Messy Jurno 1.0
Learn about yourself from your own words
/ B2C iOS App
CLIENT
Self-initiated
MY ROLE
End-to-end Product Designer
TIMELINE
April - August, 2023
TEAM
Roxy Shi
And her curious friends
/ INTRO
Messy Jurno is a self-discovery app that helps people cultivate self-awareness through intentional journaling, for a happier, healthier and more truthful life.
I led the end-to-end design process from ideation to the hi-fi prototyping and everything in between. Welcome all constructive feedback for improvement.
Currently revamping the whole app towards 2.0.
/ CONTEXT & RESEARCH
COVID-19 changed everything
ESPECIALLY on our mental health
The negative impact of COVID-19 is enormous, especially on mental health. During the pandemic, there was a sharp increase in anxiety and depression, I was one of the people who suffered from this.
According to The Economist, October 11, 2021 issue “Covid-19 has led to a sharp increase in depression and anxiety”, we have 28% more cases of depression and 26% more cases of anxiety compared to pre-COVID time. And “Women fared worse than men.”
Source: “Global prevalence and burden of depressive and anxiety disorders in 204 countries and
territories in 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic”, by D.F. Santomauro et al., The Lancet, 2021
/ INITIAL EXPLORATION
Save me from myself
To help myself imrpve mental health, I sought out the common ground between journaling, mental health and self-awareness as the product position. Journaling is one of the most effective ways to organize thoughts and improve mental health. With intentions, we can reflect on their stories and raise self-awareness. Like our muscles, it takes time to form the habit to optimize the benefits.
Mind map to connect the dots
Illustration
/ THE CHALLENGE
How may we help people cultivate self-awareness and discover patterns for a happier life via intentional journaling?
/ RESEARCH
User Interviews and Competitor Audit
People are suffering more than I thought
I interviewed 8 friends aged between 27-36 years old from different industries. 8 out of 8 of them had experienced frustration and anxiety within the 48 hours; 7 out of 8 of them had journaled before for 3 main purposes:
Organize and collect ideas
Express thoughts and feelings to the safe outlet
Log discoveries for personal development
Competitor Audit
I tested 30+ similar products in the market - both physical and digital - to learn about their onboarding, UIs, user journeys and features in comparison to my product hypothesis. Journaling is a very popular topic but none of them have combined journaling, self-awareness and mental health together.
User interview and competitor audit takeaways
Diagram
/ DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Effortless journaling for effortless growth
/ IDEATION
How to take users on a pleasant journey?
Keep the essentials only
The whole user journey includes “before, during and after” with four main sections to innovate and reimagine the experience.
User Journey Sketches
Image
Selected UI Evolvement
Home Screen
Letting the user set up their own wallpapers is the most intuitive and personal solution to the home screen.
I went through a few options that are worth exploring for the edge cases:
Arts + health check-ins
Arts + daily self-affirmation quotes
Last mood check indicator
Day streak
Mood Check Screen
The mood check screen went through an iterative process to be more accessible and more cohesive to meet heuristic requirements, such as:
More accessible typography choice
More accessible graphics
Consistent colour options from the design system
Users can identify mood options based on the title, graphics and the associated shapes.
Hi-fi Design and Features
Hi-fi Design and Features Overview
Image
/ FEATURE 01
Personalized Space
Users can set up custom wallpapers on the home screen to create a personalized space that brings delights when journaling on the app.
/ FEATURE 02
Reimagined Journaling
Start with a mindfulness check-in by categorizing your journal and mood to train our brains to be more aware of the thoughts and feelings. Follow with an innovative digital journaling experience, supported by voice recording with transcripts, AI-generated personal prompts, photos and location. To capture moments of life from all angles.
/ FEATURE 03
Grow From Your Own Words
The “Journal” and “Insights” features provide a holistic view for users to review, reflect and grow via organized data at their own pace.
/ IMPACT
Effortless journaling for effortless growth
Project Takeaways
Designing Messy Jurno was a fun and rewarding process, where I learned a ton from the collaborations with interviewees and from senior designer's feedback. Here are a few takeaways that I would carry forward:
