Project: iOS Mobile Application
Duration: 80 hours
Role: UX/UI Designer
In this case study, I delve into the concept of reinventing journaling. Through research, ideation, and prototyping, I aimed to create a modern journaling solution that addresses the evolving needs of users and offers a fresh take on personal reflection.
Journaling is good for you.
Countless studies have shown the positive benefits of journaling. It has been found to reduce depression and anxiety symptoms, cultivate gratitude, increase mindfulness and creativity, strengthen communication and emotional skills, improve immune function, sharpen memory, build self awareness, and more.
…so why doesn’t everyone do it?
If journaling has so many benefits, what prevents people from doing it? I started my project off with secondary research to figure out some common pain points.
Competitive Analysis
To deepen my understanding, I conducted a competitive analysis of various journaling apps, examining their services, core features, and target users. I also identified market gaps, uncovering overlooked niches, unmet customer needs, and potential user obstacles.
PromptedJournal
Gratitude
Reflectly
Key Findings
The biggest issue I noticed was the lack of customization and freedom to journal in various ways. While guided prompts can be helpful, they shouldn’t interfere with one of the most important aspects of journaling: the ability to write freely. Striking the right balance between providing structure and allowing creative freedom, as well as offering features while preserving the simplicity of journaling, can be a challenge.
User Interviews
I interviewed four experienced journalers to understand what makes journaling daunting, what motivates consistency, and what users find most rewarding or frustrating. I also explored preferred topics, desired outcomes, and whether users are open to social journaling through guided prompts.
Purpose of study
I wanted to understand what aspects of journaling are the most daunting to individuals and discover what motivations would drive users to utilize a journaling app.
Research Questions
What do people enjoy about journaling?
What do people dislike about journaling?
What causes people to consistently journal?
What prevents people from journaling?
What topics do people enjoy journaling about?
What do people hope to gain from journaling?
Are people interested in connecting with friends or family over guided topics?
Objectives
Discover any pain points surrounding journaling.
Pinpoint the most rewarding aspects of journaling.
Explore general topics or ideas for guided prompts.
Understand if social journaling is an idea that users are open to or desire.
Participants
I conducted my interviews on 4 participants that have had experience with journaling. That way, I could get more information about motivations, consistency, pain points, and what is most enjoyable about journaling.
Research Results
Affinity Mapping
I utilized affinity mapping to identify similarities between each user interview. This process helped highlight major pain points, motivations, and behaviors related to journaling.
Key Insights
By utilizing this strategy, I was able to uncover key insights about common themes and patterns across the user interviews. I noticed commonalities among journaling content, writing prompts and mood, social connection preferences, and personalization.
User Persona
Finally, I synthesized the insights from the interviews into a single user persona—Jennifer the Journaling Hobbyist. The responses from participants were similar enough that creating multiple personas wasn’t necessary. These users have experience journaling during challenging times, but their consistency tends to fluctuate.
Ideation
POV & HMW
After conducting research and uncovering patterns, I began exploring ways in which these insights could inform my design decisions. My main goal here was to anticipate common pain points with journaling and implement solutions into the design.
POV Statements
I’d like to explore ways to allow users to freely and consistently write about the things that bother them in their everyday lives.
I’d like to explore ways to offer writing prompts that respond to the user’s mood, daily issues, and personal preferences.
I’d like to explore ways to offer the personalization and freedom of expression that is achievable with a regular journal.
I’d like to explore ways to offer the option of connected, guided journaling prompts with loved ones.
HMW Statements
HMW allow users to quickly and easily navigate to an open, unprompted writing entry?
HMW help users cope with and process the issues in their life through journaling?
HMW reinforce that journal entries will be kept secure and private?
HMW encourage users to journal when they feel upset?
HMW encourage consistency without causing the user to feel guilt or shame?
HMW predict the type of writing prompts that users would want to answer?
HMW allow users to easily select or change which writing prompt they would like to answer?
HMW categorize different writing prompts based on mood, topic, or personal issues?
HMW allow users to personalize the aesthetic of their journals?
HMW allow users to feel like their journal is customizable and creative when writing entries?
HMW allow users to easily practice different types of journaling if desired?
HMW allow users to best preserve their memories and experiences?
HMW allow users to connect with others over selective writing prompts?
HMW allow users to create groups with multiple people?
HMW allow users to grow closer with others?
HMW allow users to select prompts that are applicable to their type of relationship?
Feature Prioritization
Afterwards, I brainstormed potential features and narrowed down which ones were the most essential. I wanted to mainly prioritize the more unique group journaling and mood tracking/writing prompt features, as many of the other must-have features are basic table stakes for most journaling apps.
Must Have
Blank writing entry
Guided writing prompts
Shuffle question
Mood/feelings tracker
“How was your day?” tracker
Customizable theme
Group writing prompts
Create group
Comment/like group answers
Secure login
Reminders
Customize entry bar (photos, videos, stickers, font, color, drawing tool, etc.)
