Speculative App
Emotion Garden
2024
Background Context
Emotion Garden is an app designed to help children aged 3–9 engage with and process their emotions in a simple and playful way. By answering visually guided questions about their feelings, children grow flowers in a virtual garden as a reward. The app fosters emotional awareness through an intuitive, calming user flow that prioritizes accessibility for children, including those who cannot yet read or write.
The Problem
Many children struggle to identify and regulate their emotions. Caregivers often lack accessible tools to guide children in developing emotional skills, especially those rooted in simple and consistent practices. Current tools tend to overwhelm or disengage children, particularly during heightened emotional states, leaving a gap for a focused, accessible solution.
The Goal
To create an engaging, visually driven app that provides children with foundational tools for emotional awareness and regulation. The app aims to foster positive emotional practices that can be applied both within and outside the digital space.
Role & Responsibilities
My role
Lead UX Designer
Visual Designer (illustrating all elements by hand)
Responsibilities
Conducting user research and usability testing
Wireframing, prototyping, and iterating designs
Visual design and illustration of app assets
Accessibility optimization
Understanding the User
User Research: Summary
I conducted direct observation and informal usability tests with children and parents at a local library, supplemented by feedback from a childhood therapist. This process revealed the need for an app that minimizes cognitive load, prioritizes visual engagement, and accommodates diverse emotional expressions.
Key Insights from Research
Children’s Challenges: Younger children often lack the language skills to articulate emotions but respond positively to visual cues.
Engagement Limitations: Tools requiring caregiver involvement or reading often lose children’s interest.
Simplified Emotional Exploration: Caregivers and therapists stressed the importance of enabling emotional reflection rather than trying to “fix” emotional states in the moment.
Design Process
Wireframes
The initial wireframes envisioned a more complex app requiring children to complete de-escalation activities. Usability testing with a therapist highlighted the need for simplicity, leading to a refined focus on visual, post-escalation emotional exploration.
Low-Fidelity Prototype
The app’s core user flow was simplified to guide children through:
Identifying the size of their feeling (e.g., a small plant vs. a tree).
Assigning a color to the emotion.
Indicating where the feeling is located in their body.
Selecting the emotion’s face from labeled icons (e.g., happy, sad, excited).
Iterative Improvements
Based on usability testing:
Emotion icons were enlarged, with text labels deemphasized.
Navigation was streamlined for pre-literate users, ensuring children could use the app independently.
Early hand drawn iterations to wireframes
Early hand drawn iterations to wireframes along with notes to self
Early hand drawn iterations to wireframes playing with more neutral language
The same screen through 3 main stages of development
Final Design
Accessibility Features
Tap-Friendly Navigation: Designed for small hands and limited dexterity.
Inclusive Emotional Expression: Abstract options (e.g., colors, body locations) allow children to engage without relying solely on facial cues or labels.
Non-Judgmental Flow: The app rewards every emotional expression equally, fostering a sense of achievement regardless of input.
Visual Elements
The final app features hand-drawn illustrations and calming animations to create an engaging, child-friendly aesthetic. I owe so much of this project to the artists I imitated while learning how to draw. All of my reference images are saved on this Pinterest board
High-Fidelity Prototype
The app culminates in the growth of a virtual flower in the child’s garden, rewarding emotional exploration. The simple, positive reinforcement encourages repeated use.
Results and Reflection
Impact
Feedback from testing participants highlighted the app’s calming and accessible design. One parent remarked:
"My child loved being able to ‘show’ their feelings through colors and shapes without having to explain them in words."
Key Learnings
Iterative Design: Simplifying features led to a more effective and enjoyable user experience.
Patience and Perseverance: Learning to hand-draw illustrations was a challenge but enriched the app’s unique aesthetic.
User Empathy: Focusing on the emotional needs of both children and caregivers informed every design decision.
Next Steps
Add garden enhancements, such as the ability to grow flower collections and animated interactions, to further engage users.
Conduct further testing with neurodivergent children to explore additional accessibility needs.
Collaborate with therapists and early childgood educators to ensure app aligns with users needs.