Art Direction - Project 1 - Ideation: Defining a Creative Solution for Community Impact
22/09/2025 - 26/10/2025 ( Week 5 - Week 9 )
Ho Winnie / 0364866
Art Direction / Bachelor's of Design Honors In Creative Media
Project 1 : Ideation - Defining a Creative Solution for Community Impact
1. Project 1 : Ideation - Defining a Creative Solution for Community Impact
That’s when I proposed the idea of focusing on mental wellness — a theme that none of us had worked on before. Unlike our past projects which often revolved around cultural topics, this gave us the opportunity to step outside our comfort zone and create something that touches people on a deeper, emotional level. The team quickly resonated with the idea, and that’s how AURA was born — a concept that blends design, emotion, and technology to promote mindfulness and self-reflection.
We also decided to express AURA through soft pastel colors and gentle gradients, symbolizing calmness, balance, and inner harmony. This visual direction not only aligns with the theme of mental wellness but also allowed us to experiment with a soothing aesthetic that feels comforting and immersive.
Once we finalized the theme, we started to research deeper into the concept of “aura.” We learned that an aura is often described as an invisible energy field that surrounds every living being, reflecting their emotions, personality, and mental state. This discovery fascinated us — it showed how inner feelings could be visualized through colors and energy patterns.
We explored how different colors are believed to represent different emotions — for example, purple symbolizes intuition and mindfulness, yellow reflects optimism and creativity, and green represents balance and growth. This connection between color and emotion became the foundation of our design direction for AURA.
As part of our research, we also looked at existing aura-related products and promotions, such as aura photography booths and spiritual wellness pages. However, we noticed that most of these targeted older audiences or leaned heavily into mystical and abstract visuals. The tone often felt distant or overly spiritual, which we felt might not appeal to younger audiences like us.
That realization motivated us to reimagine how aura could be presented — not as something mystical or unreachable, but as something modern, relatable, and emotionally engaging for today’s youth.
To gain a deeper understanding of how people perceive mental wellness and aura, we conducted both quantitative and qualitative research methods — combining a Google Form survey with an interview with Dr. Mus, the Impact Lab Leader for Psychology and a lecturer at Taylor’s University.
Our Google Form survey targeted young adults, especially university students, since they represent the group most affected by academic pressure and emotional fluctuations. The questions explored their daily emotional management habits, awareness of aura or energy-related ideas, and interest in digital or creative approaches to mental wellness. Beyond that, we also included visual-based questions — such as preferred color palettes, tones, and design styles — to understand what visually appeals to youths today.
The responses revealed several interesting insights. Many respondents described feeling mentally overwhelmed or emotionally drained but preferred tools that were aesthetically calming and non-intrusive rather than clinical or overly serious. They were drawn to soft pastel tones, minimalist layouts, and interactive experiences that feel personal yet relaxing. This finding strongly validated our early intention to make AURA visually soft and emotionally soothing.
We also noticed a consistent pattern in how respondents perceived colors emotionally — for instance, blue and purple were commonly associated with calmness and self-reflection, yellow and orange with positivity and motivation, and green with balance and renewal. These color-emotion links helped us refine AURA’s palette and ensured that every hue in our design communicates a clear emotional message.
To deepen our understanding, we also interviewed Dr. Mus, who provided valuable academic and psychological perspectives. He emphasized that aura can be seen as an expression of one’s emotional state rather than something mystical or supernatural. By framing it this way, AURA could serve as a psychologically grounded tool that encourages users to reflect, express, and regulate their emotions more effectively. His guidance helped us bridge the gap between visual storytelling and emotional science — shaping AURA into both a creative and meaningful experience.
Problem Statement — Why This Issue Matters
Through our research, we realized that mental wellness among young people is a growing concern that often goes unnoticed or misunderstood. Many students today live under constant academic, social, and emotional pressure. Between deadlines, social media comparisons, and expectations to “always be okay,” they rarely have the time or safe space to slow down and check in with their emotions.
Our survey findings reflected this clearly — while most respondents recognized the importance of mental well-being, many admitted they lacked consistent ways to process emotions or express how they feel. Existing mental health solutions often felt too formal, clinical, or impersonal. On the other hand, aura-related platforms leaned too heavily on mystical or spiritual tones, making them less relatable to the younger demographic.
That gap became the starting point for AURA. We wanted to design something emotionally meaningful yet visually appealing, helping users reconnect with themselves through creativity and reflection rather than therapy-like sessions.
Our target audience primarily includes:
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University and college students aged 18–25 who face academic stress, self-doubt, and burnout.
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Young working adults who are transitioning into early career life and learning to manage emotional balance independently.
