Colormeter is a wearable and app system that visualizes emotional states in children with Borderline Personality Disorder. As UX/UI Designer, I translated user research into paper prototypes and wireframes, shaping an intuitive and empathetic interface that makes emotional patterns understandable and actionable. The project was awarded at the German UPA UX Challenge 2019.
Role
UX/UI Designer
Scope
User Research, UX Conception, UI Design
Platform
Mobile
Duration
4 Months
Team
1 Fellow Student
Tools
Balsamiq
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photosthop
Adobe InDesign
Adobe AfterEffects
Adobe PremierePro
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photosthop
Adobe InDesign
Adobe AfterEffects
Adobe PremierePro
"Borderline is like experiencing the full palette of life at once –
from the darkest black to the most dazzling pink."
from the darkest black to the most dazzling pink."
Context
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) affects around three percent of the global population, often emerging in adolescence. Rapid emotional shifts, impulsivity, and unstable relationships challenge young people and their families, often leading parents to intervene too late or misinterpret escalation. Colormeter, developed at TH Ingolstadt with a fellow student, translates physiological stress signals into a color-based visual system. We created a wearable companion app that presents stress in an intuitive and approachable way. Our hypothesis was that by externalizing stress into a shared visual language, families could intervene earlier, enhance understanding, and shift from reactive to reflective communication.
UCD Approach
We conducted interviews with individuals diagnosed with BPD and their relatives to understand triggers, escalation patterns, and communication challenges. Insights highlighted the need for early awareness and contextual understanding to guide calmer responses. From these interviews, we defined core Jobs to Be Done: recognizing rising stress early to enable timely intervention, providing a clear visual representation of emotions to support calm and reflective responses, and tracking emotional patterns over time to inform long-term support. Findings were synthesized into a persona representing a child navigating emotional volatility, and a moodboard ensured a consistent, approachable, and empathetic visual language. The visual system is minimal and calm, using color to convey emotional nuance.
Moodboard
Moodboard
Persona Maggy Crabby
Storyboard sketches
Paper Prototyping & Wireframing
We translated insights into paper prototypes and low-fidelity interactive wireframes to validate information architecture and interaction flows. Early usability testing revealed that numerical stress indicators increased pressure, leading us to replace them with color transitions that frame emotions as dynamic states rather than fixed metrics.
Sketches
Paper prototypes
Paper prototypes
Paper prototypes
Interactive wireframes
Results
The final system includes a wearable that communicates real-time emotional states and an app that visualizes stress patterns over time to support reflection. Users reported that color-based signaling felt less confronting, and trend views helped parents choose the right moments to engage. A short film demonstrates how visualized stress states can de-escalate tense moments and encourage constructive dialogue.
UI designs
UI designs
Conclusion
Colormeter reframes emotional volatility into something interpretable. It enables earlier intervention, strengthens self-awareness, and supports reflective family communication. Future iterations could provide clinicians or caregivers with controlled access to stress and emotional trends, and incorporate community support and treatment management features.
