Case study · UI / UX Design
Luma
A mood-adaptive motivational companion for iOS, built accessibility-first from the very first screen instead of retrofitted at the end.
The problem
Motivation apps give everyone the same content regardless of how they actually feel, lean on streaks that punish an off day, and are built almost entirely around screen-dependent interaction, which quietly excludes people with visual impairments.
Across 8 competitor apps I audited, none combined mood check-in, adaptive content, and visible progress in one coherent flow, and only one even declared App Store accessibility support.
What I built
A complete onboarding and core feature flow for iOS: a five-second mood check-in that matches audio-first sessions and affirmations to how someone actually feels, with progress shown as a no-guilt consistency tracker instead of a streak counter.
Accessibility was part of the design from day one, not a separate mode: full VoiceOver support, colour-blind-safe visuals, and accessibility preferences placed in onboarding rather than buried in a menu.
The tricky part
Every decision traces back to a real number or a real quote. Audio leads the whole experience, because 71% of survey respondents said they would rather listen than read. There are no streaks anywhere, just a consistency tracker, because 65% said punitive streaks stress them out more than they motivate. And late in the process I dropped a second accent colour that tested well on a moodboard but barely showed up once real screens existed.
The outcome
Presented live to the WBS cohort and instructor as a finished case study: a complete onboarding and core flow as interactive hi-fi screens, plus a documented, research-traceable design system.
The core lesson: accessibility stops being a checklist the moment you stop treating it as a separate track from the real design.
Research & insights
A competitive analysis across 8 apps surfaced three gaps: no app combined mood check-in, adaptive content, and progress tracking in one flow, accessibility was an industry-wide blind spot, and most retention models leaned on streak guilt rather than no-guilt consistency. A 17-response survey and 5 interviews sharpened it: 71% were open to listening over reading, 65% said punitive streaks stress them out more than they motivate, and the most common reason people gave for abandoning an app like this was that the content felt generic.
The research became Jane, 26, a junior brand designer: I don't need another app that tells me to breathe. I need one that actually notices when I'm not. An affinity diagram across all responses and a six-stage journey map pressure-tested every stage for friction or guilt, funnelling into one guiding question. How might we create a motivational companion that adapts to how the user feels day to day, so that building a positive mindset finally sticks?
Ideation & testing
MoSCoW prioritisation kept scope honest for a solo three-week build: a mood check-in under five seconds, mood and goal matched audio, no account wall, a no-guilt welcome-back screen, a consistency tracker instead of a streak counter, and accessibility settings in onboarding. Crazy 8s mapped a six-screen onboarding and ten-screen core flow before any visual design, and a 13-card card sort with 8 participants, run across moderated and unmoderated sessions, drove a cleaner sitemap.
Mid-fi testing caught two contradictions with earlier decisions: a save-your-progress account step sat before the first completed session, so it moved to a lower-friction, optional moment, and the progress screen still read 10 day streak, so it became the Consistency Tracker. Testing also showed that jumping straight into the first session with no mood check-in felt disconnected, which is exactly why hi-fi added a dedicated check-in before session one.
Design & final screens
A moodboard narrowed to six candidate attributes, and a desirability test with 14 participants confirmed Calm, Relaxing, Gentle, and Ethereal as the strongest and most consistent words. Lavender purple became the primary colour, calm and gentle without feeling clinical and straightforward to keep colour-blind-safe. A second rose accent was dropped late once it barely showed up in the real UI. Every colour pairing is checked against WCAG AA contrast, and colour is never the sole carrier of meaning anywhere in the interface.
Hi-fi grew onboarding to nine screens and the core flow to twelve, with a broader accessibility pass on touch-target sizes, VoiceOver labelling, and focus order before anything was locked. The final design is structured so three problem pillars, generic content, guilt-driven streaks, and screen-only design, are each answered one for one by adaptive content, no-guilt progress, and accessible by default.
Prototype
A walkthrough of the full journey, from onboarding to a live session. The whole experience adapts to a light or dark preference chosen right in onboarding.
Reflection
Presented live to the WBS cohort and instructor on July 10, 2026, with a recorded prototype walkthrough of the full journey. The core lesson: accessibility stops being a checklist the moment you stop treating it as a separate track from the real design. Nearly everything that started as an accessibility requirement turned out to be something every tester wanted, disability or not.
Want the full process?
The complete detailed case study lives on Notion: every step, every tool, and every artifact.