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Creative individuals who resonate with visual expression and color-driven design as a way to understand emotions.
For these audiences, AURA provides a gentle escape — a moment to breathe, reflect, and visualize their emotional energy in an approachable and engaging way.
This issue matters because mental wellness influences how young people learn, create, and connect. By blending color psychology, emotion-driven design, and interactive storytelling, AURA reimagines mindfulness as something calming, beautiful, and accessible — turning self-reflection into a daily act of self-kindness.
After analyzing our findings and insights, we wanted AURA to exist not just as a single idea, but as a multi-sensory experience that connects emotion, design, and daily life. Our goal was to help people visualize and reflect on their emotional energy through both physical and digital touchpoints, making mindfulness something you can see, feel, and interact with.
We divided our creative direction into three key outputs, each led by different members of our team :
Led by: Lin Si Yan
This output reimagines wellness as part of everyday life through a physical product line that combines design and emotional awareness. The concept revolves around a series of lifestyle products — tea, vitamin bottles, and healthy sweets (such as konjac jelly and low-sugar candy) — each representing a distinct emotional state through its aura-inspired color gradient.
Each product carries a unique color-coded meaning, for example:
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Calm = Blue
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Energy = Yellow
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Balance = Green
The packaging adopts a minimal yet soothing aesthetic, using soft gradients and transparent layers to reflect purity and calmness. To add interactivity, a QR code is printed on each item. When scanned, users can “check their aura” and receive a short personalized reflection or wellness tip such as:
“Feeling grey today? Hydrate, stretch, and take five minutes offline — your aura will thank you.”
This concept encourages users to connect daily habits like hydration or healthy snacking with emotional mindfulness — making wellness visible, desirable, and integrated into lifestyle routines.
Led by: Ho Winnie ( Me )
The AURA App transforms self-reflection into an interactive and gamified journey. It invites users to discover their emotional aura through a simple daily ritual:
How It Works:
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Daily Mood Check-In – Users pick three cards from a soft-gradient deck, each representing traits like Calm, Growth, Reflect, or Energy. The selected combination forms a visual summary of their emotional pattern.
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Aura Deduction – The app generates an aura color result (e.g., blue = calm, yellow = energetic, green = balanced) and provides a short psychological explanation with personalized self-care tips.
Example: “Your calm blue aura suggests emotional steadiness but mild fatigue. Try journaling or stretching to restore energy.” -
Gamified Progress System – Users earn aura badges (like “7 Days of Balance” or “Creative Burst”) to motivate consistency. Unlocking badges reveals new affirmations, aura themes, and reflections.
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Chat with Wellness Experts – Instead of social media sharing, users can access a confidential in-app chat with certified counselors for gentle, professional guidance.
The app’s visual language is inspired by pastel gradients, soft glow animations, and tranquil motion — merging the calm of Headspace, the aesthetic appeal of Pinterest, and the fun of a personality test.
Goal: To make emotional reflection playful, aesthetic, and meaningful for younger audiences — turning mindfulness into a daily habit through design and play.
The third output expands AURA into a digital storytelling piece that visually explains the meaning behind each aura color through motion, sound, and narrative.
This educational motion graphic animation personifies aura colors as living energy forms that express different emotional states. For example, blue sways gently to represent calmness, while yellow glows softly to express joy and warmth.
Key Features:
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Aura Personification: Each color becomes an expressive energy being that moves with music and rhythm.
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Narrative Voiceover: A calm, empathetic voice explains how each color connects to emotions and mindfulness.
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Visual Flow: Colors blend seamlessly from one to another, symbolizing how emotions evolve fluidly.
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Educational Layer: On-screen text adds simple wellness prompts like “Blue = Calm / Breathe deeply” or “Pink = Compassion / Show kindness.”
Example Scene:
A flowing gradient transitions from blue to green as the narrator says,
“Your aura changes as you do — calm turns into balance, rest flows into renewal. Every color tells your story.”
Designed for YouTube, Instagram Reels, and TikTok, this animation not only supports the AURA brand but also serves as an accessible visual guide to emotional understanding.
Goal: To educate and inspire youth by translating color psychology into a captivating digital experience — bridging psychology, art, and storytelling in one immersive journey.
Once our core ideas were finalized, we moved on to defining the visual identity of AURA — a stage that was just as important as the concept itself. Since AURA revolves around emotional energy and visual calmness, our brand style needed to express softness, balance, and flow, while remaining modern and appealing to young audiences.
