Brian Mohr · Chicago
Product Designer
who ships.
My skill set is unique. I design and build.
I've been the founding designer at three software companies, always embedded with developers.
Case study — Foodbe
Food content is broken. Nutrition advice contradicts itself. All the data is the same.
Foodbe is an AI food intelligence engine that reasons, resolves, and never guesses. It runs on a Gated Truth Architecture, where every response is generated from a curated, verified fact library. If it doesn't know the answer, it says so. Every failure is tracked and a new fact is added to the library. Because it goes deeper than data, into the science, culture, and technique behind each food, it gives users insights they've never seen before, surfaced at the exact moment decisions get made.
What I designed
- Cross-platform design system — iOS, desktop web, mobile web with full feature parity
- Conversational chat with persona switching, typing indicators, traceable citations
- Spark chip system — 29 curated prompts that show users what Foodbe can do
- Grocery list with point-of-decision insights per item
- Food comparison — user defines what to compare
- Meal plan with per-meal cost integration and grocery list generation
- Recipe surface with diet tags, ingredient intelligence, persona tips inline
- Onboarding — typewriter intro, persona introduction, spark chip discovery
- Subscription flow — RevenueCat, 7-day trial, $4.99/month
What I built
- Gated Truth Architecture — every response from a verified fact library
- AI food intelligence engine with 3 expert personas — Neuro, Oracle, Chefy
- Fine-tuned GPT-4.1-mini on 10,000+ hand-curated seeds
- Brain API — 8 endpoints for external platforms
- Developer portal — sandbox keys, API docs, real-time usage dashboard
- Token system — bundles, pricing tiers, usage metering, deduction per API call
- Failure tracking — every unknown routes to a new seed
- Privacy controls — user data stored on device only, full data export available, option to disable all data storage
10,000+
hand-curated seeds
500+
ingredient profiles
190+
recipes
8
Brain API endpoints
3
published cookbooks
Gated Truth Architecture
AI wasn't built to tell the truth. That's not its goal.
Its goal is to pattern-match, to guess the best response to your input. Nowhere in its design is it told to validate from quality sources before it responds. That's a foundational problem.
Even the best RAG system runs at 91% accuracy. That means 1 in 11 answers is wrong. At 500 questions a day, that's ~3,000 wrong answers per month, silently delivered with the same confidence as correct ones.
GTA is different. It gates the AI and only lets it generate a response from a curated, verified fact library. The AI doesn't retrieve, it reasons from facts we know are true.
How the Foodbe brain works
Intent layer
Cleans input, determines intent — how, what, why
Expert routing
Routes to Neuro, Oracle, or Chefy
Seed matcher
Scores 10,000+ seeds using 4 methods — exact phrase, keyword, word, anchor
Fact library
Winning seed's verified anchors passed to fine-tuned model
Response
Model generates answer in persona voice with traceable citations
Download GTA schema PDF ↓A real seed — "Is oat milk healthy?"
{
label: "Is oat milk healthy?",
entity: "oat_milk_health",
thesis: "Oat milk is legitimately healthy because its fiber
actively lowers cholesterol and fortified versions match
dairy's calcium. Commercial brands undermine this with
rapeseed oil and added sugars.",
neuro_anchors: [
"beta-glucan forms viscous gels that bind bile acids
in intestines",
"liver pulls LDL cholesterol from blood to replace
bound bile acids",
"drops LDL ~5-7% at doses of 3g per day"
],
neuro_citations: [
{ text: "beta-glucan LDL reduction ~6.5% meta-analysis
of 28 RCTs",
url: "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25411276/" }
],
oracle_anchors: [
"Oatly co-founded in Sweden in 1994 by Rickard and
Björn Öste to address lactose intolerance",
"U.S. dairy industry received over $1.3B in federal
payments in 2023 while plant milks receive none"
],
chefy_anchors: [
"froths well for coffee without curdling",
"works best in recipes where slight sweetness fits"
],
toneGates: { neuro: true, oracle: true, chefy: true }
}Tools & how I work
I use many tools to design and build products.
Mainly I use my experience and knowledge. I also pair-program with Claude and ChatGPT.
Frontend
- React Native (iOS)
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
- Figma
- Cursor
- Vercel v0
Backend & infra
- Node.js / Express
- MongoDB
- Railway
- Vercel
- AWS S3
- Xcode
AI & model
- OpenAI API
- Fine-tuned GPT-4.1-mini
- Gated Truth Architecture
- Claude / Anthropic API
- Prompt engineering
- Agentic routing
Payments & subscriptions
- Stripe
- RevenueCat
- Token bundles + usage metering
Analytics & auth
- Mixpanel
- Google Analytics
- Firebase Auth
UX/UI
- Figma
- Figma Make
- Figma AI
- Adobe Suite
- Midjourney
- CapCut
- iOS/HIG
- Material Design
- Design systems (3 built)
- User research & usability testing
- Prototyping
- Sentient Design
- Jakob Nielsen heuristics
- Agentic UX
- Conversational UX
Prior work
2021–2024
GAINSystems
Founding Product Designer
Company's first dedicated product hire. Owned design across an enterprise SaaS suite used by global manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to forecast demand, optimize inventory, and manage supply chain performance.
- Led a team of three developers across UX research, rapid prototyping, and UX/UI design, created the company's first design system and drove a complete platform redesign
- Established a monthly user feedback panel with 10+ enterprise organizations to surface workflow breakdowns and drive product decisions before engineering handoff
- Designed AI/ML product surfaces including Lead Time Prediction and the GAINS Assistant. During my tenure the company reported 47% ARR growth, 115% net retention, and 25+ new enterprise clients
2015–2021
ArrowStream
Founding Product Designer
First dedicated product hire at North America's largest foodservice supply chain platform serving 100K+ operator locations, 1,500+ distributors, 260+ brands.
- Created the company's first design system to drive product evolution across 130K+ restaurant locations
- Architected and designed the Supplier Discovery marketplace, connecting buyers with 8,000+ suppliers and saving more than $5 million in buyer costs in its first year
- Embedded with a team of 7 developers and wrote HTML and CSS for pixel-accurate, production-ready interfaces
2011–2015
amSTATZ
Founding Product Designer
First dedicated product hire at an early-stage startup building health and fitness business management software for gyms and personal trainers.
- Built the company's first design system and owned UI/UX and frontend development from day one
- Conducted user research directly with personal trainers and gym owners, translating findings into user scenarios, use cases, wireframes, and high-fidelity prototypes
- Embedded with the development team and wrote HTML5, CSS3, jQuery, and Bootstrap to ensure design intent was carried through to production
Get in touch
You found the right person.
I design and build. I've been the founding designer at three software companies, always embedded with developers. Available now for founding designer, senior product designer, and AI product roles.
Based in Chicago. Open to local or remote work.