Case Study Summary
Product:AI-driven wellness system offering personalized action plans, support chats, and curated content for personal growth.
Problem: Users struggle with fragmented tools and generic advice, making it difficult to stay consistent.
Goal: Create a cohesive experience that provides personalized step-by-step guidance, progress tracking, and supportive chat interaction.
- Role: Led end-to-end design from branding to UX/UI; collaborated with developers during implementation sprints.
Deliverables: Brand identity, design system, mobile prototypes, and launch-ready UI screens
🎯Overview
The Project
Bonsai is an AI-powered app designed to support users on their personal growth journey with personalized action plans, chat support, calorie tracking, and holistic wellness tools.
The Project
Bonsai is an AI-powered app designed to support users on their personal growth journey with personalized action plans, chat support, calorie tracking, and holistic wellness tools.
My Role
I led the design from the ground up, shaping the visual identity through naming, colors, and typography, and crafting the core UX flows. I also helped define the concept and key features of the app—drawing from my own wellness journey and identifying what would genuinely support users in their day-to-day growth. In the final month, I collaborated closely with the development team in sprint cycles, refining designs and ensuring a smooth handoff to deliver a cohesive, user-centered experience.
The Objective
Design a cohesive brand and interface for an AI wellness app, integrating smart features to deliver a personalized and supportive experience for users.
The Objective
Design a cohesive brand and interface for an AI wellness app, integrating smart features to deliver a personalized and supportive experience for users.
🧩Problem/Solution
The Problem Statement
Many people struggle to improve their wellness and personal growth, feeling lost without clear, personalized guidance. Existing wellness apps often provide generic, cookie-cutter solutions or focus on isolated tools, forcing users to piece together multiple apps and resources to achieve their goals.
What wellness means in context
In this project, wellness refers to the overall well-being of the individual—encompassing mental and emotional health, daily habits, personal growth, relationships, and physical lifestyle practices. Rather than focusing on one dimension, the goal is to support a more holistic, integrated approach to improving one’s life.
The Solution / Approach
Bonsai addresses the limitations of generic wellness apps by creating a personalized system that helps users improve and make progress across multiple areas of life. Users complete a short quiz to generate a custom action plan, then use integrated tools—Bons-ai Chats for guidance, curated content for relevant insights, and trackers for measurable progress.
Action Plans
Complete a tailored quiz on any goal or problem, and receive a uniquely personalized action plan that tracks progress step by step.
Bons-ai Chats
Bons-AI chat is your mindful companion offering guidance and resources whenever a user faces a challenge or needs more information
Curated Content
Provides relevant insights, tips, and resources tailored to the user’s goals, along with complementary tools like a calorie tracker for specific objectives
Design Logic/How it Works
If a user completes a quiz about a wellness goal, then the system generates a personalized action plan tailored to that goal.
If a user encounters a challenge, then Bons-AI chat provides guidance or resources relevant to that goal.
If a user logs a completed task or milestone, then the action plan updates progress and offers feedback.
If a user selects a topic in curated content, then the app surfaces relevant articles and resources to support their journey.
🛠 The Process
Analyzed the competitive landscape to identify unmet user needs and opportunities for differentiation
Created user flows and wireframes to define the app structure
Developed a cohesive visual identity and design system ensuring consistency across mobile and web experiences
Collaborated closely with developers to ensure design feasibility
Analyzed the competitive landscape to identify unmet user needs and opportunities for differentiation
Used Google Ads engagement data to validate concept direction and refine messaging
🔎 Research
Based on primary and secondary research, I conducted market and competitor analysis, gathered informal user feedback, and created three personas reflecting core user needs. By reviewing evidence-based research on wellness and AI, I ensured that the refreshed visual direction and design decisions were grounded in data rather than assumptions.
Secondary Research
Competitor Analysis
I conducted a detailed analysis of competitors’ designs and business strategies, targeted audience, reviews, and examining why they made certain choices, what worked well, and where there were opportunities to improve
Understanding the Problem
Recognizing a potential problem through my observations of goal-focused wellness apps, I reviewed relevant studies and reports to validate its significance
“Generic goals and interventions fail to meet users’ individual needs.”
” health/wellness apps often rely on broad frameworks rather than tailored, meaningful personalization”
“Generic goals and interventions fail to meet users’ individual needs.”
” health/wellness apps often rely on broad frameworks rather than tailored, meaningful personalization”
Validating the Solution
To explore potential solutions, we investigated how tools such as AI chatbots and personalized action plans could support mental and phsyical wellness, goal tracking, and behavior change. We reviewed research on similar interventions in areas like stress management, weight loss, and habit formation to assess their effectiveness and relevance to our users’ needs
increased physical activity after using action planning prompts
increased physical activity after using action planning prompts
Primary Research
To better understand user needs and validate design decisions, I conducted informal usability testing with participants who interacted with the app and shared verbal feedback. Key insights included:
Users appreciated the clear, goal-oriented interface but wanted more guidance for the initial setup.
