Quemonster

01 — Overview

The idea was simple: why should one student pay for all of the tutor's time?

Quemonster was founded on a single insight: traditional 1:1 tutoring is expensive because the student bears the full cost of the tutor's session. What if two students shared that session — paying less individually, while the tutor earns more overall? That's the core of what made Quemonster different from every other tutoring marketplace.

Founded in the UK in 2016 with entities established in Korea and Asia-Pacific markets in early 2018, the platform was designed to support private 1:1, duo (2 students), and small group sessions — starting with duo as the initial launch format, given the video technology constraints of 2017–2018 where multi-party connections were still unreliable beyond two participants.

I joined as the sole designer and led the entire product design process — from competitive research and information architecture, through user flows and business logic, to 50+ high-fidelity screens across three separate dashboard environments in Adobe XD.

02 — The Problem

Three users. One platform. A pricing model no one had built before.

Most tutoring platforms are built for one-directional booking: student finds tutor, pays, books. Quemonster had to support a fundamentally different model — shared sessions with dynamic pricing — while also serving three user types with completely different goals and trust requirements.

• × Shared session pricing had to feel fair, not confusing — tutors set rates by class size (1:1 / duo / group), students needed to understand what they were paying and why it was less
• × Tutors needed credibility and control — profile building, subject/level matrices, pricing by class size, scheduling across time zones, and tutor verification
• × Students needed a partner or a class to join — beyond solo booking, students might want to find a duo partner (a friend, or a stranger with the same learning goal)
• × Parents needed oversight without friction — managing payments and monitoring sessions for children, without overlapping or undermining the student's own account experience
• × The platform itself needed to orchestrate it all — class requests, tutor matching, booking conflicts, price adjustment approvals, and notifications across all parties simultaneously

03 — Design Process

Research → Architecture → Flows → UI

Every design decision was grounded in a structured process — starting with competitive analysis and user research, moving through IA and business logic flowcharts, into wireframe iterations and finally high-fidelity screens in Adobe XD.

04 — Information Architecture

Sitemap evolved through two major iterations

The first sitemap (v01, October 2017) established the core structure: public-facing marketing pages, authentication split by user type, and three separate dashboard environments. Version 2 (November 2017) incorporated screen-level wireframes directly into the sitemap — making it a living IA document and lo-fi prototype simultaneously.

05 — User Flows & Business Logic

Booking, matching, pricing — all had to be designed, not assumed.

The platform's business logic was more complex than a standard marketplace. Duo sessions required student matching. Price adjustment had a controlled approval process. Class requests flowed through a "Centre" — an internal tutor-matching department. Every one of these flows was mapped and designed before a single hi-fi screen was made.

06 — Key Screen Design

50+ screens. 3 dashboards. One design language.

All screens were designed in Adobe XD with a consistent purple-based brand system, white card surfaces, and a dark footer. Each user type has its own dashboard environment, while sharing common components for the messaging system, search, and authentication flows.

07 — Design Decisions

The choices that shaped the platform

08 — 2026 Redesign Concept

Eight years later, I'm revisiting this platform — this time with AI as a collaborator.

What would Quemonster look like if designed from scratch today?