Reimagining Journaling at curaJOY
tldr;
I led four designers to turn a static journal prompt into guided, shared reflection. It contributed to a 4.7% increase in user satisfaction.
Overview
How can the teacher stop student outbursts?
How can the teenager find what's triggering her eating disorder?
How can the parent connect more with her child who struggles with emotional regulation?
curaJOY is a wellness platform focused on making mental health support more accessible through behavioral therapy, healthcare practices, and AI-driven insights. What makes it unique is its focus on supporting not just individuals, but entire family systems.
When I joined as a Product Design Lead, journaling was already part of the product, but just barely.
It was a single static prompt, a cover image, and a basic text box. It worked, but it didn’t feel like anything. There was no emotional depth, no real reason to come back, and it didn’t reflect curaJOY’s mission of long-term connection and well-being.
So I took a step back and asked: How might we support deep personal reflection while introducing meaningful social connection into the journaling experience?
Framing the Problems
Discovery
To understand both user behavior and underlying motivations, I led my team in using a mixed-methods approach:
Heuristic audit (Nielsen’s 10 heuristics)
to quickly identify usability gaps and structural issues. This was run by my team of designers and me to not only understand where the current state of the designs needed to be improved, but also to allow us to understand the problem space more deeply.
Remote think-aloud cognitive walkthrough sessions
To observe real-time behaviors, confusion, and emotional reactions, 9 sessions were run in the first round of testing. My team and I pulled from a broad range of ages to get the full scope of potential users, and all patients had to be fluent in English.
This combination allowed me to move beyond surface-level usability issues and uncover deeper barriers.
Showing problem areas with the current design of the journal activity. Doing heuristic audit with my team early on helped as really understand the product on a deeper level as we were onboarding.
Affinity diagram from the first round of usability testing, showing confusion about the sharing of journal entries and the inability to find sharing controls.
Solution Design
From there, I led my team in the redesign around three core needs: introspection, connection, and safety.
Introspection
Journaling should feel like a space to actually think and process. We redesigned the experience to be calmer and more intentional, helping users go deeper instead of just writing surface-level responses.
Connection
Journaling is usually a solo activity, but it doesn’t have to be isolating. We introduced shared prompts so people could reflect alongside others. This added a sense of accountability and made the experience feel more meaningful.
Safety
None of this works if people don’t feel safe. We made privacy controls really clear and upfront, so users always know who can see what. That clarity helps build trust and makes it easier to be honest.
What I Designed
1. AI-Guided Reflection
instead of a single static prompt, journaling became conversational. The AI asks follow-up questions, helping users reflect more deeply and keep going.
2. Shared Journaling
Users can respond to prompts with friends or family. Responses stay hidden until everyone submits, which incentivizes filling out the prompts to see others' responses.
3. Explicit Privacy Controls
Before writing, users choose exactly who can see their entry. No guessing, no ambiguity, just clear control.
Side Chat…
Reader
What were the trade offs of using AI for this feature?
Jax
Great Question! Allowing the AI coach to be a part of the journal deepens reflection through follow-up questions.
Reader
I see the value in that.
Jax
However, the main purpose was to give a place of reflection for those that would like to not share their reflections with others and still get reflection. AI is used in a way to strengthen privacy not replace the social connection with others completely
Validation
We wanted to make sure this actually felt better, not just looked better.
So we ran:
Another round of think-aloud walkthroughs.
Another round of surveys measuring engagement, trust, and delight.
We saw clear improvements in:
Emotional engagement
Comfort with sharing
Overall perceived value of journaling
Results
Journaling had previously been sitting in the backlog, but once we showed how it could support curaJOY’s core mission, it quickly became a priority.
Contributed to a 4.7% increase in overall user satisfaction (Based on user surveys)
Strengthened sense of community through shared prompts
Improved trust via clear, user-controlled privacy boundaries
Reflection
This project changed how I think about journaling. I used to see it as purely private, but research showed me it can also be social and supportive when designed with the right boundaries. That tension between privacy and connection became the core design problem.
It also changed how I design. Participants said they wanted social features, but their hesitation during testing showed discomfort with visibility and comparison. I learned to trust behavior over stated preference.
As a first-time lead, I pushed for introspective experiences while working within tight scope. We didn't go as deep on every concept as I wanted, and comparison shipped despite mixed signals. Knowing when to push and when to align was the real lesson.
Designing for reflection taught me that research isn't just validation. It's how I learn people's boundaries.