A Mindfulness Experience | App
This project aimed to create a meditation app to deliver an audio-guided mindfulness practice to encourage regular practice.
This is a two-part project; see Part 1 -The Mindful Wardrobe Audio.Spring 2023 - 24
Problem
Fast fashion is environmentally and economically unsustainable.
Clothing sales have doubled since the 2000s.
92 million tonnes of clothes go to landfills every year causing economies to lose $500 billion annually.
Compared to 20 years ago, consumers in second and first-world countries, are buying clothes at a faster rate than ever. As consumers, many of us, treat our clothes as disposable and buy new items mindlessly - where:
Young women are one of the greatest consumers of fast fashion.
Solution
One way of moving away from mindless purchasing is by fostering stronger attachments and connections to our clothes as we are more likely to care for, repair and wear clothes.
There is a societal trend increase in mindfulness and meditation; tuning into our senses to calm and ground our minds, where young women are also one of the largest user groups of mindfulness apps.
The first part of this project - The Mindful Wardrobe Practice, is an audio-guided practice designed to encourage young women to increase their appreciation and attachment to their clothes.
Goals
Design a mindfulness and meditation app that allows users to access The Mindful Wardrobe guided practice.
Create a user experience that addresses users’ needs and desires for mindfulness practice based on research
Research
Benchmarking
Two popular mindfulness apps were reviewed and evaluated against each other. This identified common features, useful elements, calming graphics, and aspects to avoid. Key takeaways included:
App Personality: Aim for a simple, friendly, and inviting character.
Practice Descriptions: Include key details such as author, duration, and style
Home Page Layout: Design a personalised and intuitive home page
Design Elements: Use icons, graphics, typography, and colour to create personality
User Insights
Reviewing research with over 900 users of 22 popular mindfulness apps revealed users’ most valued features:
Insight Timer
Headspace
Design
Learning from User Insights
The Mindful Wardrobe Practice Screens
Sketches mapped the layout of the core screens and a high-level user flow for the audio-guided practice. I explored the placement of text, images, and buttons across the four key screens, while also experimenting with the mood logging feature. These sketches helped establish the foundation for the app's structure and user interaction.
Core Screens
As such I decided against using a thought-entry feature, opting to use reflective questions only in the audio guidance.
Final User Flow
Low-fidelity wireframes explored the option to prompt users with reflective questions and to enter their thoughts at the end of each practice section.
Research
Several users who regularly practice mindfulness were walked through the wireframes to gather insights into the reflective questions feature.
All users expressed uncertainty and hesitance.
UI
The visual design of the app needed to align with its focus — mindfulness and meditation whilst expressing personality.
Colour palettes, fonts and visuals were carefully selected to achieve a calm and soothing environment.
The Mindful Wardrobe practice had a similar aim but also incorporated a sense of novelty, feminity and playfulness.
Colour
Icons help users navigate the app using a simple, recognisable and user-friendly pattern with a playful touch.
Visuals were used to signify the start of a new section of The Mindful Wardrobe Practice, informing users when they have moved on.
Accessibility
Adobe Colour Contrast Checker was used to ensure colour combinations of icons, text and backgrounds passed WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
This practice helped create a balanced, visual design that is both accessible and user-friendly, without eliminating the app’s aesthetic.
Iconography
Prototyping
To create an interactive, user-friendly experience, prototyping brought smooth scrolling and a functional mood log to life. This used conditional statements and variables.
Overlays were animated with responsive feedback for mood check-ins.
Core screens were connected to practice pages, and interactive elements for The Mindful Wardrobe practice were built, allowing users to select garments and practices. The Mindful Wardrobe’s audio recording was prototyped into Figma with functional pause and play buttons.
Note - the new audio is still being added to the prototype.
Outcome
Designed to be quick, east and non-judgemental. Select how you’re feeling by clicking on a smiley, and adding any notes if you want before logging in for the day.
Casual and comforting, the mood log aims to create a safe space for any feeling the user may be experiencing.
Planning Ahead
The reminder feature was designed to be simple, quick, and supportive. Set a reminder for a future practice by selecting a date and time, then schedule an alert with just a few taps.
View your scheduled reminders easily by clicking on the calendar icon from the home screen.
Friendly and straightforward, reminders encourage consistency in your mindfulness routine.
Mood Log
The Mindful Wardrobe
Designed to be engaging and interactive, the app delivers the practice for a fun, hands-on experience.
Users are guided through a simple introduction, choosing how they want to practice and selecting their garment type. The integrated audio guides users to appreciate their clothes in a new way, encouraging playful experimentation with touch and mindful reflection.
Gentle chimes mark each section, smoothly transitioning users through the practice, accompanied by calming illustrations.
Learnings
Developed skills in creating and using cohesive colour palettes, iconography, typography, shapes, and spacing to create design consistency.
Gained experience in independently planning and structuring a design project from inception to completion.
Learned to convey brand personality and objectives effectively through visual design language.
Next Steps
Integrate transcripts beneath each section of the practice audio for improved accessibility.
Conduct usability testing with a sample of the target audience to gather insights for further refinement.