2019
Harnessing AI for Emotional Awareness
Capstone
UX/UI CASE-STUDY
Nora is an emotional assistant I designed as a part of my exploration into emotional AI and voice interfaces. Using voice-recognition and AI, Nora helps users track and understand their emotional patterns throughout the day. She identifies when you're stressed or upset and offers recommendations—like breathing exercises—to help you regain balance. The idea is to make people more aware of their emotions and encourage deliberate mindfulness in a world that often doesn't pause for introspection. This project explores how AI can be used as a tool for emotional self-awareness, helping users make better choices by understanding their emotions more deeply.
Solution: Nora as a Supportive Assistant
Nora addresses these challenges by making emotional awareness easy and accessible. As an AI-powered emotional assistant, she listens to the user’s voice throughout the day, tracks emotional patterns, and offers personalized recommendations for emotional well-being. By seamlessly integrating into daily life, Nora acts like a supportive friend who helps users stay in tune with their emotions, preventing them from making decisions they might regret later. This offers a new, proactive approach to managing stress and mindfulness.
The Problem: The Need for Emotional Awareness
In today’s fast-paced world, emotional self-awareness is often pushed to the side in favor of productivity. People don’t have the time or space to reflect on their emotional state, leading to poor emotional habits and reactive decision-making. This lack of mindfulness can cause stress, burnout, and a lack of self-control, impacting both personal well-being and interpersonal relationships. Traditional methods for tracking emotions, like journaling or meditation, require effort and dedication, which many people struggle to maintain regularly.
Discovery
User Testing & Insights
Many participants expressed interest in an assistant that could seamlessly integrate into their daily routines without being intrusive, and Nora’s voice interface was particularly appealing for its ability to provide emotional support in a non-judgmental, friendly manner.
Understanding Emotional AI and User Needs
Research shows that people are increasingly looking for ways to manage stress and anxiety through technology, but they often feel overwhelmed by the tools available. According to the American Psychological Association, stress levels in the U.S. are at an all-time high, and many users seek solutions that provide instant support without requiring significant effort. Emotional AI, when applied correctly, can provide personalized solutions that go beyond standard relaxation techniques, helping users better understand their emotions over time.
Research
Exploring Data Visualization
After initial explorations and user testing, the graphs displayed are concise and expandable in order to show the most level of detail as possible without becoming overwhelming. The color-coding systems allow for easy pattern recognition, and the logs further help the user understand what actions are linked to what effect in the form of emotions.
Designing for Calm
In the early stages, I focused on wireframing Nora’s key interactions, ensuring that the app would feel intuitive and approachable. I designed a clean and minimal interface, with key features such as an emotional status dashboard, daily emotional tracking, and reminders for mindfulness exercises. The wireframes were focused on delivering a seamless experience where the user could easily navigate through their emotional data and engage with helpful prompts without feeling overwhelmed.
Low-Fi Designs
Motion Prototyping
To showcase Nora’s functionality, I created a motion prototype that demonstrated how the voice interface would interact with the user. The prototype included animations for the emotional status changes and breathing exercise recommendations, helping visualize how Nora would guide the user through different emotional states. This interactive prototype allowed me to demonstrate the app’s potential impact, and I also created video assets showing how Nora’s emotional feedback could be integrated into daily routines.
UI Design
The visual design focused on themes of light and brightness, reflecting the idea of "enlightenment" that Nora represents. The app’s color palette featured calming hues with bright accents to create a soothing yet engaging experience. The UI design emphasized simplicity and clarity, ensuring that users could easily access their emotional data and mindfulness exercises. I used soft animations to make the app feel more human and approachable, reinforcing the idea of a supportive companion.
High-Fi Designs
PROJECT OVERVIEW
ROLE:
UX/UI Designer, Student
DURATION:
One Semester
Adobe XD
After Effects
Photoshop
TAKEAWAYS
Nora was an exploration into how emotional AI can help people better understand and manage their emotions. By tracking emotional patterns throughout the day, Nora provides users with insights and tools to promote mindfulness and emotional well-being. The project reinforced how AI can go beyond traditional uses, offering personal, real-time emotional support. Future iterations could include integrating wearable tech like the Apple Watch to track physiological data, allowing Nora to automatically sense stress levels and provide even more personalized interventions.
IN CONCLUSION
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