CalmIllini
A mental health hub for UIUC students, bringing journaling, meditation, and peer support into one accessible place.
I led user research and interaction design for CalmIllini end-to-end — running discovery research, defining the information architecture, and designing the journaling, meditation, and peer-support prototype flows.
Context
Problem
College students face academic pressure, inconsistent resource access, and difficulty maintaining healthy coping strategies.
Who had it
UIUC students dealing with academic anxiety and stress who have an interest in journaling and meditation, but struggle to find and stick with mental health resources.
Research
We narrowed our focus from general college students to specifically target UIUC students dealing with academic anxiety and stress who have an interest in journaling and meditation.
Journey & empathy maps
Key insights
- Students use various coping techniques but struggle with consistency
- Many are unaware of existing campus mental health resources
- Academic stress peaks during midterms and finals seasons
- Students prefer digital solutions they can access privately
- Peer support is highly valued but difficult to find
- Time constraints make lengthy programs unsustainable
- Personalization increases engagement with wellness tools
- Students want resources that integrate into their daily routines
“It's frustrating trying to find the resources that UIUC offers. A lot of the time I get stressed from school work, especially around finals season.”
— Interview participant
Persona
Survey data
24 responses collected Friday 10/18 – Wednesday 10/23, targeting a 70% positive response rate.
Insight
We analyzed four competitors in the mental wellness space. The turning point: journaling and meditation tools existed, one-to-one care existed — but nobody combined them into a single, personalized hub. That gap became the product.
- Two of four competitors incorporated one-to-one care
- Journal-only or meditation-only platforms exist separately
- Direct competitor identified as Mantra Health
- Opportunity identified for a combined solution
Design
Sketches
Early low-fidelity sketches exploring layout before moving to Figma.
Prototype
Onboarding → home
Mood check-in → journal
Final prototype screens: the “Log in” CTA carries a first-time user from welcome through onboarding into the home dashboard; tapping the nav bar's journal icon opens straight into that day's entry.
Outcome
Designed comprehensive prototype with journaling, meditation, and peer support features. This is a concept — the prototype has not shipped to production, and there's no usage data to report yet.
Reflection
This project was an incredible learning experience that helped me develop my skills in team communication, design thinking methodology, and empathy-centered problem-solving.
I learned the importance of conducting deep user research before jumping into solution design — understanding pain points, motivations, and behaviors was crucial to building something that actually addresses students' needs.
Next steps: refining the prototype based on user feedback and moving toward a development phase.
Next project
AI Trust & Usage Research →