Debrief
A journal that teaches you about yourself
Role
Designer Engineer
Scope
Discovery & Specification UI & UX Design Swift Development
Industry
Mindfulness
Summary
As part of the Cal Hacks iOS Bootcamp, I developed Debrief, an innovative journaling app together with one other developer. The design priorities focused on creating a natural, interactive journaling experience that allows users to form a journaling habit with minimal friction. Using Swift, we built the app with a strong emphasis on personalization to offer users valuable insights into their mental and emotional well-being.
The project entailed design, prototyping, and development of the app, resulting in a product that makes journaling effortless and insightful. The clear and elegant user interface won the award for Best User Interface at the Demo Day.
Debrief
A journal that teaches you about yourself
Role
Designer Engineer
Scope
Discovery & Specification UI & UX Design Swift Development
Industry
Mindfulness
Summary
As part of the Cal Hacks iOS Bootcamp, I developed Debrief, an innovative journaling app together with one other developer. The design priorities focused on creating a natural, interactive journaling experience that allows users to form a journaling habit with minimal friction. Using Swift, we built the app with a strong emphasis on personalization to offer users valuable insights into their mental and emotional well-being.
The project entailed design, prototyping, and development of the app, resulting in a product that makes journaling effortless and insightful. The clear and elegant user interface won the award for Best User Interface at the Demo Day.
Debrief
A journal that teaches you about yourself
Role
Designer, Swift Engineer
Scope
UI & UX Design SwiftUI Development
Industry
Mindfulness
Summary
As part of the Cal Hacks iOS Bootcamp, I developed Debrief, an innovative journaling app together with one other developer. The design priorities focused on creating a natural, interactive journaling experience that allows users to form a journaling habit with minimal friction. Using Swift, we built the app with a strong emphasis on personalization to offer users valuable insights into their mental and emotional well-being.
The project entailed design, prototyping, and development of the app, resulting in a product that makes journaling effortless and insightful. The clear and elegant user interface won the award for Best User Interface at the Demo Day.
Awards
Best User Interface — Cal Hacks iOS Demo Day, UC Berkeley
Voice Journaling
Creating a journaling interaction that users don't have to think about
To fight writer’s block, Debrief primarily used voice to capture entries because people generally express themselves more fluidly. Additionally, users were not allowed to stop talking for more than 5 seconds after they started an entry or the entire entry would be deleted. This forcing function reliably put them into a flow state of reflection with very little cognitive effort.
Voice Journaling
Creating a journaling interaction that users don't have to think about
To fight writer’s block, Debrief primarily used voice to capture entries because people generally express themselves more fluidly. Additionally, users were not allowed to stop talking for more than 5 seconds after they started an entry or the entire entry would be deleted. This forcing function reliably put them into a flow state of reflection with very little cognitive effort.
Voice Journaling
Creating a journaling interaction that users don't have to think about
To fight writer’s block, Debrief primarily used voice to capture entries because people generally express themselves more fluidly. Additionally, users were not allowed to stop talking for more than 5 seconds after they started an entry or the entire entry would be deleted. This forcing function reliably put them into a flow state of reflection with very little cognitive effort.
Text Input
Addressing the natural friction of typing out journal entries
Users reported that they often didn't know how to start or keep going when typing out an entry. To minimize this, text entry included the same forcing function, allowing only 5 seconds of no input before the entry was discarded. Additionally, dynamic prompts were placed directly in the editor and were constantly updated based on the input.
Text Input
Addressing the natural friction of typing out journal entries
Users reported that they often didn't know how to start or keep going when typing out an entry. To minimize this, text entry included the same forcing function, allowing only 5 seconds of no input before the entry was discarded. Additionally, dynamic prompts were placed directly in the editor and were constantly updated based on the input.
Text Input
Addressing the natural friction of typing out journal entries
Users reported that they often didn't know how to start or keep going when typing out an entry. To minimize this, text entry included the same forcing function, allowing only 5 seconds of no input before the entry was discarded. Additionally, dynamic prompts were placed directly in the editor and were constantly updated based on the input.
Personalized Insights
Shaping insights that make users learn about themselves
Most users never read their entries after saving them, even though journals offer valuable insights about the self. An important benefit of Debrief's interactions was that they resulted in richer data being captured. Based on this information, Debrief generated a well-formatted summary entry and title as well as indicators to track mental health trends over time. These relied on the user's speaking style and could additionally be customized to make entries feel more consumable and personal to the user.
Personalized Insights
Shaping insights that make users learn about themselves
Most users never read their entries after saving them, even though journals offer valuable insights about the self. An important benefit of Debrief's interactions was that they resulted in richer data being captured. Based on this information, Debrief generated a well-formatted summary entry and title as well as indicators to track mental health trends over time. These relied on the user's speaking style and could additionally be customized to make entries feel more consumable and personal to the user.
Personalized Insights
Shaping insights that make users learn about themselves
Most users never read their entries after saving them, even though journals offer valuable insights about the self. An important benefit of Debrief's interactions was that they resulted in richer data being captured. Based on this information, Debrief generated a well-formatted summary entry and title as well as indicators to track mental health trends over time. These relied on the user's speaking style and could additionally be customized to make entries feel more consumable and personal to the user.
Home View
Providing easy entry points into journaling
Users often struggled to capture consistent journal entries — impersonal nudges or generic interfaces didn't offer effective incentives. Debrief took a highly personalized approach, offering dynamic prompts that learn from a user's behavior and context such as recent media and events to quickly trigger a reflective state in users. Additionally, sentiment trends used the users' curiosity to make regular entries.
Home View
Providing easy entry points into journaling
Users often struggled to capture consistent journal entries — impersonal nudges or generic interfaces didn't offer effective incentives. Debrief took a highly personalized approach, offering dynamic prompts that learn from a user's behavior and context such as recent media and events to quickly trigger a reflective state in users. Additionally, sentiment trends used the users' curiosity to make regular entries.
Home View
Providing easy entry points into journaling
Users often struggled to capture consistent journal entries — impersonal nudges or generic interfaces didn't offer effective incentives. Debrief took a highly personalized approach, offering dynamic prompts that learn from a user's behavior and context such as recent media and events to quickly trigger a reflective state in users. Additionally, sentiment trends used the users' curiosity to make regular entries.
See next
See next
See next
About
Lukas Maschmann is a Product Designer. After spending his time in high school performing as an Opera singer and sketching interfaces in class, he studied Technology and Human-Computer Interaction at Università Bocconi, Milan and the University of California, Berkeley. He has since built products at both unicorns and early stage startups in Fintech, SaaS, and AI.
About
Lukas Maschmann is a Product Designer. After spending his time in high school performing as an Opera singer and sketching interfaces in class, he studied Technology and Human-Computer Interaction at Università Bocconi, Milan and the University of California, Berkeley. He has since built products at both unicorns and early stage startups in Fintech, SaaS, and AI.
About
Lukas Maschmann is a Product Designer. After spending his time in high school performing as an Opera singer and sketching interfaces in class, he studied Technology and Human-Computer Interaction at Università Bocconi, Milan and the University of California, Berkeley. He has since built products at both unicorns and early stage startups in Fintech, SaaS, and AI.