LumiRoom

The Problem

Students want to express themselves. The internet makes that hard.

Students want to explore new passions and share who they are — but fear of judgment, constant comparison, and curated online personas make honest self-expression feel risky. Overwhelmed by algorithmic content and lacking a space for genuine sharing, students struggle to discover what actually inspires them.

Three pain points defined the design brief: Fear of judgment — students hold back their real interests online because they're afraid of being misunderstood or dismissed. The "perfect" persona — existing platforms push users toward safe, impressive posts rather than honest ones. The comparison is built in. Difficulty finding real inspiration — most content students encounter is performance-based, not genuinely relevant to their curiosity or growth.

The Solution

A space designed for authenticity, not performance.

LumiRoom is a mobile app where students can share their thoughts and growth journeys, join communities around real interests, and find inspiration through content that isn't optimised for engagement metrics.

Three core features shape that experience: User Check-Ins — the app prompts users daily with a simple question: something nice they did, something new they learned, something that inspired them. Low stakes, low pressure. A habit of reflection rather than performance. Channels — interest-based communities where users connect with people who share their specific passions, not a generic feed of everyone they know. Tech Creatives, Poetry & Conversations, Gardening Gurus — niche enough to feel real. Authentic Engagement — likes are replaced entirely with intentional reactions: "This inspired me" and "I learned something new." Removing the quantifiable, comparable metric removes the incentive to perform.

Design Decisions

Small visual decisions, large experiential impact.

The warm coral-to-white gradient background was a deliberate choice — it needed to feel soft and welcoming, distinct from the cold whites and high-contrast interfaces of mainstream social platforms. The palette signals safety before a user reads a word.

Typography and contrast were areas I pushed myself on throughout this project. Early iterations had hierarchy issues — headings and body text competing rather than guiding. Iterating on font weight, size relationships, and colour contrast taught me how much a few intentional type decisions can change how information lands on a screen.

The icon system uses rounded, warm shapes consistently — nothing sharp, nothing aggressive. Visual language should match emotional intent.

Reflections

Design clarity comes from research clarity.

Working on LumiRoom reinforced something I now apply to every project: the quality of your design solutions is bounded by the quality of your problem definition. The three pain points — judgment, comparison, irrelevant content — gave every design decision a clear test. Does this feature reduce judgment? Does this interaction remove comparison? If not, it doesn't belong.

I also learned that foundational decisions compound. Contrast, font choice, spacing — these aren't finishing touches. They're structural. Getting them right early makes everything else easier. Getting them wrong early means every subsequent decision is fighting the layout instead of serving the user.

Next Project