C H R O N I C L E
Your Media. Your Way.
A mobile media logging app designed to help you track, organize, and share everything you consume in one seamless space.
T H E P R O B L E M
People struggle to keep track of all the media they consume across different platforms, making it difficult to organize, reflect, and share their experiences.
INTUITIVE DASHBOARD
Prioritizing what’s important to you, the media, Chronicle makes sure to highlight your watchlist and friend activity before anything else.
T H E S O L U T I O N
CUSTOM COLLECTIONS
Collections are a way for users to not only organize their media but also showcase their tastes. Expressing yourself should never be difficult.
EFFORTLESS SEARCH
With the ability to simply search all media or further narrow by media type, users will always be confident they’re able to find what they want.
LOG MEDIA YOUR WAY
Chronicle is all about letting users keep track of things how in the way that works for them. When logging, everything is optional so that your reviews are exactly that; yours.
T H E B A C K G R O U N D & R E S E A R C H
Media apps focus on one format, leaving logging fragmented.
Chronicle is built for all media lovers. Whether you want to consume, reflect, keep track, or share, it adapts to your needs.
Many platforms are overwhelming, cluttered, or too rigid, which discourages consistent use.
Chronicle offers a streamlined and customizable tool that gives users ownership of how they log and reflect while keeping the process simple and enjoyable.
Grounded in real voices.
To better understand the landscape and user needs, I conducted both competitive analysis and user interviews.
The SWOT analysis helped identify gaps and opportunities within existing media logging platforms, while interviews revealed real user pain points, motivations, and behaviors.
Together, these methods provided a strong foundation for shaping Chronicle’s features and ensuring they aligned with both market demands and user expectations.
Competitive Analysis
The three competitors I researched and key insights I discovered:
Letterboxd
Strengths:
Loyal and engaged user bases within their niches.
Strong logging and review tools that make tracking media simple.
Communities built around shared interests with user-generated content and recommendations.
Established databases and partnerships (e.g., film industry, streaming sites, indie gaming communities).
Clean, user-friendly interfaces that encourage journaling and list creation.
Opportunities:
Rising interest in personal media journaling and social discovery.
Growing demand for cross-media and mobile-first tracking tools.
Expanding communities in indie gaming, international films, and anime/manga fandoms.
Desire for customizable profiles, personalized stats, and collaborative lists.
New possibilities through integrations with streaming and gaming platforms.
Backloggd
Anime-Planet
Weaknesses:
Limited scope, each focusing only on one media type.
Outdated or clunky UX in places, especially on mobile.
Gaps in personalization and discovery features.
Weak integration with external platforms and poor syncing options.
Inconsistent databases, especially for indie or niche titles.
Limited monetization strategies and restricted features for free users.
Threats:
Competition from large ecosystems (e.g., Steam, Xbox, IMDb, MyAnimeList).
Streaming services building their own recommendation and logging systems.
Challenges in monetizing without alienating loyal users.
Risk of losing younger, mobile-first audiences if platforms do not modernize.
Heavy reliance on third-party data sources.
User Interviews
Through 5 virtual interviews with people of varying media tracking habits I identified the following insights:
Habits & Motivations:
Users consume multiple media types (anime, movies, shows, music, games, manga).
Tracking helps with memory, organization, and personal satisfaction.
Stats and trends are “nice to have” but not essential.
Most prefer private journaling with optional profile sharing and selective social features.
Features & Preferences:
One unified app for all media types.
Quick-add and minimal-step logging.
Integrations with apps/streaming platforms for auto-tracking.
Customizable organization (tags, lists, genres, moods, favorites).
Import/export tools, calendar for releases, and support for niche titles.
Optional reminders, but only sparingly or at onboarding.
Frustrations:
Fragmentation across multiple platforms makes tracking tedious.
Logging past media and onboarding feels like too much effort.
Manual updates and too many steps deter consistency.
Poor mobile optimization, missing niche titles, and outdated UIs frustrate users.
