screens of the app
Table of content

  1. Where This Started

  2. The First Attempt

  3. The Design Principle

  4. The Pivot

  5. The Experience

Where this started

After immigrating to Canada, anxiety became something I managed daily. Panic attacks taught me breathing works — but only when your mind actually stays with your body. I wanted to build something that gave the mind somewhere to land.

After immigrating to Canada, anxiety became something I managed daily. Panic attacks taught me breathing works — but only when your mind actually stays with your body. I wanted to build something that gave the mind somewhere to land.

After immigrating to Canada, anxiety became something I managed daily. Panic attacks taught me breathing works — but only when your mind actually stays with your body. I wanted to build something that gave the mind somewhere to land.

illustration of someone thinking
What is Be

From Figma prototype to working iOS app, in one semester

Be was my final semester graduation project at George Brown College — an iOS AR app that guides you through a breathing exercise using a 3D flower placed in your real space. As you inhale, the flower blooms. As you exhale into the microphone, the petals detach and drift into your room. When the session ends, the flower is saved to your personal digital garden — a growing record of every moment you chose to breathe through the stress.

Box breathing AR app — semester 5

Box breathing AR app — semester 5

The First attempt
The First attempt

The semester before Be, I built a different AR breathing app

The semester before Be, I built a different AR breathing app

I developed Box Breathing — an AR app guiding users through breathing intervals by moving a ball along a square's edges. At each corner, rotate your phone to advance to the next phase.

The app functioned perfectly from a technical standpoint. User testing revealed one problem: it felt like another task to complete rather than a moment of relief.

I developed Box Breathing — an AR app guiding users through breathing intervals by moving a ball along a square's edges. At each corner, rotate your phone to advance to the next phase.

The app functioned perfectly from a technical standpoint. User testing revealed one problem: it felt like another task to complete rather than a moment of relief.

"The breath was supposed to be the point. Instead it became the background."

"The breath was supposed to be the point. Instead it became the background."

What if the breath itself was the interaction?

What if the breath itself was the interaction?

Box breathing failed for one reason: it asked for more than just breathing.

I went back to basics — old techniques, simple methods. One kept coming up: smell a flower, blow a candle. No phone rotation. No ball to track. Just breath, with something to focus on.

That clicked everything into place.

Box breathing failed for one reason: it asked for more than just breathing.

I went back to basics — old techniques, simple methods. One kept coming up: smell a flower, blow a candle. No phone rotation. No ball to track. Just breath, with something to focus on.

That clicked everything into place.

Visual Language

Designed to hack the parasympathetic nervous system

I chose sage green for nature and rootedness. Lilac for the spiritual, the quiet, the inward. Coral for warmth, the feeling of something alive.

For typography, I wanted a serif for headings, something elegant, not clinical. Turns out iOS's default type system was already exactly that. New York for headings, SF Pro for body. I kept it native and spent the time elsewhere.

Brand Purple

#D4ADFF

Brand Green

#7BA888

Accent

#FFAB91

Surface

#F1EDE7

Text Primary

#4A4A47

Brand Purple

#D4ADFF

Brand Green

#7BA888

Accent

#FFAB91

Surface

#F1EDE7

Text Primary

#4A4A47

Brand Purple

#D4ADFF

Brand Green

#7BA888

Accent

#FFAB91

Surface

#F1EDE7

Text Primary

#4A4A47

the typography of Be

App Icon

App Icon

App Icon

Just the word Be with a simple gradient. The simplicity is the point. When you're anxious, you don't need more to look at.

Just the word Be with a simple gradient. The simplicity is the point. When you're anxious, you don't need more to look at.

how the app icon looks in different mode
how the app icon looks in different mode
how the app icon looks in different mode

Visual Assets

Visual Assets

Visual Assets

the flower 3D object

Downloaded as a base model, rebuilt vertex by vertex in Maya, animated in RealityKit.

Visual assets used in the app
Visual assets used in the app

Every asset needed to communicate stillness without being precious about it with flower at the core of the experience.

Tested in the real world

Be was exhibited at YES!

YES! is George Brown's year-end show exhibition, where nearly 300 graduating students present their work to the public. Two nights. Hundreds of visitors. Every project competing for attention in the same room, industry professionals, peers, strangers, families. It's loud, crowded, and nothing like a controlled testing environment.

YES! is George Brown's year-end show exhibition, where nearly 300 graduating students present their work to the public. Two nights. Hundreds of visitors. Every project competing for attention in the same room, industry professionals, peers, strangers, families. It's loud, crowded, and nothing like a controlled testing environment.

YES! is George Brown's year-end show exhibition, where nearly 300 graduating students present their work to the public. Two nights. Hundreds of visitors. Every project competing for attention in the same room, industry professionals, peers, strangers, families. It's loud, crowded, and nothing like a controlled testing environment.

Be setup at YES!26 — poster, promo video, working iPad demo

Be setup at YES!26 — poster, promo video, working iPad demo

What I observed

People picked it up and understood it. In a room already full of competing stimulation — strangers, noise, other projects pulling for attention — some of them were still willing to breathe into the microphone, quietly, a little shyly, and watch their petals fall.

The app had never been tested in worse conditions. It passed.

That confirmed something: the interaction was simple enough to work when someone's cognitive load was already full.

Which is exactly when you need it most.

How Might We…

  • Build accountability and structure without killing flexibility?

  • How might we share value with instructors in a way that feels fair and motivating?

  • Design motivation into the learning journey itself?

Thank you :)

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