ZERA : A Calming Morning Ritual App 🌱
My role : Lead UX/UI Designer responsible for user research, interface design, and prototyping.
Industry : Health & Wellness
Toolkit : Figma, Figjam , Loom
Timeline : Q1 2025 (4 days)
Project Scope : A design challenge to design a mobile first , emotionally supportive wellness experience for overwhelmed users
🧠 Designing for Overwhelm: A Morning Ritual That Sticks
🎯 Design Challenge Goal
Design a mobile-first version of Zera that becomes a sticky, high-value, daily habit for emotionally overwhelmed users — delivering clarity, motivation, and support in under 2 minutes.
⚙️ Key Product Context
AI-powered morning ritual (1-2 mins)
Audience: millennial women with anxiety/overwhelm
Strong engagement already: 70% retention, 8-min sessions
Needs to deliver emotional value quickly and consistently
Design Success Criteria
Solution should:
⚡ Deliver value fast (within 30 seconds)
🧠 Capture meaningful user input easily (low-friction journaling, mood gestures)
🚀 Generate motivating, personalized output
📱 Use mobile-native interaction (rethink vertical feed)
🔁 Encourage daily use (habit stacking, emotional payoff)
💬 From Insights to POVs
“I don’t have time to journal every day.
I need something fast, meaningful, and done.”
POV Statements
An emotionally overwhelmed millennial woman needs a way to quickly reset her mind when she wakes up, because she often starts the day anxious and already feeling behind.
HMWS
How might we help overwhelmed millennial women feel grounded, motivated, and emotionally supported through a 5-minute morning ritual they look forward to every day?
🗺️ Mapping Emotions into a Flow
Purpose: Journey mapping gives me the emotional + functional blueprint to design something users actually want to come back to.
✍🏾 Low-Friction, High-Impact Ideas
Crazy 8s
Focus area
Tap-to-Reveal Emotion Wheel
Effortless input: Just a tap — no typing, no overthinking. Exactly what a low-energy morning user needs.
Emotionally expressive: The wheel visualizes a range of moods, so it feels validating and easy to identify with.
Instant reward: Tap → mood acknowledged → receive affirmation. All within 30 seconds
🧭Designing a Flow That Feels Like Support
Where Value Is Delivered in 30 Seconds
Key decision points
Emotional wheel
User don't have to tell us how they feel straight away we give them the option to return later.
Daily reminders
User can opt to receive daily nudges or choose ‘skip’ to avoid pressure and return when ready
📱Designing for Calm & Clarity
Onboarding & Emotional Check-In
Welcome Screen
A warm, inviting welcome sets the tone. Creates a soft emotional entry point with no decisions required.
Boost & Perosnalisation
Affirmation Swipe
A short, motivating message tailored to their mood. Users can swipe or save. Quick emotional reward
Support Intro Screen
A quick overview of the journey ahead. Frames the app’s value while keeping the user emotionally engaged.
Reminder Choice
Users choose to set a gentle reminder or finish. Flexible for all energy levels — no pressure.
Skip Reminder Screen
If users skip the reminder, they still receive a positive message. No guilt, just permission to return.
Emotion Wheel
Users tap an emoji that reflects their mood. Low-friction, expressive input in under 5 seconds.
Reminder Confirmation
Once a reminder is set, users see instant confirmation — reinforcing clarity and commitment.
Closure & Encouragement
Final Screen (Goodbye Message)
A friendly goodbye with a wave and warm tone. Encourages return without relying on pressure or gamification.
💡Why This Works & Next steps
✅ Respects attention + emotions
✅ Builds a habit gradually
✅ Supports different energy levels
✅ Meets the success criteria
🌱 Next Steps
✅ Test with real users – Validate emotional impact and speed to value with a small group of overwhelmed users.
✅ Expand personalization – Explore AI-generated affirmations based on recent emotions and streaks.
✅ Prototype reminders deeper – Let users customize nudge tone, time, and frequency.
✅ Track progress and feedback – Add lightweight mood tracking to reinforce the habit loop.
🧠 Results & Reflections
Improved my ability to design thoughtful onboarding flows that balance emotional sensitivity with usability.
Strengthened my visual design skills by crafting clean, accessible UI components that aligned with Zera’s tone and values.
Learned to work independently under tight deadlines — from research to final prototype in just a few days.
This challenge deepened my passion for designing wellness and self-growth tools that put empathy first — and reminded me of the power of intentional UX in supporting user well-being.
