Loaded Mag

A companion app for new and experienced gun owners to train, compare, and stay informed.

About the project

I was brought in to design an iOS app for an underserved market where users were dealing with scattered resources and outdated tools that created real friction in their daily workflows. A former manager asked me to tackle this UX challenge and create something modern that could actually solve these problems for both newcomers and experienced users.

The opportunity was building an app that could handle product comparisons, training resources, regulatory information, and secure document storage all in one place. We were starting from nothing—no existing user base, no research, and just a basic concept that needed to become a real product in six weeks.

ROLE

Product Designer

Platform

iOS

TIMELINE

Jan 2025 - Feb 2025

LOCATION

Remote

Without formal users to interview, I had to get creative with research. I leveraged the client's network and identified domain experts including instructors and experienced users. I also used AI-assisted research to validate assumptions and understand broader behavioral patterns in this market.

From these insights, I built three personas representing key user segments: newcomers concerned about safety, intermediate users struggling with fragmented information, and experienced users seeking better organization tools. These personas became my north star for every design decision that followed.

I started by mapping out a comprehensive feature list in Notion and creating the early structure in FigJam during discovery calls with the client. The challenge was prioritizing a wide feature set while keeping everything accessible for beginners but useful for experienced users. I designed mid-fidelity wireframes in Figma and refined them through biweekly reviews until the structure was solid.

Once I moved into high-fidelity design, I had to build a complete visual system from scratch—the client only had one color, one font, and a logo to work with. I created a proper type scale, color tokens, and reusable UI components that would give the app consistency and room to grow. The final structure included four main tabs: Discover for content and news, Compare for side-by-side product specs, Train for finding resources and classes, and Vault for secure document storage.

I delivered a polished high-fidelity prototype and lightweight style guide that was structured enough to scale but simple enough for easy handoff. This project let me own the entire design process from concept to completion in just six weeks, which expanded my approach to tackling complex, regulated industries.