innermap: mindfulness app
Design the user experience, interface, and branding for innermap, a mindful living app that empowers users to integrate mindfulness into their everyday lives. The app provides tools like guided or unguided meditation, daily practices, and short stories, with an inviting and intuitive design. This project aimed to create a cohesive experience that would encourage regular engagement with the app while supporting users on their mindfulness journey.
The Challenge
The challenge was to design an app that felt both calming and inspiring while offering the practical tools users needed to stay consistent with their mindfulness practice and integrate the teachings into their everyday lives. The design had to be simple, intuitive, and inviting, with features that promoted regular engagement without overwhelming its users. It was essential for the overall experience to feel accessible to both beginners and seasoned practitioners.
Research
I conducted a thorough competitive analysis of the existing mindfulness apps in the market to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and potential opportunities for innermap. By evaluating what other apps were doing well and where they fell short, we were able to discover some gaps that innermap could fill, particularly around our mindful stories—that came from the app founder's personal and professional experiences—and the science-based “smart sounds”. The insights from this research helped guide both the process of defining the app features and the overall user experience, ensuring that the app would resonate with its target audience and fill an existing need in the market.
Ideation
I proceeded to map the user journey and define the key features that would make the app both functional and engaging. I created wireframes and prototypes to visualize the core functionalities. I made sure the app’s user flows were intuitive, minimizing friction and making it easy for users to engage with the content regularly.
Design
For the design, I created a clean, modern interface that felt both calm and welcoming, to encourage users to return daily for their practice. I chose soft, playful colors, and minimal icons and illustrations to support the content without distracting users from the experience. The branding was key in this process: the logo, typography, and overall style were designed to convey a sense of peace and focus, making sure the app would feel more approachable and function smoothly across various devices.
Testing and Iteration
Testing and refining the design was crucial to validate or challenge our assumptions about our users and their needs. We ran alpha and beta testing phases to gather user feedback and iterate on the design. These testing phases allowed me to observe how users interacted with the app and identify any pain points or areas for improvement. Feedback from these sessions led to some key adjustments, such as refining the navigation flow, simplifying certain features, and improving the app’s overall usability. This approach allowed the app to truly meet the needs of its users and align with the founder’s vision.
Key Learnings
Combining branding and UX design is crucial when creating an experience that needs to feel both visually appealing and functional.
When it comes to mindfulness and wellness apps, personalization can be a powerful motivator to keep users engaged and form positive long-term positive habits.
Testing and iterating are vital to make sure an app delivers real value to its users.
Conclusion
Working on innermap allowed me to merge my design expertise with my passion for creating meaningful, user-centered experiences. Designing an app that helps users live more mindfully, and the process of balancing the visual aspects with the functional ones helped me deepen my understanding of how branding and UX/UI design can work together to create impactful products.
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For more of my work: jenngodoy.design