Key Principles:
Consolidation: A single hub for multi-type media.
Speed: Quick, low-friction logging is critical.
Customization: Flexible categorization and filtering tools.
Accessibility: Mobile-friendly, uncluttered UI with dark mode.
Simplicity: Reduce onboarding with bulk-add, imports, and integrations.
Optional Social Layer: Keep core experience private-first, with optional sharing, reviews, and friend-based recommendations.
T H E P E R S O N A S
From interviews to identities
Taking what I learned from the competitor analysis and user interviews, I created three unique user personas to make sure all ranges of users were covered.
Meet Jamie!
Jamie enjoys media in bursts and values convenience above all.
They want a simple, low-effort way to log and recall what they’ve watched without dealing with clunky or time-consuming processes.
Meet Taylor!
Taylor prefers to keep media tracking private, only sharing with trusted friends who have similar tastes.
They’re focused on niche titles and want a platform that balances privacy with selective sharing.
Meet Alex!
Alex is a detail-oriented media enthusiast who thrives on organization.
They rely on spreadsheets and multiple apps but are searching for a single, customizable tool that can handle everything in one place.
H O W M I G H T W E
How might we make it quick and intuitive for users to update their progress across multiple formats?
How might we encourage users to log more media by connecting recommendations to what they’ve already logged?
How might we design engaging social features that make media logging feel collaborative rather than solitary?
T H E I D E A T I O N
Blueprints for better journeys
With our personas made and an idea of what users want, I create a site map to solidify ideas on how the app would be navigated and then designed a trio of user flows (one catered to each user persona) based on key insights
Add a media log
Shows how users create a new log entry by selecting or searching for media, then optionally adding tags, ratings, or reflections. Users can save drafts privately or publish entries to share. Designed to reduce friction which supports both quick and deeper reflection logging styles.
Create a collection
Walks through building a custom collection or list. Users can set a title, description, and privacy preferences, then add media with tags or moods for personalization. Also highlights Chronicle’s emphasis on user ownership and customization, allowing media to be sorted and published in a way that fits each user’s style.
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The dashboard acts as the central hub where users can access their queue, trending content, and recent friend activity. It balances personal tracking with a snapshot of what friends are engaging with.
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This section focuses on connection, offering a social feed, groups, and challenges. It gives users the option to participate in community-driven engagement without making it the core experience.
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Here users can add, edit, and manage logs, as well as view their history through a calendar. This feature ensures consistency and helps users easily track their media consumption over time.
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Discovery tools highlight recommendations, friend suggestions, categories, groups, and challenges. The goal is to expand exploration while keeping recommendations relevant and user-driven.
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Profiles showcase activity, reviews, collections, achievements, and optional goals or stats. Settings for account preferences, privacy, moderation, and accessibility give users full control over their experience.
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Search is always accessible from the top right of the app, allowing users to look up media titles, users, tags, groups, and collections. Filters like media type, genre, rating, and release date refine results for faster navigation.
Search & Add to watchlist
Demonstrates how users can quickly search for a media title, apply filters if needed, and add it to their queue. The process prioritizes efficiency and flexibility, ensuring users can find content fast and save it for later without unnecessary steps.
Mid fidelity Prototypes
T H E D E S I G N
Where ideas become tangible
After creating our site map and user flows I began to start sketching key screens. Starting with any idea I had first and then narrowing it down by matching user needs and referencing my sitemap/user flows.
The real magic begins to show during the mid-fidelity stages, where I refine the hierarchy and layout further to make it more readable for our eventual user testing.
Low fidelity Prototypes
Crafting identity through visuals
Four main values were kept in mind throughout the entire process of building Chronicle’s image:
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Logging media should feel personal, not just like checking off a box. By letting users shape the app to fit their habits and style (collections, tags, privacy settings), they’re in full control of their journey.
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Everything about the app should reduce friction; from easy logging to clean navigation, so users can focus on enjoying and discovering media, not fighting the interface.
