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WatchOS

Visualized Hydration Logging

One flower. Three sections. No math required.

Role
Product Designer
Solo
Deliverables
Persona, empathy map, journey map, final screens
Context
Personal project
watchOS app

Overview

Hanami is a hydration tracker for Apple Watch. The goal was to build its core interaction around a single glance that tells you where you stand, not around a number you have to stop and interpret.

4user interviews
4.5x/wkaverage check-ins
2/5average felt-informed score
3 of 4wanted one glance

So the real question became how do you make checking in feel informative?

Research synthesis

Stay on top of her daily water intake without extra effort
Build a habit that actually sticks
Know at a glance whether she's on track
“I check it a few times a day, but I couldn’t tell you if I’m actually on track.”
Mai's persona interviews — “Says” quadrant of the empathy map

Meet Mai

Mai James

The Habitual Checker

  • 27
  • Environmental Analyst
  • Austin, TX

Bio

Wears her Apple Watch daily and has tried more than one hydration app before this. Familiar with the basic idea — a goal, a log, a number — but none of them have stuck. She checks in often, about 4.5 times a week, without ever feeling like she’s caught up on how she’s doing. She’s not new to tracking. She’s tracking without traction.

Personality

AnalyticalCreative
Leans Creative
BusyTime-rich
Leans Busy
MessyOrganized
Leans Organized
PassiveActive
Leans Active
SafeRisky
Leans Safe

Mai

“I check it a few times a day, but I couldn't tell you if I'm actually on track.”
“It's just a number going up.”
“I want it to be easier to tell at a glance.”

User journey map

Mai’s journey across four stages — tap one to see her tasks, feelings, and where the experience still falls short.

Tasks
  • Opens the app for the first time
  • Sets her daily hydration goal
  • Confirms and lands on the home screen
Feelings

Neutral. Mostly wants to get through setup and start using it.

Area to improve

No major issues identified.

A wrist-first experience built for clarity, at a glance.

What I built

Hanami's Add Water screen with a custom-amount card popped out next to the watch, and the lotus mark beside it.

A closer look at the final screens.

Hanami's onboarding screen: 'Use flowers to track your daily hydration,' with a Get started button.

Onboarding

Sets a daily hydration goal to get started.

Hanami's Add Water screen, custom amount entry with the crown-scroll input and a Log this button.

Logging Water

Confirms an amount with one tap.

Hanami's watch face showing 33% and the lotus mark, tap to open.

Checking Progress

Glances at the watch face to see where she stands.

Hanami's goal-reached screen: a full-color lotus mark and 'Great work, you hit your goal!'

Reaching Goal

A clear moment marks the goal complete.

Every decision ran through one question: does this land in under two seconds.

What worked

Letting color carry the meaning instead of the numbers. The button tracks progress, the bloom fills the display, and neither one needs a caption to make sense.

What I'd do differently

Bring in a small round of usability testing before locking the flows, even for something this simple. Four research conversations shaped the direction, but nobody had tapped through the actual lotus yet.

What I'd track

How often people open the app and glance instead of digging, and whether the daily bloom holds up as a habit past the first couple of weeks.