Lin Si Yan took the lead in exploring the typography and initial color palette. She experimented with typefaces that felt light and elegant, avoiding anything too rigid or corporate. The chosen typography combines smooth curves and gentle spacing, symbolizing openness and emotional clarity. For the colors, she developed a palette inspired directly by the aura spectrum — blending hues of lavender, mint green, sky blue, peach, and soft yellow. These pastel tones visually represent calmness and emotional balance while maintaining a youthful and approachable feel.
Meanwhile, I focused on logo exploration and mascot development. Alongside the mascot, I also worked on defining the AURA logo, which serves as the visual anchor of the brand. The challenge was to design a mark that could capture both the calmness and vibrancy of emotional energy — something that feels structured yet fluid.
The exploration began with the golden ratio and geometric forms, seen in the early sketches where a triangle and circle were combined to symbolize balance between mind (triangle) and emotion (circle). From there, the design evolved into several type-based variations that explored how the letter A could reflect the rising motion of energy — much like an aura that expands outward.
Each iteration played with contrast, curvature, and serif modulation to find the right tone between elegance and softness. Some variations leaned toward sleek modernism, while others carried a more expressive, handcrafted feel that hinted at emotional warmth.
The final direction focused on graceful letterforms with flowing strokes, blending sharp ascenders with smooth curves to echo the dual nature of emotion — sometimes intense, sometimes gentle. The typography conveys both clarity and creativity, aligning with AURA’s mission to make emotional reflection both beautiful and balanced.
In developing AURA’s visual identity, I wanted the mascot to personify the warmth, emotion, and energy that the brand represents. The idea was to create a character that feels alive yet comforting, reflecting the fluidity of emotions through color and form.
The exploration process involved several iterations — experimenting with different body shapes, flame styles, and emotional expressions. Some versions leaned more towards a human-like character with hair resembling fire, while others took a more abstract and playful flame form, emphasizing friendliness and approachability.
In addition to the app and mascot, I also explored packaging concepts to extend AURA’s identity into a physical lifestyle experience. The goal was to design packaging that doesn’t just look beautiful but also encourages mindful daily use — aligning with our core message of “wellness through awareness.”
The exploration began with two main product types: vitamin packaging and tea packaging. I experimented with structural forms, opening mechanisms, and user interactions that could make the unboxing experience more engaging. Rather than traditional rigid boxes, the designs incorporate foldable layouts and soft gradients, symbolizing openness and flow — both key ideas behind AURA.
The vitamin packaging features an intuitive sleeve-style box that reveals neatly arranged sachets inside, while the tea packaging unfolds to display tea packets along with a small instruction panel. This approach makes the packaging functional yet emotionally engaging — turning a simple act like making tea into a mindful ritual.
I also proposed a double-usage bottle concept, where users can insert soluble vitamin or tea sachets directly into the bottle. This encourages reusability while reinforcing sustainable habits — a subtle nod to the idea of “balance” in both wellness and environmental mindfulness.
Each packaging prototype reflects AURA’s signature traits: minimal gradients, simple geometric layouts, and thoughtful interactivity. Together, these elements transform the product into more than just packaging — they become part of the emotional experience of AURA itself.
What sets AURA apart from other wellness or mindfulness concepts is its ability to merge psychology, design, and emotion into one cohesive experience. Instead of treating mental wellness as something abstract, AURA transforms it into a visual and interactive journey — something users can see, feel, and connect with every day.
While many wellness apps or brands rely on text-based affirmations or habit tracking, AURA focuses on emotional visualization through color, interaction, and storytelling. Each of our outputs — the lifestyle packaging line, mobile app, and animation — communicates a shared message:
“Your emotions are valid, visible, and ever-changing — and that’s what makes you human.”
Key Differentiators:
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Emotion-Driven Design:
Every element of AURA — from colors and typography to the mascot and gradients — is carefully crafted using color psychology principles to evoke calmness and clarity. -
Cross-Medium Experience:
AURA exists across physical and digital touchpoints. Whether through a calming tea package, a daily card-drawing app, or an animated short, users experience mindfulness consistently in different forms. -
Youth-Centric Aesthetic:
Designed with pastel palettes, modern typography, and gentle gradients, AURA redefines how mental wellness is presented — shifting away from rigid, clinical visuals to something that feels warm, soft, and relatable to the younger generation. -
Interactive Reflection:
Through QR scans, gamified aura cards, and progressive achievement systems, AURA encourages active self-reflection rather than passive consumption. -
Scientific and Emotional Balance:
Grounded in insights from psychology (guided by Dr. Mus), AURA balances scientific credibility with artistic empathy, making it both reliable and emotionally engaging.
In essence, AURA’s unique proposition lies in turning self-awareness into an art form — blending emotional intelligence with aesthetic delight. It isn’t just about tracking how you feel; it’s about learning to see your emotions as beautiful gradients of who you are.