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Encouraging users to interact with media mindfully rather than passively, by helping them log, reflect, and remember what truly resonates
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Even without heavy social features, the app promotes belonging. Through shareable collections, friend recommendations, and light interactions that remind you you’re among like-minded people
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The name Chronicle reflects the idea of logging media as a meaningful, personal journey rather than a checklist. It embodies Meaningful Engagement by emphasizing reflection and memory, encouraging users to capture what resonates most with them.
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The palette combines deep blues and vibrant reds with softer neutrals, balancing energy with clarity. This visual system reflects Simplicity & Clarity, ensuring contrast for usability while also sparking moments of personality.
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The bold “C” logo was designed to symbolize both reliability and a page turning, reinforcing the idea of media as part of an ongoing story. Its adaptability as a wordmark and icon reflects Ownership & Customization, giving users a recognizable mark tied to their personal journey.
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Pairs Clash Display for headers with Neuton for body text, creating both personality and readability. This balance aligns with Simplicity & Clarity, making the interface easy to scan while keeping it expressive.
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The component system includes buttons, icons, toggles, and cards that were designed for clarity and consistency. By supporting customization (tags, lists, privacy options) while keeping navigation simple, it reinforces Ownership & Customization and Simplicity & Clarity, ensuring users feel in control while staying focused on what matters.
T H E T E S T I N G & I T E R A T I O N S
Learning from every click
After bringing the mid-fidelity frames up to high-fidelity I hosted a virtual moderated usability test with five interviewees to test the key flows. Interviewees were asked to complete the following tasks while providing comments and feedback along the way:
Despite the positive feedback and the app being well received between all participants, there were several refinements to be made to strengthen user experience.
Search for the movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and add it to your watchlist
Find and create a new custom collection
Add a log for the movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”
It quickly became apparent during the user interviews that the majority of users have certain medias that they prefer to keep to themselves. A toggle for private collections and logs was a necessity for users.
Creating a new collection was often thought to be under the “+” button on the nav, so instead of fighting user habits I adapted the design to include the exact assumption my participants were making. Along with this, toast messages were also made for clear confirmation when media was added to watchlists or collections.
Probably the most common problem I saw during the interviews. Users struggled finding the custom collections on the profile and wanted a faster way to access them. So I gave them just that, and nothing faster than right on the dashboard!
Before the iteration both “Cast” and “Crew” were the same color which made users unsure which column was active at a glance, or in some cases, that they were even clickable buttons at all
With the emphasis on customization within the app, users wanted the ability to view & pick between several screenshots to represent the media they’re logging, adding to a collection, or simply viewing to refresh their memory. There was also feedback on the media information order which was based on visuals and what was important to the participants.
T H E R E S U L T S
From research through testing, every decision in Chronicle was shaped by user feedback and the goal of making media logging simpler while adding value through reflection and organization.
The result is a product that not only matches users’ initially stated needs but also gives meaning to their media experiences, creating a tool that feels both functional and rewarding.
I learned how critical it is to validate assumptions early. Features I initially thought would be central, like ratings, proved to be secondary, while reflections emerged as the true differentiator. Testing at different fidelity levels also proved valuable, as users offered unique insights when evaluating rough sketches compared to polished prototypes.
Looking back, I would have expanded the participant pool to include more diverse media consumers, such as those who primarily track books or games, to better understand how Chronicle scales across formats. With more time, I would also prototype and test community features more deeply, including commenting, reactions, and group collections, as well as build out data visualization for “Year in Review” insights since participants showed strong interest in seeing patterns over time.
I am most proud of how well the final design reflects the voices of the users I interviewed. Chronicle not only looks good but it directly addresses the frustrations people shared. Building something intentional, personal, and genuinely useful is what excites me most as a designer.
This project demonstrates my ability to take a concept from start to finish: research, synthesis, branding, design, prototyping, and testing. It shows I can create polished deliverables while grounding every decision in user input and highlights my ability to balance detail-oriented design with big-picture storytelling.
