01 Lower Daily Pressure
Play is associated with lower cortisol and helps buffer daily pressure.
American Academy of Pediatrics
Wearby
A playful OOTD diary companion for daily reflection.
Problem
Daily reflection tools feel serious and effortful. Users who want gentle emotional check-ins have no tool that feels approachable, low-pressure, or fun.
Solution
A companion app where dressing up a character named Ear becomes a daily ritual, turning reflection into play.
Background
Personal Motivation
This started as a personal project. I wanted a low-pressure alternative to journaling, something with more to respond to than a blank page. I designed and built Wearby solo.
Research
Secondary Research
I reviewed published research on play and stress before making any design decisions:
02 Positive Emotion
Adult playfulness supports positive emotion and resilience.
Frontiers in Psychology, 2022
03 Stress Relief
Playful reframing of everyday routines promotes positive affect and stress relief.
Proyer et al., PMC
Research
Moodboard
I researched OOTD diaries, sticker books, and dress-up apps to identify a visual direction that felt playful rather than clinical. Two mood boards converged on four qualities: rounded shapes, an illustration-forward style, a calm palette, and sticker-book tactility, the foundation for every screen and physical asset that followed.
Research
Character Testing
Ear's personality needed to feel safe without being flat. I ran a comparative preference test with 19 participants, showing two directions, Friendly and Humorous, and collecting quantitative picks alongside qualitative feedback.
Before
After
Friendly won on emotional fit. Humorous had fewer picks, but stronger attachment among those who chose it, worth exploring later.
Ideation
User Flow
A playful character couldn't come at the cost of usability. I ran an accessibility audit against WCAG AA at the wireframe stage, checking contrast, tap targets, and labels, rather than retrofitting it after screens existed.
Ideation
Wireframes
I created mobile wireframes to define layouts and interactions.
Ideation
Design decisions
After wireframing, I ran usability tests with 9 participants and made three key changes based on their feedback.
Challenge: Home had several actions, but nothing showed which mattered most.
Result: I ranked the actions by priority and rebuilt the visual weight around that order, with WCAG AA in mind.
Challenge: Form-like fields felt like homework, and users reflect late in the day, when energy is low.
Result: Following my secondary research, I used speech bubbles and stars and kept the screen as simple as possible for a tired end-of-day user.
Challenge: Insights showed what was easy to compute, not what users wanted to know.
Result: I rebuilt the screen around what users asked to see, in a layout consistent with other screens.
Ideation
AI Feature
A fixed closet limited how personal Ear’s outfits could feel, so I designed Create with AI. Rather than letting the AI generate images freely, I constrained it to read a photo or description and apply it to existing clothing shapes. This achieved brand coherence while giving users real personalization. I then integrated it through an API to test it in a live build.
Final Solution
App Prototype
The interface carries moodboard’s playful direction through a cohesive visual language, while the primary flow stays low-friction. I added Calendar, Past Memories, and Profile features to transform from a single-flow demo to complete product.
Final Solution
Design System & Components
I built a scalable design system in Figma on a 4px grid with WCAG AA verified color pairings and a two-typeface hierarchy.
Clothing items are structured as component sets with variants using auto layout, so outfits can grow without breaking consistency.
Final Solution
Vercel
I took Wearby beyond a prototype by building and deploying it on Vercel, so the design was validated in a working product. [Try the live app]
Final Solution
Physical Companion
The digital experience extends into a pocket-sized physical diary: a sealed envelope as the first surprise, 30 daily prompt cards, and an outfit/background sticker system that mirrors the app's dress-up flow. A QR code hidden on the closing page reveals the digital companion as a second, later surprise.
Reflection
Post-Project Reflection
Constraints
Working solo
No one to check my decisions. I had to catch my own mistakes before testing with users.
Digital and physical design
The app and the physical diary had to feel like one product, but building them used different skills.
Room for Improvement
Usability testing
I tested the character early, but never the full app. I'd test the whole flow next time.
Next Steps
Long-term testing
One test session can't show if the habit sticks. I'd want to see if people keep using it after a few weeks.