To do something fun
Why does everything have to be so serious when it comes to tarot? I wanted to have fun. That's why I created my own iOS app together with my partner who is a programmer. An iOS application made for users who want to have fun and foretell the future. The design was created using Sketch and reflects playfulness and freedom, with features like swiping to turn each card to mimic a real life tarot reading.
Design Thinking
In the design process of creating Tarotappen, it started with an idea about creating something different but still modern. All the text for each card was written by hand, and the the prototype was later created in Sketch. The prototype was tested by some users and changed according to feedback in an iterative process.
Use what you have
To create a brighter feeling I was inpired by light wood, like wood used in a table. Because it symbols sitting down and laying out cards. The imagery is old and comes from the public domain, but has been retouched to match the modern design better. And to get the feeling of something different I used a pattern in the menu that I haven’t seen in an tarot card reading situation before.
Make it different
I wanted to make the reading of a card easier for the user, to have a fun and easy time. I wanted to make a simple design rather than the more mysterious and heavy ones traditionally used with tarot. To get closer to the user rather than distancing them, and to make the user more in control.
The face of the product
A logo needs to represent the application, it’s the marketing of the product. When the logo was made I was thinking of freedom and something light. And then after som iterations it started to look more and more like a butterfly. It was important for me as a designer to create a symbol that represents what users are going to feel when they are using the product.
Focus on ethics
In order to create an app that maintains an ethical dimension, as a designer, you need to consider all the different scenarios a user can end up in, even when the scenarios can feel daunting, it is important not to avoid them. To make the app as ethical as possible, I went through scenarios like if the person had negative thoughts about themselves and their life or scenarios of crisis and revenge. Since the user's focus here is on images and text, the text has been written to push for a more positive interpretation and to make the user think of opportunities rather than negativity.
