Product Designer 0→1 to Define the Vibe

Help us build an app that makes reaching for a meaningful, flourishing life feel possible & fun!

This isn't your typical job posting because we're not a typical startup ;)

The Opportunity

We're building tabi: a mobile companion that helps people design a life that feels aligned with what matters to them across work, relationships, rest, growth, creativity, purpose, and everything in between.

This isn't a wellness app. It's not a habit tracker. It's not another productivity tool.

We're creating a system that shows wellbeing as interconnected: your relationships affect your energy, your sense of purpose affects your resilience, your rest affects your creativity. Real human flourishing happens when all these dimensions are moving together, even imperfectly.

We're looking for a Part-Time Product Designer to own the visual identity, interaction design, and "feel" of the product from the ground up. You'll be the visual design expert on a lean team. You'll collaborate closely with the founder on strategic direction. You'll make decisions that shape how users experience getting their life together. You'll also be responsible for ensuring we validate the riskiest assumptions before building with the team.

This role is for someone who loves shipping, thinks in systems, and knows that the best design is invisible until you notice how much better you feel using it.

What tabi Is (and Isn't)

tabi is:

• A system for clarity, prioritization, and follow-through across your whole life for balanced well-being, work-life balance, sustained change, and flowing through seasons
• An integration layer between self-awareness and meaningful action
• A companion across time, not a one-off assessment or moment of inspiration

tabi is NOT:

• A wellness app (we're not selling you meditation or green juice)
• A typical gamified experience (no streaks, leader boards, or scary overdue red numbers)
• A habit tracker (we don't care if you do something every day)
• A productivity optimizer (we're not here to squeeze more output from you)
• A one-size-fits-all solution (your life is unique; so is your path)

About tabi

Tabi helps people reduce overwhelm by giving them clarity on what matters, realistic next steps, and proof that they're making progress—across all areas of their life. Our users are motivated but scattered: they've tried three apps, read five books, built elaborate Notion systems, and still feel disconnected from what they actually want. We're building the system that changes that.

What makes us different: We optimize for emotional resonance, adaptive planning, and genuine self-trust, not productivity theatre. The design needs to feel refreshing and engaging enough that you want to come back to it, but grounded enough that it doesn't add to your overwhelm. We're warm without being cutesy or coddling, thoughtful without being minimalist-bland, and encouraging without being classically gamified.

Our Philosophy

We believe wellbeing is multidimensional. Your physical health, mental clarity, relationships, sense of purpose, creative expression, rest, growth, and environment all influence each other. When one area struggles, it ripples everywhere. When one area lights up, it lifts everything else. Real flourishing happens when these dimensions are moving together, even "imperfectly" or unevenly.

Most tools treat wellbeing as a isolated thing you "optimize." We treat it as a living system. The design should feel like that: interconnected, adaptive, humane.

Your Role

You're not executing a design spec someone else wrote. You're defining what tabi looks like, feels like, and why it works. You'll work closely with the founder (CEO) on strategic direction and collaborate with 2 other part-time product team members who can support specific tasks. But design leadership, vision, and voice are yours.

Responsibilities

• Define the visual system from scratch (colour, typography, component library, motion language, etc.) that feels distinctive, refreshing, and worth coming back to
• Design end-to-end user flows for onboarding, daily interaction, progress reflection, and recovery moments (when users fall off)
• Create prototypes that are high-fidelity enough for user testing and handoff, but fast enough to iterate
• Own interaction design: micro-interactions, animations, feedback states, and emotional moments that make the product feel alive
• Partner closely with the CEO on strategic design decisions to think together about what visual and interaction choices unlock better user behaviour
• Lead with ownership and initiative: you'll identify problems, propose solutions, and push back when something doesn't align with our philosophy
• Collaborate and communicate clearly: you'll work with 2 other part-time team members and need to articulate decisions in a way that's easy to build on and handoff
• Build and hand off a design system that a small engineering team can execute without constant design input
• Use AI tools to accelerate: generate inspiration, prototype animations, explore variations fast so you spend time on strategy, not pixel-pushing
• Validate assumptions and design choices with potential users to rapidly iterate the product to become something users would really want to use

What We're Looking For

Please still apply if you don't have some of these & are super passionate about the mission!

• Strong portfolio showing end-to-end product work (app, website, or web product; it doesn't have to be polished, but should show taste and intentionality)
• Startup or self-started project experience: comfort with ambiguity, ownership, and shipping things that aren't perfect
• Mobile app design fundamentals or demonstrable ability to learn them fast (interactions, responsive design, platform conventions that matter)
• Understanding of psychology and behaviour: you think about why users do things, not just what they see
• Opinionated taste and the ability to articulate it: you can explain why a design choice works, and you're willing to push back if something feels off
• Comfort with autonomy and collaboration: you make decisions independently, but you're genuinely collaborative, not siloed. You seek input when it matters and take initiative when it doesn't
• Strong communication: you can articulate design decisions, take feedback without defensiveness, and help others understand your thinking
• Appetite for AI-assisted design: comfortable using tools like Claude, Cursor, or design-focused AI to explore ideas quickly and prototype animations
• Alignment with our vibe: you get that we're going for refreshing + engaging, not cutesy, not overly bold, not millennial-minimalist-beige. Here's our Pinterest board - does it resonate with you?
• Care deeply about human-centered, systems-informed products

On AI and "Vibe-Coding"

We believe the best design is human-led, AI-accelerated. You'll use AI to:

• Rapidly explore visual directions and get multiple versions instead of 1
• Generate and iterate motion/animation code so complex interactions come to life without engineering weeks
• Prototype interactions faster so you spend more time refining strategy, less time in tool mechanics
• Solve repetitive problems (spacing systems, icon variations, responsive states) instantly

You remain the creative director. AI is your collaborator, not your replacement.

Time & Structure

• 15–25 hours per week (flexible scheduling)
• Expected duration: 8+ weeks (ongoing if desired)
• Weekly meeting + async collaboration
• High autonomy, high accountability

Reasons why you'd want to join:

• alignment with the mission & vision; a sense of purpose
• opportunity to build something you're personally passionate about
• a company that puts humans first, not gluttonous profit
• accelerated learning
• high ownership & autonomy
• substantial input & impact - you're not just a number here!
• resume-building experience
• leadership experience
• cross-functional exposure
• direct access to founder
• mentorship
• creativity
• network expansion
• ability to experiment with your career
• stronger business judgment
• exposure to company building
• potential for future paid opportunities

Compensation: Currently unpaid, but we're exploring grant-based opportunities for eligible designers. If you're a student or early-career, ask us about eligibility. We're honest about our stage and serious about making this work.

Who This Is Not For

This is likely not a fit if you:

• Prefer well-defined briefs
• Avoid making calls without consensus
• Jump straight into wireframes without framing
• Need close daily direction
• Are looking primarily for paid contract work
• Aren't a genuinely curious person

How to Apply

Email hello@tabiwellbeing.com directly with:

1. Share your portfolio & resume
2. Write a short note describing a project you designed, what was the problem, what you built, what you learned
3. Tell us why this mission resonates
4. Reflect on our aesthetic: check out our Pinterest board and be ready to chat in the interview about what you'd do with it