Mental health is something I feel passionately about. So many people suffer in silence due to the stigma that they are somehow unstable, when that couldn't be further from the truth. Regular therapy and emotional regulation allows you to function, to understand yourself, to be the better version of yourself that you want to be. But... when counselling only happens once a month, it can be hard to remember the low points in between sessions. Especially when you arrive on a good day and forget how difficult things have been. It's hard to remember why you needed help in the first place.
A Pixel A Day is a reimagining of something many bullet journals show: filling in a colour for each day to represent your mood. Only, not everyone is creative with their hands, or wants the pressure of making a page look pretty like in all the pictures or even wants to carry around yet another thing constantly. Or find it when they have just sat down from a long day and want to watch some tv... and then... three weeks pass and the purpose is gone. So the idea was an app instead, after all, we all have our phones with us constantly. Doom scrolling.
Above: Early sketches
Above: Early sketches
The way the app works is it would prompt you, once a day, at a time of your choosing, to log your mood. Setting it at your own time means you're more likely to keep up with it. You can also log diet, sleep, wellness and add other notes. You can then scroll back through months and years and see patterns start to emerge. Emotions around dates, memories and hormonal cycles. All of it useful for understanding yourself over time, and for having something concrete to bring to a doctor or therapist rather than trying to reconstruct how you've been feeling from memory. And all of it stays private. A safe little space.
I designed this because I wished it existed. Not for me specifically, but for the people I've watched struggle in silence, who needed something gentle and private and theirs.
Looking back if I was to change this now, I would change some things about the design. For a start the colour palette I chose is too bright and energetic and it doesn't match the quiet, reflective nature of what the app is actually for. If I returned to it now I'd make it softer. More considered. Something that felt safe to open on a hard day.
Role: Lead UX Designer — Personal Project
Skills: Mental Health UX, Mobile App Design, Behavioural Design
Skills: Mental Health UX, Mobile App Design, Behavioural Design
