied the Smart Recombine method to develop the platform.
This method involves breaking down workflows and recombining ideas from different contexts. For Buildable, I merged: The exploratory vibe of moodboarding with The structured nature of visual scripting
Solution
The final solution for Buildable goes beyond a traditional chatbot experience. Instead, it acts as a co-builder that understands what a user is trying to create and generates a tailored workspace for their project.
Chatbot experience
Buildable uses a chat-based interface powered by AI reasoning. It interprets user intent, guiding projects dynamically rather than delivering one-off answers.
Project overview
Once an idea is formed, Buildable auto-generates a comprehensive overview. This helps users assess feasibility and prep everything upfront.
Image detection
Buildable recognizes materials, tools, or references from uploaded images. This enables smarter suggestions and reduces the friction of manually inputting every detail.
Sketch to image generation
If AI-generated suggestions aren’t quite right, users can draw a rough sketch with notes. Buildable’s AI interprets these to create visual concepts that are more aligned with the user’s vision. It bridges the gap between low-fidelity ideas and high-fidelity previews.
Contextual questions
The system asks targeted, adaptive questions to clarify goals, materials, and skill level. This ensures every workspace is tailored to the user’s unique context.
Material Sourcing
Buildable adapts in real-time. As users interact with the overview (e.g., selecting “Materials”), the AI branches out into relevant subcategories—such as a curated shopping list based on availability and price. Each decision unlocks deeper customization.
Closing thoughts
Designing beyond a chatbot
Buildable treats AI not as the end experience, but as a powerful support system interwoven through visual, instructional, and conversational design.
Supporting user agency
Buildable's feature empowers people to ideate, customize, and bring their own flavor to every project.
