Zenwalk
For my capstone project during spring of 2023, I created and designed Zenwalk. It is an app geared toward college students designed to encourage them to be active, get outside, and take healthy breaks from class and work to reduce stress. The app offers trails in the area and pairs users with mindfulness meditations or podcasts that cater to relaxation, inspiration, etc.
Zenwalk came from the culmination of weeks of ideating and research. I began by diving into some self-reflection and consciously thought about my passions. I ended up finding an opportunity to combine my love for hiking and passion for mental health advocacy.
Software
Skills
UI/UX
Wireframing
Competitive Analysis
Why?
The goal of the app is to encourage young adults to get outside and focus on their mental health. Within the app, you can enter preferences for your hike and meditation, and get a combo curated just for you. The more hikes and meditations you complete, the more points you earn in the app. These points can then be redeemed for gift cards or items from our partnered fitness and wellness brands.
The Process
Personas
To gain an understanding of my target audience, I created personas around the key demographic which I decided to be young adults age 18-30. These personas helped me curate the details of my design and create an app with my audience in mind.
Market Research, Competitive
Analysis, and Brand Positioning
After thoroughly researching competing hiking apps in addition to meditation apps, I found a way to make the brand stand out. Many current hiking apps strictly use a green color palette. They also use logos that represent nature in some way. In the meditation apps I explored, bright colors like orange and pink as well as cool blues are often used.
I decided to incorporate blues and earthy browns in order to invoke a more earthy connection and emphasize the mental health aspect of the brand. I also wanted to incorporate textures, potentially patterns, and imagery from nature to encourage relaxation and meditation. Additionally, I would focus more on the mental health aspect of the brand while creating the logo.
Zenwalk would occupy a unique spot in the market as it combines two apps into one. It capitalizes on the ideas that fresh air, nature, and exercise can all improve both physical and mental health.
