Still

Mindful Eating Support for International Students

Still invites students to pause in the noise of daily life, to gently reconnect with their bodies before making food decisions. Through emotional cues and subtle friction, moments of emotional eating are transformed into spaces of calm, light, and awareness. Its design principles — Pause with Kindness, Emotions First, Autonomy with Warmth — weave empathy into wellbeing, offering a quiet sense of inner companionship.

In the first iteration, I turned to a set of self-assessment tools as quiet companions in the design process. The heuristic sheet revealed places where interaction needed care, while the Good Service Scale invited reflection on quality. Tarot-inspired notes offered unexpected reminders, letting intuition sit beside logic. Finally, an ethics summary asked if users are truly in control, if transparency is protected, and if language remains gentle — guiding the project to stay aligned with its values of kindness and awareness.

This stage focused on deepening the service perspective, refining both structure and experience. Functions expanded to include data sync and collaborative touchpoints, while pathways were mapped for institutions and individuals alike. Particular care was given to blueprint touchpoints, where privacy assurance was highlighted through clear data statements. These decisions not only clarified the architecture, but also gently wove transparency, autonomy, and trust into the design, ensuring the service remains supportive and ethically grounded.

The storyline traced the evolution of the project’s central metaphor. The bubble first appeared as a soft symbol carrying health data and feedback. Later, a “Body Room” was imagined to reflect inner states, though its complexity limited connection. To simplify, it shifted into narrative video, keeping the bubble at the center. Finally, the whale’s journey added a poetic dimension: lighting bubbles became a way to accompany the whale — and, in doing so, to gently accompany oneself.

The user is invited to pause and listen inwardly, as if floating in their own ocean. Visual bubbles express feelings like restlessness, low energy, or comfort, with space to add personal notes. The system responds with empathetic reflections and subtle guidance, reminding the user they are not alone. In this small act of input, raw emotions soften into light — offering companionship and a calmer state before food decisions.

Gentle activities appear as glowing bubbles adrift in the sea. Choosing practices such as deep-sea breathing, floating notes, or flow reading brings guidance that blends science with a tone of calm empathy. Each completed act lights a bubble for the whale, softly illuminating the sea. Every mindful gesture becomes a quiet symbol of warmth and balance, brightening both the journey and the user’s inner ocean.

Users are invited to color each bubble, turning feelings into soft lights along the whale’s path. They may add short notes to make reflections more personal and memorable. These colored bubbles gather into the “Glimmer Map,” a living record of emotions that gently reminds users of their inner strength. Each small reflection becomes both an imprint of awareness and a guiding light that carries them forward.