Redesigning the Evolve’s Mood Tracker
The mood tracker is one of the most loved features in our app. In fact, it’s used by 67.2% of our users (based on one-month data). But even our most popular feature had room to grow.)
But there was one repeated complaint:
“Our emotions are not limited to just 5 emojis.”
We realized that limiting users to only 5 basic moods was not enough. It didn’t allow space for deeper or more complex emotional reflection, especially for a mental health app.
This felt like a gap in emotional empathy.
Goal
To redesign the mood tracking experience in a way that:
- Allows users to express more nuanced emotions
- Encourages self-reflection
- Integrates well with the rest of the app
The story
So as a ritual, we had a therapist on our team she started this ritual were before the standup she used to ask us how we are feeling?
We answered using the feelings wheel instead of just “good” or “bad.” She used to share us the image of feeling wheel.
We observed something interesting:
- People often shared more than one emotion
- Emotions were sometimes far apart (e.g., tired but grateful)
- Users liked identifying emotions by color first — then choosing words
This internal ritual, combined with user feedback, made it clear:
Our current mood tracker lacked emotional depth.
Things we kept in mind
Before we jumped into design, we aligned on a few important considerations based on our experiences, internal rituals, and therapist inputs:
- 5 emojis were too limiting — They didn’t capture the complexity of how people actually feel
- Emotions aren’t always singular or obvious — Users often feel a mix of things at once, so we need to give them option to select multiple emotions
- Color sensitivity matters — Some colors (like bright red) can feel triggering or uncomfortable to users, especially in a mental health context, so we need to be conscious of the color choices we make
- Reflection matters — After identifying emotions, users often feel the urge to write about why they’re feeling that way so it should make the user feel welcomed to write
- To not overwhelm the users- For the first version, we don't want users to get overwhelmed as in the feeling wheel there were too many emotions it may lead to decision paralysis.
These points helped us define the emotional depth, pacing, and sensitivity we wanted to incorporate into the new mood tracker experience.
Itetrations
The current flow
The flow
- Mood: Excellent (😁), Good (😊), Okay (🙂), Bad (☹️), Terrible (😫)
2. Feelings/Emotions: We decided to group emotions based on what mood the user has selected
We grouped emotions into 4 categories:
- Negative (orange) — shown if user selects either Bad (☹️) or Terrible (😫) mood
- Sad (Yellow) — shown if user selects either Bad (☹️) or Terrible (😫) mood
- Neutral (Blue)- If user selects Excellent (😁), Good (😊) or Okay (🙂)
- Positive (Green)- If user selects Excellent (😁), Good (😊) or Okay (🙂)
This structure mirrored how we used the feelings wheel internally — first drawn to a color, then to a word.
We also kept accessibility and emotional safety in mind. Bright reds and harsh tones were avoided to ensure the experience felt safe and comforting.
3. The journal screen: the user can reflect on their feelings
Approach 1
Where we just have one screen for them to choose a mood, select emotions & write a journal
Views:
- It felt overwhelming, all three things at once
- When a user starts typing it doesn’t work when the keyboard pop-ups
Approach 2
Where we add select mood and emotions as one screen and after they have done that we will ask them to write why they are feeling this way
Views
- This solves the keyboard pop-up issue
- There feels a disconnect between the flow
Approach 3
We broke it into three screens:
- Select your mood
- Choose your emotions
- Reflect in a journal
What worked
- Felt more focused and less overwhelmed
- Adding a progress bar improved continuity
Your journal history
We also redesigned the journal history page, where all the journal entries of the users were stored
My reflection
This project was special for many reasons — not just because of the feature we built, but because of how we built it.
- This was the first time I worked closely with a therapist on a product feature. Her insights added a level of emotional depth I wouldn’t have reached alone.
- We redesigned the entire journaling experience from start to finish — from emotions to reflections.
- What started as a small internal ritual with the emotion wheel printed on paper, became a real feature. Once the new mood tracker launched, our team started using the Evolve app itself for our daily check-ins. That felt like a full-circle moment.
More than just a redesign, this became a culture shift — for the team and for the users.
Impact
Whats next
We will continue to improve the mood tracker features as its one of the most loved and used features of our app.
Emotion history: Helping users track patterns over time — what triggers certain moods, and how they shift
More language and cultural sensitivity: Emotions are experienced differently across cultures — we want to adapt accordingly
Add more emotions: In this version, we kept the number of emotions limited to avoid overwhelm. In future versions, we plan to expand the list so users can express themselves more precisely
Share with therapist: Many users have asked for the ability to share their journal entries with their therapist directly — we’re exploring how to do this in a secure and thoughtful way
By combining empathy, psychology, and thoughtful design — we aim to make mental wellness not just a feature, but a feeling.
Hey there I am Nidhi (or design by Nidhi) a Product Designer, I write about my experience and learnings.
You can find me on: Instagram | Behance, | LinkedIn | Book 1:1 Session
