Moti for consistent meditation practice

Moti is a meditation app I designed with the aim to cultivate mindfulness and motivation through guided meditations and progress tracking.

The app's primary goal is to create an engaging yet simple app that encourages individuals to develop mindfulness habits. By providing motivation tools, such as daily reminders and emotion/streak tracking, Moti aims to make daily meditation a reachable goal.

Why meditation?

Amid the mental health crisis our world faces, meditation has repeatedly proven to be an invaluable tool for improving issues with mood, anxiety, and chronic stress.

Despite its benefits, I’ve personally struggled to maintain a consistent meditation practice—and I’m not alone in this struggle. I therefore wondered if there was a way to bolster a basic meditation app that could aid in habit formation.

Starting to investigate

To gain insights into the needs and preferences of potential users, I began by interviewing friends, family, and peers. I interviewed a total of 10 individuals from various professions, including students, doctors, nurses, and engineers.

"I've never meditated before. I would be interested but feel like I'm currently too busy."

- Shelagh, doctor

"It's hard for me to stay consistent with meditation. I either forget or eventually lose motivation."

- Greer, undergraduate

It was helpful to hear about both the motivations and barriers to meditation.  As it turns out, most people have tried some form of meditation at one point or another, but their reasons for doing so (and degree of success) vary significantly.

Affinity mapping

Using interviews from five of the people, I created an Affinity Map in order to organize our discussions into the most common categories and subsequently highlight the most important issues to address.

Conclusion: various factors at play

Affinity mapping uncovered several key themes that highlight common challenges and motivators related to meditation:

Lack of confidence

There was a general lack of knowledge and confidence surrounding meditating correctly. Some people believed they were making mistakes, that they "weren't doing it right."

Uncertainty

Some people were uncertain about meditation as a whole, whether that be from lack of knowledge, doubt, or just unfamiliarity with the subject.

Stuck in emotions

A major motivator for meditating is feeling "stuck" emotionally or mentally. Often people aim to manage and understand their emotions better. Others have more specific targets, such as depression or anxiety.

Habit forming

Being able to see progress is the most motivating factor in forming a habit.

⚑ The Question

How can I create an app that encourages continued use?

Competitive analysis

Next, I looked to analyze the current top meditation apps. In assessing these apps, several key competitors were identified.

Key findings:

• Guided meditations were available in all the apps.
• Basic free tier for most apps, and users need to upgrade and pay to get premium content. Often, the freemium content is very limited.
• Wide range of content is a major strength BUT has the potential to be confusing to some users.
• All these top apps have various voice options. Some even feature celebrity narrators.

User personas

After synthesizing my initial research, I was ready to develop a primary persona that represents my target user. The goals, frustrations, and motivations of India and Josh were derived from the competitive analysis and interviews.

I kept India and Josh in mind as I began the subsequent design process.

Putting it all together

Based on the research findings, I began designing the app. I created a collection of the most important findings gathered from the research and how they would be included in the app. To include:

Emotion and streak tracking

Combines streak tracking, a proven motivator for consistency, with emotion tracking to help users visualize their progress in a clear and organized way.

Notification system

Sends friendly daily reminders (e.g., "Don't forget to meditate today!") to support habit-forming, a feature common among competitors.

Guided meditations

Structured sessions with voice guidance, included by all competitors and highly requested by users for ease of practice.

Light and colorful design

People emphasized that the app should be pleasant to look at. More specifically, they wanted apps that were light and colorful.

Voice options

Features multiple voice options, such as masculine or feminine, to ensure users feel comfortable during guided sessions.

Prototyping

The low-fidelity prototype was designed to test basic layouts and user flow before adding more detail. This stage involved gathering initial feedback.

Wireframes

I next created the digital wireframes, keeping in mind a user interface that would allow for simple navigation and exploration.

Branding

For the design, I chose a calming yet colorful color palette to reflect the app’s purpose—promoting mindfulness and mental clarity. The logo and overall aesthetic are designed to evoke a sense of peace and positivity.

Notably, a lot of the apps I examined had darker color palettes. For example, Headspace and Calm had bluish blacks and dark purples. This is likely to create a nighttime feel or relaxing ambience. I decided to go with what my interviewees requested, though future considerations could include a nighttime mode as an option.