Future Plans — Project Development
As we move into the next phase of AURA, our focus shifts from conceptualization to development and execution. Having defined our brand identity, design direction, and target audience, our goal now is to bring each output to life through structured planning and collaboration.
To ensure smooth progress, our team will divide responsibilities based on individual strengths while maintaining a consistent visual and conceptual language across all outputs. Each of us will lead a specific component but continue working closely together to align on brand style, tone, and experience design.
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Lin Si Yan will focus on refining the packaging design for the AURA wellness line — experimenting with materials, sustainable finishes, and color transitions that reinforce emotional balance.
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Lew Guo Ying will develop the motion graphic animation, translating our color psychology research into expressive motion and sound.
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I will lead the development of the AURA app prototype, ensuring its interactions, UI elements, and transitions reflect the same softness and clarity as our physical and animated outputs.
To keep everything on track, I’ll also be creating a Gantt chart and project management report to map out milestones, deliverables, and dependencies. This structured approach will allow us to manage our timeline efficiently while keeping space for creative iteration and feedback.
Our shared aim is to ensure that by the end of the project, AURA feels like a single, unified experience — where every medium, whether packaging, animation, or app, speaks the same visual and emotional language. Through teamwork, planning, and consistent refinement, we hope to turn AURA into a brand that genuinely bridges design, psychology, and mindfulness in a way that resonates with people.
Final Submission For Project 1 :
Presentation Slides -
2. Feedback
3. Reflections
Week 1–2: Discovery and Direction
In the early weeks, we spent time understanding the brief introduced by Mr. Kamal and aligning our goals. We explored various SDG themes — culture, green energy, education — before deciding on mental wellness. This stage taught us how to combine individual ideas into a shared vision and the importance of making design decisions backed by purpose, not just aesthetics.
Week 3–4: Research and Insights
During these weeks, we conducted our Google Form survey and interviewed Dr. Mus, which gave us valuable perspectives from both our audience and a psychological expert. We learned how data and qualitative insights could directly influence design direction, and how communication with domain experts can add credibility to creative projects.
Week 5–6: Concept Development and Brand Definition
We began developing the AURA identity, defining its tone, color palette, and typography. Working collaboratively, we learned how to merge different design preferences while maintaining a consistent brand language. This stage strengthened our understanding of visual harmony and emotional storytelling in design.
Week 7–8: Prototype Exploration and Feedback
Each member started refining their respective outputs — packaging, app, and animation — while continuously exchanging feedback. We learned how to balance individuality with cohesion, ensuring that all components reflected AURA’s essence. This iterative process highlighted the importance of clear communication, shared responsibility, and constructive critique.
Week 9 Onwards: Planning and Next Steps
As we moved toward project development, I began working on the Gantt chart and project management documentation to track progress. This experience taught me the value of organization and planning in managing a multidisciplinary project.
Overall, the AURA project has been a journey of collaborative learning — where design thinking met emotional understanding. Through teamwork, research, and reflection, we not only created a concept with social impact but also learned how empathy, structure, and creativity can coexist in every stage of the design process.
Reflection on Skills Gained and Challenges Faced -
Working on the AURA project has been an enriching experience that allowed me to grow both as a designer and a collaborator. Through the process of research, ideation, and development, I gained a deeper understanding of how design can connect emotion, psychology, and visual storytelling to create meaningful impact.
One of the most valuable skills I developed was design research and interpretation. Conducting surveys and interviewing Dr. Mus taught me how to translate audience insights into design decisions. I learned to identify emotional triggers, analyze user preferences, and apply these findings to shape visual elements such as color, typography, and layout.
I also strengthened my skills in branding and concept development — from exploring the logo and mascot to defining a consistent visual identity across packaging, app, and animation. This experience helped me understand how every design choice, no matter how small, contributes to the overall tone and message of a brand.
In terms of teamwork, I learned how to balance different creative directions within a team while maintaining coherence. Working alongside Lin Si Yan and Lew Guo Ying taught me the importance of open communication, mutual feedback, and adaptability. We often had to compromise, refine, and rethink ideas to ensure every output aligned with AURA’s emotional essence.
However, the project also came with challenges. One major challenge was translating the abstract concept of “aura” into something scientifically grounded and visually relatable. We had to strike a careful balance between spirituality and psychology, ensuring the design felt credible yet emotionally engaging for our audience.
Despite these challenges, the process taught me resilience, flexibility, and the value of constructive iteration. AURA became more than just a project — it was a journey of learning how design can heal, communicate, and connect people on an emotional level.
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