Logan's Launchpad
Designing, Prototyping, and Building My AI PM Platform
Overview
Goal
This project aimed to create a personal platform — a “launchpad” — to explore, demonstrate, and evolve my skills as an aspiring AI Product Manager. I wasn’t just building a site — I was designing a system for learning in public, showing proof of execution, and expressing my authentic self through real, visible product work.
Problem Framing
I framed the problem around three questions: 1. What career am I actually pursuing? 2. How can I authentically show what I care about and what I can do? 3. How can I bring creativitty into everything I do? The user context was clear: recruiters need to evaluate PM potential quickly and tangibly. I used my personal career uncertainty as a launching point to define the value this site should deliver — to both users (recruiters) and myself (as a builder and learner). Pencil wireframes, learning maps, and iterative Figma mockups grounded my early framing and helped break ambiguity into designable chunks.
Outcome
I shipped a fully functional, versioned portfolio site — designed from scratch, built from code, and deployed on Vercel. It includes real-time video documentation, skill tagging, and space to grow. I made trade-offs by prioritizing core UX and delaying non-essential features, staying focused on delivering a working MVP.
Key Learning
This build taught me that clarity comes from action. I learned how to structure messy problems, work through unfamiliar tools, and make consistent creative progress. I learned how to use AI (ChatGPT) as a development partner — and how to turn uncertainty into a real, shipped product that reflects both who I am and where I’m headed.
Skill & Tool Insights
Crafted the site as a narrative, helping recruiters quickly connect with my “why” while showcasing my execution in a structured, memorable way.
Used wireframes and interactive layouts in Figma to shape the site before touching code, which sped up decisions and reduced rework.
Defined the first shippable version by focusing only on essential pages, which kept the scope lean and progress steady.
Designed every layout and component visually, enabling fast iteration and ensuring visual clarity before development.
Acted as my development partner, translating design intent into code and unblocking me during tricky implementation moments.
Served as the core workspace where I built and debugged the project, helping me gradually gain fluency in front-end development.
Managed version control and deployment through GitHub, giving the project structure, shareability, and a professional touch.