Design and validate a non-clinical, emotionally intuitive space that helps high-functioning young professionals consistently stay grounded without ever feeling judged
This project, Ember: Emotional Mirror for Balance, is a product designed to help high-functioning young professionals build emotional resilience by providing a non-clinical, culturally relevant, and intuitive space for daily self-reflection and emotional regulation. It addresses the pervasive issue of emotional fatigue and stress among professionals who often hesitate to seek traditional therapy or use clinical mental health apps due to fear of judgment or lack of cultural fit.
Project Summary for HR
Goal: To create a mobile-first, emotionally intuitive product that enables young professionals to reflect and regulate their emotions consistently without feeling overwhelmed or judged.
Problem: Many young professionals experience silent emotional fatigue, stress, and burnout but avoid therapy and traditional wellness tools because these feel clinical, robotic, or culturally disconnected.
Solution: Ember provides three core experiences:
Mirror Room: A private, voice-only space for daily self-check-ins powered by AI prompts, ensuring privacy with on-device processing.
Hearth Orb: A bio-sensor orb device that translates emotional states into calming visual and tactile ambient experiences without labels or tracking.
Sanctuary Scripts: AI-personalized voice-acted emotional rehearsal exercises to strengthen coping mechanisms in a playful, private way.
Achievements
Developed a high-fidelity prototype with a unified design system integrating app and hardware rituals providing a seamless emotional reflection experience.
Engineered a privacy-first model with on-device voice processing and zero-data architecture, significantly enhancing user trust and safety.
Validated the product positioning through user research reflecting strong preference for non-clinical, culturally safe emotional wellness solutions.
Established key performance metrics such as weekly ritual completion, user retention, engagement duration, and NPS, serving as indicators for emotional resilience and product adoption.
Designed mitigation strategies for potential risks such as user fatigue, privacy misconceptions, and engagement dips using user-centric communication and feature roadmaps.
Tools and Technologies Used
UI/UX Design: Figma for prototyping app interfaces and hardware companion flows.
Hardware Platform: ARM Cortex-M4 processor, capacitive touch, sensors, RGB LEDs, and Bluetooth Low Energy for ambient feedback.
Software Platform: Mobile app featuring on-device voice journaling, encrypted inputs, AI-driven personalized content, and BLE synchronization.
Privacy Compliance: Implemented zero-data mode, optional encrypted cloud sync, self-destruct timers, and open-source firmware options to ensure the highest level of data safety.
Analytics and Metrics: Behavioral analytics dashboard to measure acquisition, activation, retention, engagement, satisfaction, and monetization.
Summary
Ember is an innovative product management initiative addressing a critical emotional health need in a culturally sensitive and technology-forward manner. The project successfully combines behavioral science, hardware-software integration, and privacy-centric design, resulting in a unique offering that resonates strongly with its target audience, delivering measurable outcomes in emotional resilience and user engagement for young professionals.
