Research 🔬

The results of my research revealed a few core principles for me to build my journal around. I pulled information from research papers, existing productivity journals, UX principles, and the experiences of people around me.

From browsing articles, I found that smartphone addiction correlates with higher rates of anxiety, depression, sleep issues, and impulsivity (1, 2, 3). This spurred me on to further pursue the mission of Hatch by creating a productivity journal to accompany the Hatch App.

The applied research I used was primarily Hick’s Law which states that the time taken for making decisions increases with the number and complexity of the choices available. Keeping this law in mind while designing, I emphasized frictionless design and tried to make the journal as simple as possible to keep the user from becoming overwhelmed or irritated. Since the journal is aimed at people who are new to productivity, it’s important to reduce the learning curve that comes with starting a new habit.

I also applied some Gestalt principles to the journal design - primarily the laws of proximity and common region in order to visually group segments together, contributing to a cohesive overall layout.

 

Ideation + Iteration 🌟

During my ideation phase, I focused on experimenting with different looks and tried to push against my current creative limits. I did more visual research, created more iterations, and asked friends, family, and peers for feedback more than ever before for this project.