Kaizen
Overview
A premium practice suite designed for public speakers, job seekers, and language learners to hone their skills in a calm, judgment-free digital environment.
The Problem
Public speaking, job interviews, and learning a new language require consistent practice to build confidence and fluency. The primary barrier to this practice is often anxiety and fear of judgment. Kaizen solves these challenges by providing a highly immersive, interactive, and comforting space to practice. Whether you are generating random topics to practice thinking on your feet, or sitting through a simulated mock interview, Kaizen provides actionable feedback without the pressure of a real-world audience.
What I Did
- Implemented a 'Cozy Pastel Light Mode' design philosophy using muted pastel colors and diffuse shadows to reduce user anxiety
- Built an 'Impromptu Speaking Challenges' mode to practice improvisation with random prompts and a dice-roll mechanic
- Developed a 'Conversational AI Mock Interviews' mode utilizing the Speechify API for incredibly natural text-to-speech audio
- Created a 'Progress & Analytics Deck' using an elegant grading system and visualization charts to gently track performance
- Designed a mobile-friendly 'Character-Based Chat Review' UI to examine session transcripts for filler word usage and pacing
Tech Stack Details
Frontend
Next.js (App Router), React 18, TypeScript 5.0
Styling
CSS Modules, oklch colors, fluid typography
State Management
Redux Toolkit
AI & Audio
Speechify API (Text-to-Speech), Conversational LLM
Key Learnings
Empathetic UI/UX Design
Learned how to craft anxiety-reducing interfaces focusing on calm aesthetics over aggressive gamification
Complex State Management
Leveraged Redux Toolkit to manage complex asynchronous flows, audio queuing, and transcript state
Advanced Custom Styling
Engineered a highly polished, handcrafted aesthetic entirely from scratch avoiding standard UI library templates