Draw Hatha
App (iOS)
Yoga has become a global leader in wellness, celebrated through events like International Yoga Day. According to Forbes, approximately 37 million people practice yoga in the U.S., with 21% of the Canadian population and 30% of the Dutch population engaging in mindfulness activities such as meditation and yoga. A Yoga Alliance study reports a 150% increase in male yoga practitioners over the past four years.
In South Korea, the yoga industry has experienced significant growth since the early 2000s. With over 3 million practitioners, 50,000 certified instructors, and around 10,000 yoga centers, the domestic market is valued at approximately 4 trillion KRW.
www.fortunekorea.co.kr
Summary
Bokyung Kwon
Team Leader
Product & Project Manager
Juyeon Rachel Lee
Product Designer with Branding & Marketing Expertise
Jail Lee
Software Engineer
FE Developer
Our journey began in 2023 when we first met and started shaping Draw Hatha. The team’s leader, Bokyung, originally conceived the idea as a yoga instructor, and while each of us continued working full-time, we dedicated our time to bringing this app to life.
We held weekly online meetings and gathered in person once a month. Through this process, we proved that meaningful results could be achieved even through remote collaboration.
As we planned the app, we encountered several turning points. While we explored many interesting ideas in the early stages, we deliberately narrowed our focus to features that directly addressed the core problem we aimed to solve. After all, the goal of an MVP is validation, not perfection.
Following the MVP launch, I moved on to pursue my own goals, but the bond within Team Greedive remains strong. The time and experiences we shared have created a lasting connection.
Responsibility
As the sole product designer, I led the overall design process, covering product strategy, UI/UX design, brand experience (BX) design, and marketing design.
Product Strategy
Defined the core user experience and structured the data information architecture accordingly.
Designed the UX flow to ensure that users could meaningfully accumulate and reflect on their yoga practice records.
Branding & BX Design
Established Draw Hatha's core value as ‘consistency in yoga practice and its meaning in daily life’ and crafted brand storytelling and key visuals aligned with this concept.
Designed the brand experience (BX) to help users naturally perceive the value of their yoga journey.
Product Design
Developed wireframes based on the structured data information architecture and defined user flows and interactions.
Ensured an intuitive UI/UX while maintaining brand identity.
Proactively established a design system to streamline the development process and collaborated closely with developers for implementation.
Designed error cases and solutions to accommodate various user scenarios.
MVP Hypothesis & Validation Methods
Background
The purpose of MVP hypothesis and validation is to define our PMF (Product-Market Fit) and assess the feasibility of our revenue model. We planned to conduct a validation period of approximately six months.
Hypothesis & Validation
Problem Space
Current Situation of Our Potential Audience
After Yoga Practice…
Users don't do anything
Some record in several ways, such as writing a journal or drawing.
?
Users receive no feedback.
Competitive App Research (method: Apple App Store)
Services that allow users to follow a flow based on the type of practice.
Services that provide pose information based on the type of practice.
Services that display information about local yoga studios, allowing users to write and view reviews after visiting.
Others
Numerous workout tracking apps
Numerous note-taking apps
Numerous diary apps
Problem Statements
Difficulty in Tracking the Effects of Practice
Users find it challenging to record or track their physical and mental changes after yoga practice.
Lack of Personalized Recommendations
Yoga practitioners struggle to identify the appropriate yoga poses or deficient chakras based on their current condition.
Lack of Mindfulness and Self-Reflection
Yoga impacts both physical and mental health, yet many users fail to reflect on themselves or record their emotional state after practice, causing the effects to dissipate.
Lack of Consistency in Yoga Practice
Users aiming to maintain a regular yoga practice often lack motivation in their daily lives.
Enable users to visually track their progress through records and monitor changes over time.
Provide personalized recommendations based on user records to support more effective practice.
Help users develop the habit of recording their emotions and physical state, fostering resilience to overcome daily challenges.
Encourage consistent practice through personalized feedback and recommendations based on their records.
At first,
we had too much ideas…😳
Community
At first, we had a lot of exciting ideas, but we couldn’t include everything in the first version.
I remember wondering, “Which feature should I design first?”
Since we approached yoga from both a physical and philosophical perspective, even just focusing on Journaling and Tracking offered multiple ways to support Yoginis.
However, it wasn’t immediately clear which feature would define our app. We needed a core experience that users would instantly recognize as “This is what our app is all about!”
As we analyzed the data structure, everything pointed back to Journaling—since Tracking relied on recorded data. That meant the very first action a user should take in the app was to log their practice.
With this in mind,
we decided to focus on the main feature that directly solves the problem, rather than trying to include everything we wanted (X).
So, we carried out the spec-out process based on the following criteria:
Features that require a sufficient user base to be effective.
