DEVELOPING GROUNDED
Timeframe: Oct 17-Dec 13, 2022
Collaborator: Lauren Tarigo
Disciplines: UX/UI, Illustration, Animation
︎︎︎ Back to the Product
BEHIND THE SCREENS
Here is the user flow diagram that we made for the phone app. While making it, we asked ourselves questions like:
“What kind of functions do we want our app to have?”
“How many options should users be given on each page?”
“How can we make our app more accessible?”
It was important to find a balance between enough information to be useful and not too much to overwhelm the user.
THE CHARACTER
We knew from the moment we decided to do a mindfulness app that we needed to make a guide character to help users become acclimated to the app. We decided to look towards a soft, kind-looking animal and put it in a style that is comforting.
We tried several animals, ranging from a sloth to a pudgy little manatee!
But while all of them were cute, we struggled with choosing which would be the most effective as a guide. We decided to ask around and get some insight as to which animal was the cutest and kindest to people.
And so, Koa the Koala was born! They’re a sweet little Koala that suffers from generalized anxiety disorder. They know how hard it can be to return to reality in the face of a panic attack, so they will do their best to help the user get grounded!
EXECUTION
The visuals for each page were tricky, we experimented with outlines, dropshadows, gradients, you name it! We were also limited on time, so we couldn’t take the time to make a bunch of traditionally-made watercolor illustrations, so we needed to get creative. That meant a LOT of drawing on Clip Studio Paint.
I remember at some point being visibly frustrated with drawing Koa’s head, multiple times.
It’s so strangely football-shaped and always took many tries to get right. But I always pushed through, and we ended up with a grand total of
92 drawings over all deliverables!
