Antimatter is a platform where people use memes to learn. It was inspired by the r/physicsmemes and r/historymemes subreddits, where users would explain difficult concepts with memes. I joined Antimatter as a Visual Designer, but as the only designer on the team, I performed a mix of product, brand and advertising design.
Making Memes in Antimatter Spaces
We can’t have a meme-based learning app without the ability to make memes. Our meme generation tool prioritized speed and ease of use – more MS Paint than Photoshop. One core feature was the ability to drop in an existing meme with the text removed and use it as a template.
We created a friendly competition where students make memes around the same topic and upvote (bless) each other’s memes. Upvoted memes move closer to the center. The goal is to create a meme popular enough to be in the center at the end of the competition. Once it’s over, the space is closed and new memes can no longer be submitted.
Studios
Spaces live within Studios. The idea was a classroom would have a studio, and within the studio they would have spaces for different topics. A teacher could
edit the Studio and manage student access through Studio Settings. A student could be a part of many studios.
Active Spaces are shown with a live preview of the tiles
Closed Spaces are shown with stacked cards with one of the memes in front
Discovery
This was a section where users could browse, save and share memes. In addition to the memes created on Antimatter, we had a web crawler that served memes from different social media platforms all in one place. Users could save memes to their libraries. While Antimatter Spaces was only available on desktop, Discovery worked on mobile devices as well.
Brand Identity & Design System
Antimatter had already done some brand design explorations prior to me joining. The logo we ended up using was actually a scrapped concept that I rescued. I chose to keep the typography and brand colors, expanding and formalizing them across our Figma design system and brand touchpoints. I also created some renders that we used throughout the app and marketing materials.
Impact
During my time at Antimatter, we brought the product from a proof of concept to a realized platform. We launched it on Product Hunt and had students and teachers doing actual lessons with memes. We went from no significant traffic to 20-30 new signups per day.
