The genesis of Duos came from an unexpected pivot. In 2020, after leaving technical recruitment and relocating to Amsterdam, Marisha launched a boutique consultancy helping IT professionals land jobs in Europe. Her team reimagined countless CVs and conducted numerous mock interviews. The pattern was always the same: professionals struggling with business communication. "We kept seeing the same patterns," she recalls. "People with brilliant technical skills were getting rejected because they couldn't communicate their value effectively." 

Even those fluent in English often struggled to convey professionalism during interviews. "It's not about knowing the language. It's about how you sound when you open your mouth. Many candidates come across as unprofessional, and that's a major red flag for employers."

What began as a simple interview transcriber quickly evolved into a much more ambitious project, especially as new AI tools emerged. "When LLMs became available, it wasn't just about basic pronunciation feedback anymore. We could create something that actually understood the nuances of professional communication."

With her background in UX research, Marisha knew that gamification was key to keeping users engaged. Duos isn't your typical interview preparation tool. It's a sophisticated platform where AI-driven mock interviews meet game design. The app features a compelling storyline and 64 unique AI interviewers, each with distinct personalities and interview styles. But what sets it apart is its approach to learning.

"We're not here to teach people how to game the system," Marisha explains. "This is about building genuine confidence and communication skills that stick with you long after you've landed the job."

The heart of Duos is a learning loop that adapts to each user's progress. Users first practice with AI-powered mock interviews, then engage in a focused 20-minute debrief session where an AI coach analyzes their performance and provides targeted feedback. That sets the ground for the next interview.

Today, Duos demonstrates what's possible when technology meets human-centered design. Through its gamified interface and adaptive AI coaching, it's helping professionals not just prepare for interviews, but develop lasting communication skills – one conversation at a time.

By mid-2024, Duos was a fully functional app, but using it was a demanding task. Marisha realized having best-in-class mock interviews still wasn't enough to capture users' attention. Unfortunately, the team hit a wall when it came to visuals.

"Gradually, as we conducted our first user tests, we realized we needed more game features and interactive graphics. But here's the thing – we couldn't afford a full-time illustrator or art director."

The challenge wasn't just about creating images. Anyone could generate a few illustrations, but maintaining consistency across an entire app? That was the real headache. "Every time we tried AI tools like Midjourney or DALL-E, we'd get completely different styles. One day your character looks like this, the next day it's unrecognizable. It was frustrating."

Marisha discovered Recraft through a TikTok ad, but what made her stick around was its "styles" feature. "Finally, we could generate images that actually looked like they belonged together," she explains. "You pick a style, and it stays consistent whether you're creating a character, a background, or an action scene. For someone without any design background, this was a game-changer."

“We faced a challenge with Adobe. They launched a feature for consistent character generation, which we needed for our virtual coach, Mantra. However, Adobe’s tool was too raw and unreliable. That’s why Recraft has been our go-to tool for character generation.“

”With Recraft, I can describe Mantra in detail — her blue hair, shaved side, etc. Although the results aren’t always perfect, it’s the best option.”

Using Recraft's visual generation capabilities, she could maintain visual consistency across all the app's touchpoints – from onboarding screens to feedback illustrations. "Look, I started this journey not even knowing what a vector file was," she laughs. "Now we're creating entire visual narratives for our quests. Also depending on how users perform in interviews, they get different outcomes and illustrations."

Marisha’s team uses Reсraft for both vector and raster generations. On top of that, she incorporated comic-style sequences into the app to address user engagement challenges. Inspired by her husband's love for comics, she developed story-driven illustrations to make learning more engaging.

"Users don’t read text in apps. But they do engage with comics. It’s a fun way to deliver educational content without overwhelming users."

The results speak for themselves. Duos AI’s onboarding process, once plagued by high drop-off rates, now retains users through compelling visuals and dopamine-driven interactions. The balance between work and reward motivates users to continue their learning journey.

The results speak for themselves. User retention improved by more than 70% after implementing Recraft-generated visuals along with other user-centric improvements throughout the app. The onboarding process, traditionally a pain point for educational products, became an engaging journey rather than a hurdle.

"Look, you can't teach someone to ace interviews in three clicks," Marisha points out pragmatically. "But you can make the learning process so engaging they forget they're actually working hard. Our onboarding process was long because it's an educational product. Now, users stick around, engaging with the text and graphics. A little bit of dopamine can go a long way.

Sure, the app still feels rough around the edges. But the future looks promising for the Duos team, which recently published their app and is now working hard to polish it.

"We're not your typical startup chasing rapid growth at all costs," Marisha notes. "We're a group of people who've felt the pain of being on the other side of the interview table, and we are committed to solving it for good."