Aurora

Branding & UI/UX Design

Aurora, by definition, is “the first appearance of light in the morning or the time of its appearance”. We at Aurora advocate for caring for yourself and your mental health through writing. One of our main goals is to allow individuals to fully feel and release any and all emotions through short writing prompts that allow reflection on and about their day.

Often times many of us find ourselves treating others with kindness yet neglecting that same care and kindness for ourselves. Through writing such as this, we are granted the opportunity to say what sometimes words can not. We are able to pour our minds and hearts onto the pages and truly immerse ourselves in emotions and view them in a positive light. With Aurora, we hope that you too can find good in each day.

Goals

Establish and implement effective and unique methods for wellness journaling.
Formulate a brand that inspires and encourages young adult women.
Use skills and knowledge gained during my time in undergraduate studies to create a detailed and thoroughly developed brand.

Survey

During the beginning of this project, a short survey was conducted amongst the target audience. This was to ensure that the best method of logging information, whether digital or physical, was chosen for this brand. Because of this survey, I was able to see the equal importance of both methods and provide them.

Common reasons for people preferring physical books were that with writing, people tend to remember the information better and they can also have the satisfaction of removing or crossing out completed tasks. With digital writing, however, a commonly shared pro was that material written down is easier to have on hand as it would typically be on their phone.

Digital Layouts

The first digital layouts were created in order to make sense of how the content would be placed. As indicated by the separate white boxes, the top two boxes are the planning portion of the page, whereas the bottom box contains more personal and intimate writing prompts. After the initial layouts were constructed, the focus was shifted to the other page in the spread. These page were designated for more creative exercises to help tie into the idea of relaxation and stress relief.

App Interface

Before designing the interface for the Aurora app, the biggest goal was to take the content created for the book and transfer it to a simple-to-use app format. The best way to do so was through large buttons, soft shapes, and simple yet effective design.

Merging the Book & App

Once both the app and book plans were solidified, an idea came about to provide a method to enhance the journaling experience for users that may enjoy analog and digital writing. Each journaling and creativity page contains a small QR code within the lower right hand corner. Once the user has installed the Aurora app and created their profile, they can then scan the code in order to transfer written content to the app.

Final Results

Once this project was completed, I had never felt a greater sense of pride. This project is very meaningful to me for a list of reasons. The brand itself exemplifies my interests and my personality and I feel that anyone who knows me would agree. This project was also the largest one I have completed throughout my academic career and time as a designer.