Bridging the Mentorship Gap: An Exploratory Study of AI Powered Design Critique for Self-Taught Junior Designers in Low Resource Contexts

Bridging the Mentorship Gap: An Exploratory Study of AI-Powered Design Critique for Self-Taught Junior Designers in Low-Resource Contexts The Vision In the Global South, thousands of brilliant, self-taught minds are learning complex digital skills in complete isolation. Without access to expensive studio schooling or elite industry networks, their creative potential is often cut short simply by geography and financial constraint. They are forced to learn in silence.DesignLens was born to break that silence. The Research & Innovation This paper chronicles the design, development, and empirical evaluation of an interactive interface that transforms advanced artificial intelligence into a scalable equity intervention. Moving beyond generic automated tools, DesignLens utilizes a vision-capable large-language-model pipeline to deliver structured, multidimensional formative feedback across five core visual pillars: Typography, Colour & Contrast, Visual Hierarchy, Alignment, and Overall Impact.Grounded deeply in educational psychology—specifically Hattie and Timperley’s feedback framework and Bandura’s self-efficacy theory—the platform breathes life into technology through three distinct pedagogical personas: the Encouraging Design Mentor, the Brutally Honest Art Director, and the Strict UI/UX Reviewer. This allows isolated learners to choose the exact psychological critique style they need to fuel their growth.   The Impact Through a rigorous mixed-methods study evaluating the workflows of 12 junior designers in Bangladesh, this research provides vital preliminary evidence that immediate, accessible, and objective AI feedback loops can drastically accelerate skill acquisition, build psychological confidence, and democratize design education.   This paper is not just an evaluation of a software pipeline; it is a blueprint for a future where high-tier mentorship is no longer a localized privilege, but a universal right. It proves that when technology is engineered with human-centered empathy, we can ensure that no aspiring creator, anywhere in the world, ever has to learn alone.