Nice to Have
Daily challenge
Daily quote
List of other writing prompts
Optional entry passcode
Create multiple, separate journals
Entry folders or tags
Group question preferences quiz
Group challenges
Encouragement messaging
Somatic symptom tracker
Could Come Later
Symptom relief suggestions
Recommended readings
Browse inspirational quotes
Daily progress tracker
Filters and effects
Share option
List of journaling benefits
Write group question
User Flows
I created user flows for onboarding, writing a journal entry, and creating a new group/answering a group question.
Sitemap
The sitemap was organized in three main pages: a today page focused on engaging the user and creating a journal entry, a group journal page to view and answer shared prompts, and a page to show insights and past entries.
Visual Design
Mood Board
My goal was for the design to embody self-improvement, introspection, and wisdom. I pulled different forms of inspiration from dark mode designs and the dark academia aesthetic in order to achieve a more moody vibe.
Visual Design
Logo Brainstorming
I explored several potential options for the logo. My goal was to sketch as many ideas as possible, regardless of feasibility, to encourage creativity.
Logo/Logomark Selection
Visual Design
I ended up selecting a simple quill design. I was concerned with maintaining legibility at smaller sizes, so I avoided selecting a design with too much detail that still is easily recognizable.
UI Component Library
Visual Design
For the UI component library, I focused on being organized and thorough for greater ease later on when designing. I also hand drew some icons and illustrations in order to give the design a more unique, journal-y feel.
Low-Fi Wireframes
I created wireframe sketches for the home page, guided and blank journal entries, group journaling pages, mood tracking questions, and the color theme selection during onboarding.
Onboarding
I focused on making the process quick to maintain user attention, with theme customization for personalization, as aesthetic is important in journaling. I also encourage users to set reminders to stay motivated and build a consistent journaling habit.
Write Guided Entry
My two main goals were to balance writing freedom with guided structure and to provide prompts that match the user's mood. To achieve this, I included options for both blank page entries and guided writing with quick questions about the user’s day and mood. Additionally, I designed a Today page featuring a daily quote and challenge.
Group Feature
User research showed that people are interested in answering thoughtful questions with their loved ones. To support this, I designed a feature that allows users to create a group, invite a friend, answer a group question, and view others' responses, fostering deeper connections.
Usability Testing
I remotely conducted usability tests with 6 participants, observing them via screen share. Participants were able to complete tasks with minimal errors and provided positive feedback. However, some suggested the need for an alternative way to add friends to a group and improvements to the mood tracking question.
Add a Friend
Previously, users were required to connect their contacts in order to add friends to their group. However, many people do not like allowing contact access in apps. To resolve this issue, I added the option to “skip” allowing contact access. Then, I replaced the vague “invite friends” button with a button to copy invite link.
Before
Before
After
After
Mood Tracker
When you ask someone how they are feeling, it can be difficult to pinpoint just one emotion. Due to this, users voiced the need to select more than one feeling when asked about their mood. To resolve this, I simply added the option to select multiple moods.
Before
After
What I learned
The impact of small details.
I learned how much small touches—like hand-drawn elements, fun onboarding animations, and thoughtful dark mode styling—can enhance the overall feel of a design. If possible, it’s worth adding little moments of delight, movement, or visual intrigue because these details make a big difference in creating an immersive and intentional experience. I’d love to incorporate this type of stuff into more of my designs in the future.
Balancing detail with simplicity.
While creativity and small details add a lot, I also learned that at the end of the day, consistency, usability, and simplicity matter most. It’s easy to get carried away with visual experimentation, but refining and simplifying ensures the design stays intuitive and effective.
Ideas
Future Directions
I really enjoyed designing this app and brainstorming different possibilities for it. In the future, I would love to bring Mindscribe to life. However, I would first like to see even more added to it to better suit user needs.
First, I think it would be beneficial to offer alternative login methods to the onboarding. Although the process is currently quick and relatively convenient, adding the option to sign in with other accounts on Google, Facebook, etc. would only help speed up the process.
Next, it would be beneficial to add a multi-question use case when answering guided prompts. In other words, if someone wanted to keep writing and answering more questions during their entry, it would be nice to include the option of adding and answering more questions as they go.
Another feature that may be useful to rethink is the mood tracker. Although the current mood tracker covers basic emotions, it would be great to offer more options to select from or to include somatic symptoms for those who can’t easily describe how they feel. For example, someone may feel a tightness in their chest, but not identify it as anxiety.
Lastly, it would be worth exploring ways to allow more user control in selecting group questions. Although there is freedom to select questions in an individual’s guided journal entry, the process would differ with more people involved. I would like to find a solution that makes the group journaling more customizable with questions.
