A digital companion for new college students, supporting mindful hydration habits
My final project for the DALI Lab's UX/UI Mini-series, a two-week introduction to design thinking, user research, and UX/UI principles. Bartholomew is a tamagotchi-inspired digital pet, where users can log their water intake throughout the day, find nearby water fountains, and receive encouragement from Bartholomew, building mindful hydration habits.
Role
Team
Tools
Duration
Designer
Solo project
Figma
2-week sprint,
Winter 2025
What is design thinking?
Design thinking is a framework used to identify problems and develop solutions. At the DALI Lab, we follow these 5 steps over the course of a 10-week sprint. This Mini-series was only 2 weeks long, so we engaged in an abridged version. In those two weeks, I brought my hydration companion from interviewing and empathizing with users to a prototyped final product.
It all starts with the user
I interviewed a few friends to get an idea of how students drink water. I then synthesized these findings into a persona: The Dehydrated First-Year Student.
College kids are smart and busy. If there's a more efficient way to do something, they'll try it out. A successful product for this persona will help target what's causing challenges in their routines, which I further explored in the journey map below.
This journey map identified three key challenges to the process of drinking water:
Drinking water is seen as a chore
Finding a clean water fountain nearby (especially if in a new environment)
Refocusing after returning from a water break
All this research was condensed into a POV statement and three "How Might We" questions. These findings will be used to drive feature brainstorming and priority.
Interactive Pet
Bartholomew, your interactive hydration companion, speaks a variety of messages when tapped. I imagined the finalized product would have a variety of companions to choose from, allowing the user to customize their pet.
Daily Log
To track progress over time, the daily log collects the user's hydration history. Each day is organized in a calendar grid and color coded based on if the day's goal is met or not. This goal is displayed as a progress bar and can be set in the profile section.
Daily Goal
Users can set their daily goal and enter the capacity of the water bottles, allowing users to quickly log when finishing a bottle. This page also tracks the number of uses for each saved bottle, providing insights on users' water bottle usage habits.
Fountain Map
A common complaint among interviewees was difficulty finding water fountains, especially if they were in an unfamiliar building or area of campus. The fountain map collects the locations of all water fountains on campus, their filter status, and additional notes, addressing the concern.
Project takeaways
