MA:EUM
AI-Driven Mood Journaling App
An AI-driven journaling that offers a safe space to share emotions, track moods, and receive supportive feedback in a fun, engaging way.
Childcare centers are increasingly adopting technology and mobile apps to improve communication with parents. Effective communication between educators and parents is crucial for guiding a child’s development, interests, growth, and health. However, many childcare centers and educators still struggle with outdated workflows or existing digital childcare apps, leading to inefficiencies in parent communication and workflow management.
One significant problem was that early childhood educators struggled to use the app while looking after their students. Even though they took turns updating the children’s activities in the app, it was challenging to use it while working, which led to frustration among the educators.
As someone that used to work in Early Childhood education, I met many educators who struggled to report daily progress in an efficient manner to parents on a daily basis. This inspired me to develop an app that improves communication and benefits both educators and parents. I firmly believed that there was an opportunity to enhance their workflows with the ultimate goal to foster a positive approach to the child’s growth and development.
Many people facing anxiety or stress lack a safe, judgment-free space to express their emotions, track their moods, and receive supportive feedback, making it harder to manage their well-being.
Talk freely with an empathetic AI
Analyze emotions and show mood summaries
Generate diary entries from conversation
Receive feedback and stress-reducing suggestions
The approach I took
Stakeholder Needs and Concept Discussion
At the start of the project, I met with the client to understand their goals and vision. They wanted to integrate AI-driven journaling features that support users' mental well-being.
One of the first questions we asked was:
“Why would someone choose this app over general AI tools like ChatGPT?”
Understand how others release their stress.
I conducted survey and identified 6 common stress-relief methods:
Key Insight
People often need a private space to reflect before opening up to others. Journaling helps, but is hard to maintain. This inspired a solution using AI as a judgment-free conversation partner.
1
Emotionally intelligent AI
that understands users on a deeper level
2
Actionable feedback
to help users grow and reflect
3
A safe space
to express emotions without judgment
4
To-do list integration
that turns insights into real actions
Product Research & Planning
With no developer on board yet, I was asked to design the app flow early so development could begin quickly.
Goal:
Create a simple, intuitive user flow that reduced friction and made journaling feel natural.
Competitive Research:
I analyzed existing journaling apps and noticed that those with too few features had poor user retention.
Key Features Introduced:
1. Customizable diary entries
2. Weekly Mood Summary to help users track emotional trends
Wireframing
Dashboard
Chat
Diary page + Suggestion
User Feedback
“Suggestions aren’t engaging or fun.”
After identifying that users found the static Suggestions & Feedback page unengaging, I explored ways to make the experience more interactive and enjoyable.
Tarot cards are widely recognized not only in English-speaking countries but also globally, with each card traditionally associated with specific meanings for divination or fortune-telling.Inspired by this, I decided to integrate the concept of tarot cards into the experience, providing users with corresponding fortunes to make feedback feel more personal and engaging.
We tested the new version and saw strong positive feedback:
- Users found it fun, exciting, and easier to engage with
- Felt like receiving personalized advice
- Helped reduce cognitive fatigue
Even with a limited budget, I was able to test the first prototype with potential users and gather valuable feedback. This experience reminded me how important it is to stay close to users, test early, and iterate based on real insights. While it’s impossible to satisfy every user, I was encouraged to see that many genuinely enjoyed using the product.
My next step is to address the key issues identified during testing and prepare for a full iOS launch. As the sole designer, I took on the challenge of leading the design and developing a consistent system. Although it was difficult to create a complete design system within a short timeline, I leaned on Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines to ensure a clean, familiar, and platform-consistent experience. Moving forward, I plan to evolve the design system into a more scalable foundation that supports long-term growth.
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