Pace

Your growth, documented

Feature

Journal Mobile App

Timline

Spring 2025

ROle

End-to-End
Product Designer

worked with

Personal Project

project overview

This personal project explores how a journaling app can support sustained motivation by visualizing progress and reinforcing intrinsic habits instead of relying on social validation.

Problem

7 out of 8 people find it difficult to keep up with their goals

*Insights below supported by Dr. Itamar Shatz (PhD, Cambridge University)

01

Higher priorities

People felt that work or academic demands limited their time for personal goals.

02

Tiredness

Because of work or studies, people simply didn't have the energy to work on their goals.

03

Perfectionist tendencies & fear of failure

People felt afraid of doing it imperfectly or being judged.

💭

How might we turn progress into a source of motivation?

solution

A Journal to Capture your Journey

White paper research

Why some types of motivation lasts, and some doesn’t

Legault's research (PhD, Clarkson University) on Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation captured 3 main keypoints that became foundational to the creation of the app:

Intrinsic motivation (Internal satisfaction) is the optimal form of motivation

It is the most self-sustaining and enjoyable.

Extrinsic motivation (external rewards or pressure) undermines intrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation may work short-term but often weaken genuine interest and lasting motivation.

Positive feedback bolsters intrinsic movitation

It tends to fuel perceptions of personal effectance.

Intrinsic motivation (Internal satisfaction) is the optimal form of motivation

It is the most self-sustaining and enjoyable.

Extrinsic motivation (external rewards or pressure) undermines intrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation may work short-term but often weaken genuine interest and lasting motivation.

Positive feedback bolsters intrinsic movitation

It tends to fuel perceptions of personal effectance.

survey

To understand user motivation and behavior, I conducted an online survey of 35 people

What motivates you to build a habit or stick to something? (multiple choice)

Seeing my progress

90.1%

Reflecting on how far I’ve come

84.9%

Personal meaning or purpose

78.8%

Achieving milestones

45.5%

Encouragement

18.2%

How do you usually track your progress or achievements? (multiple choice)

Notes app or
digital doc

84.8%

Photos/videos

33.3%

Habit-tracking

app

18.2%

A physical

journal

15.2%

I don't track

12.1%

How helpful are reminders in keeping you on track? (1 not helpful at all - 5 very helpful)

Very helpful (15.2%) +
Moderately helpful (39.4%)

54.6%

Neutral

33.3%

12.2%

Not helpful (6.1%) +
Not helpful at all (6.1%)

Would you prefer to journal just for yourself, to share with a few close people, or publicly?

Just for myself (81.8%)

To share with a close few people (15.6%)

Publicly (e.g. like a blog or community feed) (0.3%)

What kind of habits or personal journeys would you want to document?

What motivates you to build a habit or stick to something? (multiple choice)

Seeing my progress

90.1%

Reflecting on how far I’ve come

84.9%

Personal meaning or purpose

78.8%

Achieving milestones

45.5%

Encouragement

18.2%

How do you usually track your progress or achievements? (multiple choice)

Notes app or
digital doc

84.8%

Photos/videos

33.3%

Habit-tracking

app

18.2%

A physical

journal

15.2%

I don't track

12.1%

How helpful are reminders in keeping you on track? (1 not helpful at all - 5 very helpful)

Very helpful (15.2%) +
Moderately helpful (39.4%)

54.6%

Neutral

33.3%

12.2%

Not helpful (6.1%) +
Not helpful at all (6.1%)

Would you prefer to journal just for yourself, to share with a few close people, or publicly?

Just for myself (81.8%)

To share with a close few people (15.6%)

Publicly (e.g. like a blog or community feed) (0.3%)

What kind of habits or personal journeys would you want to document?

survey insights

Motivation Rooted in Reflection and Visual Progress

Users were motivated by personal meaning, progress, and reflection. They tracked their journey through notes and photos, showed interest in a variety of personal topics. The majority preferring to journal privately with over half finding reminders helpful.

How do you usually track your progress or achievements? (multiple choice)

Notes app or
digital doc

84.8%

Habit-tracking

app

18.2%

A physical

journal

15.2%

I don't track

12.1%

Photos/videos

33.3%

How helpful are reminders in keeping you on track? (1 not helpful at all - 5 very helpful)

Very helpful (15.2%) +
Moderately helpful (39.4%)

54.6%

Neutral

33.3%

12.2%

Not helpful (6.1%) +
Not helpful at all (6.1%)

Would you prefer to journal just for yourself, to share with a few close people, or publicly?

Just for myself (81.8%)

To share with a close few people (15.6%)

Publicly (e.g. like a blog or community feed) (0.3%)

What motivates you to build a habit or stick to something? (multiple choice)

Seeing my progress

90.1%

Reflecting on how far I’ve come

84.9%

Personal meaning or purpose

78.8%

Achieving milestones

45.5%

Encouragement

18.2%

What kind of habits or personal journeys would you want to document?

survey insights

Motivation Rooted in Reflection and Visual Progress

user flow

Before creating mockups, I created a user flow to ensure the app remains simple and intuitive.

Usability tests

Testing Prototypes

I conducted rapid, small-scale usability tests to identify and resolve critical issues early, creating a stable foundation for deeper user insights later on.

Before

After

"It doesn't feel like a journal. Just another photo album."

To solidify the app's identify as a journal, I decided to mold each journey in the shape of a physical journal.

"I would really like to see a list view, so I can see what I wrote as well"

Since the app was designed for photo-journaling, I initially provided only a grid view. However, after conducting a competitive analysis and gathering user feedback, I added a list view as well.

After

Before

Final product

An app to photo-journal your progress.

01 onboarding

A simple onboarding flow

The onboarding flow guides users through core concepts like journeys, how to start one, and how entries are organized.

Enter journey title

Select category

Begin journal

02 Create journal

Your journeys should be easy to find.

Categorizing them keeps everything organized and accessible. From fun to focused - pick a journey that fits your moment.

02 Create journal

Your journeys should be easy to find.

Categorizing them keeps everything organized and accessible. From fun to focused - pick a journey that fits your moment.

03 VIEW JOURNEY

Reflect on your journey

Start by selecting a journey. Then choose how you'd like to view it - list view lets you see photos and text together, while grid view offers a more visual experience.

prototype

Explore the prototype

See Figma prototype

reflection

What I Learned

User Testing Doesn’t Have to Be One-and-Done

Conducting multiple rounds of testing with 2 users per session helped uncover different usability issues each time, rather than having users point out the same problem repeatedly.

Staying True to the Product Purpose

With minimal features, I questioned whether it would be enough. However, I reminded myself that the app's goal is to avoid overwhelming users. If developed, I would slowly release more features based on continuous user feedback.