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Notes2Comic - Project Story

Inspiration 💡

The inspiration for Notes2Comic came from a simple observation: students are losing interest in traditional learning materials. Long textbooks and dense notes can feel overwhelming, yet many of us grew up loving comics and graphic novels. I wondered what if we could bridge that gap?

Comics have always been powerful storytelling tools. They combine visual elements with narrative to make complex ideas more digestible and memorable. I realized that if we could transform educational content into comic format, we might be able to reignite that same excitement students once had for visual learning.

The goal wasn't to replace traditional studying, but to offer an alternative format that makes information easier to understand and more engaging, especially for visual learners and students who struggle with conventional formats.

What It Does 📚

Notes2Comic is an AI-powered application that transforms learning materials into visual comic strips. Here's how it works:

Upload Your Content: Users can upload class notes, PDFs, images of handwritten notes, or even videos
AI Analysis: The AI extracts and analyzes the content to understand the main concepts and key ideas
Customization: Before generation, users can customize:
- Art style (retro, manga, minimal, pixel art)
- Tone and mood
- Number of panels
Comic Generation: The AI breaks content into sequential panels, writes dialogue, and generates comic images while maintaining character consistency throughout the story
Edit & Refine: Users can edit speech bubbles, move/resize text, regenerate individual panels, or draw directly on the comic
Share & Explore: Publish comics to the public gallery where others can view, like, and comment

The platform includes a personal dashboard for managing all your created comics and a public gallery for discovering content from other users.

How We Built It 🛠️

Notes2Comic was built using modern web technologies with AI at its core:

Frontend: Built with NextJS framework for a responsive, interactive user interface
File Processing: Leverages Gemini OCR with Google AI
Image Generation: Powered by Gemini 3 Nano Banana Pro for comic generation
User Tools: Custom-built editing interface for speech bubbles and panel regeneration
Database: User management system for storing comics, tracking status, and handling public/private visibility
Gallery System: Community features including likes, comments, filters, and user profiles

The architecture focuses on giving users control and flexibility rather than relying on a single AI output, combining AI automation with human creativity and oversight.

Challenges We Faced 🚧

Building Notes2Comic came with several significant challenges:

1. Character Consistency

One of the biggest technical hurdles was maintaining visual consistency of characters across multiple panels. AI image generation tends to create variations with each generation, which breaks the narrative flow. We had to develop strategies to ensure the same character looked recognizable throughout the comic strip.

2. Content Extraction & Understanding

Different input formats—typed notes, PDFs, handwritten images—required robust processing pipelines. Teaching the AI to identify key concepts and translate them into comic-appropriate dialogue while preserving educational accuracy was challenging.

3. Balancing AI Automation with User Control

We wanted to leverage AI's power while keeping humans in the loop. Finding the right balance between automated generation and user editing capabilities required careful UX design. Too much automation removes creative control; too little defeats the purpose of AI assistance.

4. Comic Panel Flow & Narrative Structure

Translating educational content into engaging visual storytelling isn't straightforward. We had to develop algorithms to break content into logical panel sequences that flow naturally while maintaining educational integrity.

5. Performance Optimization

Processing multiple file formats, running AI analysis, generating multiple comic panels, and providing real-time editing capabilities all demanded careful optimization to keep the experience smooth and responsive.

What We Learned 🎓

This project taught us valuable lessons about responsible AI use in education:

AI as a Creative Tool: AI works best when it augments human creativity rather than replacing it. The editing and customization features proved essential.
Visual Learning Impact: We confirmed that visual representation genuinely helps with comprehension and retention, especially for complex concepts.
User Agency Matters: Giving users control over style, tone, and the ability to regenerate content made the tool more versatile and trustworthy.
Community Amplifies Value: The public gallery feature created unexpected engagement, with users learning from each other's comics and creative approaches.

Most importantly, we learned that technology should make learning more accessible, not more complicated. Notes2Comic demonstrates how AI can be used responsibly to create interactive, flexible, and enjoyable educational experiences.