Features to be included after the PMF (Product-Market Fit) becomes clearer.
Non-core features that may inefficiently consume development resources at this stage.
Key Functions in Product
After going through spec-out process, our final release specs were categorized into three main areas:
Journaling
Tracking
Reward
Information Architecture
Wireframe
Every service exists based on practical needs and value. However, with Draw Hatha, I felt that we needed to place more weight on value. Yoga is more than just exercise—it is a deep experience connected to meditation, energy (chakras), and mindfulness. That’s why I aimed to design a unique experience that only Draw Hatha could provide.
At this stage, I realized that delivering a consistent story and message was crucial. And that’s where Lean Branding began.
I call it Lean Branding because it is composed only of the essential elements that serve our purpose.
"A good design system should be scalable and flexible."
There’s no single right way to build one, and AI has made the process much easier. But to ensure the product grows in the right direction, it’s important to keep its unique identity and details that enhance the user experience.
With this in mind, we followed the basics of Atomic Design while creating a design system that fits Draw Hatha and our way of working together.
Design Highlights
As a designer, I believe a well-designed home screen should immediately communicate what the user needs to do.
The core features must be intuitively recognizable.
The "Journaling" feature, which previously existed as a single tab in the bottom navigation, has been transformed into the main button on the home screen. We designed the visual hierarchy so that when users log in and arrive at the home screen, "Journaling" naturally becomes the first action they take.
Contextual Experience
Instead of ending with a single journal entry, recorded data is seamlessly integrated across multiple touchpoints in a meaningful context, encouraging continuous self-reflection and improvement.
"View My Journey" Button in the Free Journaling Screen
Before writing a Free Journal entry, users can review their previous records from earlier stages. This helps them reflect on their state more consistently and create deeper, more meaningful journal entries.
"Check Chakras and Recommend Poses" Button in the Monthly Calendar
After completing a journal entry, users receive recommended chakras and poses based on their input. To keep this information accessible, they can check these recommendations again when reviewing past entries in the Monthly Calendar. This helps users reflect on their past practice and stay motivated for future sessions.
Immersive Visual Experience
To enhance DrawHatha’s brand experience, I designed immersive animations using key symbols and fundamental shapes. Rather than serving as mere decorative elements, these dynamic graphics were thoughtfully integrated to create a seamless flow between practice and journaling, fostering a deeper sense of engagement. This design approach helps users stay visually focused and immersed in their practice.
Onboarding Screen
Log in Screen
Prepare to Journal Screen
Sketchbook Illustrations & Animation
I designed the illustrations for each canvas in the Sketchbook menu and added an animation that gradually completes the artwork as users log their entries.
Sketchbook helps users stay motivated to journal regularly while making the experience more meaningful by using themes inspired by yoga philosophy.
For the first release, the chosen theme was Ahimsa, which means "non-violence." To visually represent this concept, I used flowers as the main motif, carefully designing them based on their symbolic meanings and corresponding chakra colors.
Peace Lily
Lotus
White Poppy
Peony
Chamomile
Lavender
Olive Tree
Feature
Journaling
We provide a preparatory screen with appropriate interactions to help users get into the right mindset before writing their journal.
Users can easily select their completed yoga practice and their physical and emotional state using chips and cards, while a progress bar indicates their current stage in the journaling process.
In the Free Journal screen, users can review their previous selections as a whole, reflect on them, and freely write their thoughts.
Tracking
Once a user completes a journal entry, the home screen displays the record for that day. By showing only the daily entry, the app encourages users to maintain a consistent habit of journaling, reinforcing the importance of daily reflection and helping with motivation.
Users can review their entries on a weekly and monthly basis through the calendar view:
Weekly records are designed with a simple UI that allows users to quickly grasp their overall practice progress at a glance.
Monthly records use a calendar interface, enabling users to see their practice history at a glance. Selecting a specific date reveals detailed entries, and for free journaling, users can edit their past entries at any time for more flexible record-keeping.
The monthly data analysis provides a comprehensive summary of the user’s recorded sessions. Based on their journal entries, the app suggests chakras and yoga poses to enhance their practice. These insights help users deepen their experience and encourage them to explore new approaches, fostering continuous growth and transformation.
Reward System
Every time a user logs a journal entry, part of an illustration is revealed. After seven entries, the full image is completed along with an inspirational quote, motivating users to keep journaling.
Each sketchbook has a theme, and the illustrations inside are meaningful and connected to chakras. This helps users feel more inspired in their yoga practice and journaling.
This reward system encourages users to make journaling a habit and apply what they gain from their practice to daily life. By offering visual rewards and motivational messages, it makes the experience more engaging and rewarding.