Certain features, such as AI-generated action suggestions were seen as helpful for motivation, while others required clarification.
Feedback highlighted areas where navigation or visual hierarchy could be improved to better support mental wellness and goal tracking.
These insights directly informed refinements to the app’s interface, interaction flow, and visual direction, ensuring the design was aligned with real user needs rather than assumptions.
User Personas
Based off primary and secondary research conducted, I created 3 personas based on who our ideal target audience would be for the app. User research and personas helped shape the product by revealing real needs, behaviours, and motivations—guiding design decisions with empathy and clarity.
Through a combination of secondary and primary research, I gained a deep understanding of the problem space, validated the relevance of potential solutions, and uncovered key insights directly from users. This research informed the creation of user personas and guided design decisions, ensuring that every step of the project was grounded in real user needs and evidence-based practices.
Limitations
Due to time and resource constraints, formal user interviews and structured usability testing were not conducted. The design decisions were primarily informed by competitor analysis, secondary research, and informal feedback, rather than direct, in-depth user studies.
✏️ The Design Process
Visual Direction
The visual direction was guided by the core concept of steady, mindful growth. I wanted the interface to feel grounding and supportive, rather than performance-driven. The name “Bonsai” inspired a natural, calm aesthetic rooted in balance, intentionality, and care.
Typography & Color Palette
I selected clean, approachable typography to create clarity and a calm reading experience. The color palette drew inspiration from the name ‘Bonsai,’ using natural tones to evoke balance, growth, and serenity.
Typography & Color Palette
I selected clean, approachable typography to create clarity and a calm reading experience. The color palette drew inspiration from the name ‘Bonsai,’ using natural tones to evoke balance, growth, and serenity.
Challenge Design Decision
Integrating green into the brand presented a challenge, as a single shade didn’t provide enough clarity across the interface. To ensure accessibility and consistency—especially in both light and dark modes—I selected two distinct greens. This decision balanced aesthetic goals with user-friendly functionality.
Design System Structure
To ensure consistency and streamline handoff, I built a scalable design system in Figma using variables (tokens), including a dedicated component section for buttons. The system covered components, spacing, and color styles for both light and dark modes, making the interface adaptable and simplifying developer implementation
Designing Interfaces
Designing the interface of a wellness system was challenging—one of the first priorities was building out action plans and finding a seamless way to integrate supporting tools like chats, a calorie tracker, and more into the overall experience.
Wireframes
After creating several wireframe options, the lead developer and I collaborated to choose the best layout for the main home screen, focusing on clarity, functionality, and how to best organize the key tools.
Wireframes
After creating several wireframe options, the lead developer and I collaborated to choose the best layout for the main home screen, focusing on clarity, functionality, and how to best organize the key tools.
Iterations
The original home screen offered generic wellness topics, which made the app feel standard and limited personalization. After exploring different alternatives, I worked closely with developer to redesign it so users could enter their specific goals or challenges, receiving a tailored action plan, AI chat support, and curated content that addressed their unique needs.
Iterations
The original home screen offered generic wellness topics, which made the app feel standard and limited personalization. After exploring different alternatives, I worked closely with developer to redesign it so users could enter their specific goals or challenges, receiving a tailored action plan, AI chat support, and curated content that addressed their unique needs.
User Flow
I designed a comprehensive user flow for login, sign-up, onboarding, and more, including states for incorrect password entry and password resets, ensuring the developer had full visibility of all user paths and edge cases.
Note: This designs system was created in both light and dark modes using Figma tokens to enhance accessibility and user experience. However, it cannot be displayed due to technical limitations.
✅ Final Results
After months of dedicated branding, design, and iterations, we brought the product to life with a fully working prototype. Launching ads and seeing real users try it out was a rewarding moment—it validated the concept and showed our work resonated with people. While the live website/app is no longer running, the prototype allowed us to test and confirm the design with real users.
After months of dedicated branding, design, and iterations, we brought the product to life with a fully working prototype. Launching ads and seeing real users try it out was a rewarding moment—it validated the concept and showed our work resonated with people. While the live website/app is no longer running, the prototype allowed us to test and confirm the design with real users
📣 Marketing
After launching the MVP, we tested social media posts and ads to validate the product and explore audience engagement. Minimal A/B testing provided early insights, though detailed results aren’t available.
Ads for Social Media
I created colorful, animated ads with playful motion and snappy lines to quickly show how Bonsai makes personal growth easier. This style targeted younger users who respond to fun, high-energy visuals.
Video Awareness & Demo Ads
I created one long brand-awareness video that walked through how the app works, then produced short feature demo videos focused on specific wellness needs—stress, sleep, and finance. This approach helped reach a broad audience while also speaking directly to users’ individual situations.
