Designing a space for
emotional reflection.
UX / Symbolic interaction / Visual identity
A possible reading.
Never the final word.
OIKOS brings writing, AI-assisted reflection and natural symbols into one experience. The design question is not how to tell someone what they feel, but how to help them explore it without taking meaning away from them.
- My contribution
- Research synthesis, experience design, visual identity & AI-assisted prototyping
- Delivered
- Master's thesis, visual system & high-fidelity interactive web prototype
Authored AI examples. Local prototype, not a live AI service.
01 / An inner home
A place to begin,
before the right words.
Designed for women seeking space for everyday emotional reflection. My own difficulty explaining a feeling became a design question; literature, making and critique helped shape the response.
The name
House. Dwelling.
An inner home.
Oikos comes from the Greek word for a house or dwelling. I interpreted it as a place to return to our own experience: shelter for reflection, without prescribing what someone should feel.
The origin of οἶκοςTheir words come first.
An incomplete account is enough to begin.
A reading, not a verdict.
Adjustment remains part of the experience.
Something to return to.
An archive, not a score or a streak.
Research-through-design commitments, not findings from a formal participant study.
02 / Inside OIKOS
One space.
Different ways to return.
Home begins a reflection. Archive holds symbolic encounters, independent writing and their connections. Settings makes the prototype's preferences visible.
Home
What is present today?
Begin a guided reflection or return to the latest saved encounter. A quiet starting point, without a dashboard of scores.
Open prototype (opens in a new tab)Before the encounter
A reading
you can change.
The person's account stays distinct from the system's possible interpretation. Adjust leads to a visibly revised observation, rather than silently returning to the same answer.
Recorded interaction. AI responses are authored examples, not live model outputs.
03 / The embodied encounter
Not another answer.
Something to encounter.
Growth / Responsibility
The symbolic encounter offers attention a different form: something to notice and respond to beyond another paragraph of explanation.
Original prototype recording- 01
Notice
Begin without a task to complete.
The form is present before any action.
- 02
Touch
A small action becomes perceptible.
The tree responds with a change in its presence.
- 03
Hold
Light gathers. Water moves.
A sustained touch introduces the ring of light and slower water movement.
- 04
Stay
No correct response is required.
The meaning of the encounter is left open.
Tree is the most developed immersive branch. The other archetypes do not yet share the same implementation depth.
After an encounter, My Words preserves the person's account alongside the symbolic reading. It is distinct from the independent journal used in Inner Thread.
04 / Inner Thread
A connection you choose.
A response that stays yours.
A private journal exists independently of the guided encounter. Inner Thread brings two selected records together, then leaves their relationship open to the person.
01 / Write
A private page, written freely.
Writing has its own entrance inside Archive. A journal page does not require an archetype encounter and is not automatically analysed.
Actual prototype states / illustrative records
Choice became visible.
The earlier flow could appear preselected. The revision makes both selections explicit and keeps the chosen journal visible before inviting a response. This is a critique-driven design iteration, not a measured usability improvement.
05 / The visual language
Light, texture,
room to feel.
The material direction connects soft daylight, translucent surfaces and tactile natural references. These qualities shape an atmosphere, not a promise of therapeutic benefit.
Ivory
Warm grey
Sage mist
Dusty aqua
Soft rose
Sand beige
AI-assisted material studies from the approved brand presentation. Original six-colour palette.
experienceInner
reflection
Two forms, one O
Distinct.
Held together.
Two bracket-like forms make one mark, with space between them. The identity holds outer experience and inner reflection in relation without collapsing one into the other.
A space to begin.
Neue Haas Grotesk / The action layerConsider. Adjust. Return.
Interaction materials
Light enough to invite.
Translucent actions and a navigation that opens only when needed.
Symbol / Form
Six starting points.
Not six definitions of you.
Recognition leads into an encounter. The associations are designer-defined prompts, not diagnostic categories.
Tree
Growth / responsibility
Stone
Pressure / burden
Water
Change / release
Flower
Softness / unfolding
Cloud
Ambiguity / the unnamed
Mountain
Boundary / perspective
Recognition in motion
A symbol becomes
an invitation.
The original transition brings the six forms into a shared visual language before an individual encounter begins.
06 / Beyond the screen
An atmosphere
you could hold.
A proposed extension of the identity into scent, paper and everyday rituals. These are AI-assisted brand concept visualisations, not manufactured products.
Fragrance, candle & diffuser concepts.
A journal and cards carry the same visual language off-screen.
Designing the right
to disagree.
The contribution is an experience in which a possible reading, a symbolic encounter and the person's own words can coexist. The prototype makes that intention tangible.
Whether people understand those distinctions, discover Tree's interactions and find returning meaningful still needs evaluation.
Scope, sources & credits
Project. Yihan Zhao, NABA User Experience Design master's thesis, 2025-2026. Based on the approved V08 presentation and the submitted prototype archive.
Implemented. A high-fidelity interactive web prototype with authored AI examples. Tree is developed most deeply. The separate prototype is the unmodified submitted build; it is not a production AI service.
Evidence boundary. No formal participant evaluation, clinical or longitudinal benefit, production accounts or cloud persistence is established. OIKOS is a reflection design exploration, not therapy or diagnosis. Settings screens show the design intention, not a security certification.
Visuals. Original assets, whole-frame recordings and full-screen captures. Naming and moodboard visuals are AI-assisted brand references. Physical applications are concepts. Not a manufactured product. The supplied fragrance image repeats the Stone label; that artwork is preserved pending the author's label confirmation.
Design foundations. Fleck & Fitzpatrick, Reflecting on reflection (2010); Amershi et al., Guidelines for Human-AI Interaction (2019). These inform design choices, not claims of OIKOS effectiveness.
Product film music. Effervescence by Scott Buckley, CC BY 4.0. Adapted excerpt, reverb tail, fades, level and stereo adjustments, plus feature sound design. Recorded triangle: VSCO 2 Community Edition, CC0. Film audio starts automatically where browser permissions allow; otherwise the film continues silently with a sound control.