Journal together
Longwalks

Longwalks is an online journal that helps friends and families develop closer relationships, share ideas, and have meaningful conversations. Their team contacted us to redesign their app’s user experience to increase retention and engagement.

Icon of a smartphone followed by text reading 'iOS & Android' under the heading 'Platforms:'Icon of a cube followed by text listing deliverables: UI, UX, Brand & Strategy.
Smiling woman with curly hair wearing large hoop earrings and mauve lipstick.
Recommended by
Oprah Winfrey!
Smartphone screen showing a meditation app user profile for Peter Garg with weekly mood summaries, categories like Gratitude and Mindfulness, and navigation icons at the bottom.Mobile app screen showing user profile for Peter Garg with weekly mood summaries highlighting themes like gratitude, mindfulness, and anxiety.Smartphone screen showing a mindfulness app with a post by Peter focusing on enjoying what nature has to offer, featuring a beach photo.

Meet

The Client

Longwalks is a Menlo Park based startup that offers users an online journal they can share with friends and family to develop deeper connections. We instantly clicked with them because of our love for products that improve people's lives. Our team worked closely with Longwalks to create an experience that puts a smile on user's faces.
Two women smiling, one with dark tied-back hair wearing a white top, and the other with dark loose hair wearing a white shirt.
Hand holding a white tag with the handwritten message 'Tell the world who you are' against a pale pink background.Open book page with text 'Bloom for Yourself II' and a quote about true connections, with dried pink petals below the text.

Understanding

The Problem

The Longwalks app had many usability errors that prevented people from having a great experience. The visual design also needed improvement to be more meaningful.
Comparison of mobile app screens showing a redesign: Before screen with a cluttered interface for daily check-in on kindness habit, Usability Issues with notes on clutter, confusion, and lack of feedback, and Result screen showing a cleaner mindfulness check-in interface with progress and streak tracking.

Delightful

Onboarding

We reworked the onboarding process to get users excited about Longwalks, which increased D0-D7 conversions. It was designed to be fast, easy, and clearly explain why the app is different from the competition.
Smartphone screen showing a journaling app with the text 'Journal Together Grow Closer', example journal entries, and buttons for 'Get Started' and 'Log In'.Smartphone screen showing an app welcome page with text encouraging meaningful conversations with friends, two chat bubbles expressing emotions, a Get Started button, and a Log In link.

Daily

Journal

We revamped the daily prompt feature to entice users to complete more daily journals. Gamification patterns and timely notifications were also used for making the app more sticky.
Four mobile screens showing a mindfulness journaling app with a text input, daily checklist, sharing confirmation, and activity feed.
Two women smiling, one with dark hair tied back wearing a white cardigan, and the other with long dark hair wearing a white shirt.

We had an incredible experience working with Orizon and were impressed they made such a big difference in only four weeks. Our team is grateful for the wonderful improvements they made and their ability to get familiar with the Longwalks app so quickly. It acted as a catalyst to take our design to the next level and get more eyes on our product.”

Melody Mortazavi
Co-Founder at Longwalks

A place to share

With friends

It was originally difficult for users to send invitations or see who shared a journal with them. We streamlined this process to help people grow their community and create stronger relationships.
Smartphone displaying a mindfulness app with a post from Peter focusing on enjoying what nature has to offer, showing a beach photo.Mobile screen showing app page titled 'Invite at least 1 person' with option to choose from contacts or share invite link, and a family illustration example.Smartphone screen showing a notification for 2 new people invited you, listing Amanda Yang and Madison McClung with options to accept individually or accept all requests.

A place to share

A Conversation

Since people were not using the conversation feature or understanding its value, we redesigned it to guide users through connecting with loved ones and making it enticing.
Four smartphone screens showing a conversation app with prompts about kindness exchange, fall photos, and favorite fall outfits.

A place

To reflect

Our goal was to give Longwalks users a sense of accomplishment and enable them to track their progress. This helped them reflect on previous days so they could continually grow.
Mobile app profile screen showing Peter Garg with a quote, icons for Gratitude, Mindfulness, Truth, and Vulnerability, and weekly summary cards for Week 22 and Week 21.Mobile app screen titled Truth showing dated personal reflections about motherhood and time sacrifices from January 7 to February 4.

Design Systems

Scaling made easy

We love building design systems that grow with our clients. That’s why our team created reusable components for Longwalks so they can scale easier in the future.
App interface showing weekly themes: Identity on Thursdays with a blue character wearing a green hat, Vulnerability on Saturdays with a green leaf icon, a row of weekdays with Friday selected, and a progress bar indicating a 3-day streak.
Three UI sections: 1) Prompt to add a photo of something you're grateful for with an orange 'Add Photo' button, 2) Notification that Amanda Yang added you as a friend with an option to add back, 3) Prompt to share a compliment or comment you've never forgotten with a text input field.
User interface with icons including checkmark, cross, warning, dropdown, pencil, plus, smiley, magnifier, calendar, and smiley with plus, a red Continue button, and four square illustrations of abstract colorful plants and leaves.

Typography

&Colors

Black uppercase and lowercase letter A outlined in white on a transparent background.
Palette of six color circles showing hex codes: reddish orange #DF532A, bright orange #FF8A3B, dark navy blue #062540, muted gray-blue #8B98A5, soft blue #98B9CB, and pale peach #F5DECD.
Font family
Quicksand
Regular
Medium
Bold
AaBbCcDdEeFfEeGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNn
OoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz
AaBbCcDdEeFfEeGgHhIi
JjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSs
TtUuVvWwXxYyZz
0123456789
!@#$%^&*/)

The results

People loved it

People loved the new design and experience as it helps them stay in touch with family, have more gratitude, and develop deeper relationships.
User rating score of 4.8 with five orange stars, based on 750 ratings from App Store and Google Play.
Recommend fully
App Store ・ MiraTØP
“Brought the family together, we have heard things about each other we have never heard before, we visit each other more often now and have really bonded because of the app, thank you.”
Apple App Store logo next to the text Featured by Apple and the quote Empower people to change the world for the better.

Oprah Winfrey

"A wonderful app!"

Have a project for us?

Let’s chat!

Get support with a large platform, flesh out your first MVP, go from concept to investment, or take your startup to the next level. We’re here to support your unique business needs.