Repose

The Spark

Something So Common, Yet So Overlooked

Repose started as a personal project during a breakup before growing into a class assignment and something much bigger. During a course on Designing a Human-Centered Venture at the University of Washington, I proposed creating tools for breakup recovery — an experience widely shared yet often overlooked in product design.

The question that drove everything: why does something so common feel so devastating, and why do the tools available treat it so superficially?

"85% of US adults report experiencing a romantic breakup, with 1/3 of those individuals experiencing clinically significant depressive symptoms." — Verhallen et al. (2019)

The digital tools available often emphasize little more than "just move on." We asked what it would look like to treat heartbreak not just as pain to ignore, but as an experience to grow from — grounded in clinical psychology and built around the way people actually heal.

The Challenges

Finding the Gap

Despite over 10,000 mental health apps on the market, none offer truly personalized, clinically grounded, evidence-based support for breakup recovery. Users encounter one-size-fits-all meditation techniques and unguided journaling.

What users told us:

"I know it's 'just a breakup' but I feel like I'm grieving."

"I don't even know where to start, I just keep downloading apps and deleting them."

"There's advice everywhere, but none of it actually feels like it's made for me."

The gap wasn't a lack of mental health apps. It was a lack of support that felt specific, adaptive, and human — for a universal experience that the market had essentially ignored.

The Research Process

Secondary & Market Research

Purpose: Understand the emotional and psychological reality of breakup recovery, and establish the scale of the unmet need in the market.

Breakups mirror grief & identity loss

• Breakups can trigger emotional distress similar to grief and trauma
• Loss of relationship disrupts self-concept and emotional stability
• Rumination is especially strong when breakups are unexpected or lack closure

Recovery is deeply personal

• Anxiously attached individuals experience higher emotional distress and are more likely to ruminate or seek reconnection
• Personality traits like introversion, extroversion, and ambiversion affect how individuals seek support or process emotion
• Reflective processes support emotional recovery and long-term growth

The market is large — and underserved

• 75 million US adults will go through a breakup at least once in their lifetime
• Mental health app market is approximately $3.2B today, growing to $6.5B by 2033
• Breakup recovery is a hidden demand in the mental health market that remains largely unaddressed by existing digital solutions

Competitive Analysis

Purpose: Understand how existing breakup and emotional recovery tools approach the problem — and where the meaningful gaps are.

Many apps relied on generic, self-guided content that does not adapt to users' emotional needs. Evaluating usability, tone, and engagement patterns across the landscape surfaced three consistent gaps:

1. Lack of breakup-specific content

Most apps focus on general wellness, not romantic breakups. When breakups are mentioned, content is often static or superficial — it doesn't feel personable or designed for what someone is actually going through.

2. Limited personalization

Few apps adapt content based on user needs, context, or progress. When personalization exists, it's often surface-level — a goal selection screen or a mood check-in that doesn't actually change the experience.

3. Primarily self-guided experiences

Support tends to be indirect — delivered through content tone or structure rather than real interaction. Few offer a sense of being emotionally accompanied or guided over time, with visible progress.

Surveys

Purpose: Validate early patterns at scale and identify key segments to inform design decisions.

Three questions anchored the survey:

• What was the most emotionally challenging part of your breakup experience?
• What types of support (if any) did you seek out after your breakup?
• What kind of tool or resource do you wish you had during your healing process?

Key findings:

• Many felt overwhelmed and emotionally alone during the healing process
• Generic advice and self-help content felt impersonal or unhelpful
• Respondents wanted structured guidance that adapts to their emotional state
• Validation and relatability mattered more than clinical tone

The findings validated a real, unmet need for breakup support that feels personal, responsive, and human — shaping the foundation of our product vision.

User Interviews

Purpose: Understand why people make the recovery decisions they do, and why existing tools often fall short at the moment when support matters most.

We conducted 12 follow-up interviews with participants who had recently experienced a breakup. These conversations uncovered the emotional needs behind the survey data — the specific ways that generic support falls flat, and what human-centered healing actually requires.

8 key findings — raw, emotional, high impact

They revealed why breakups disrupt everyday life and emotional stability, and the need for compassion, community, and structure. Three themes shaped Repose's direction most:

1. Support often feels one-dimensional

Most tools offer one mode of help — a breathing exercise, a journal prompt, a playlist. But people going through a breakup need different kinds of support at different moments, and few tools adapt to that.

2. Healing is nonlinear and unpredictable

Progress isn't steady. People have good days followed by hard days, feel "over it" and then get pulled back. Tools that assume linear recovery — tracking streaks, measuring progress in a straight line — feel out of touch with how healing actually works.

3. Feeling seen matters more than advice

What people wanted most wasn't clinical guidance or productivity techniques. It was the feeling that their experience was understood, that others had been through it, and that the tool recognized the specific weight of what they were carrying.

Insights & Triangulation

Jobs-to-be-Done Framework

Many people described feeling stuck after a breakup — seeking clarity, reassurance, and a sense of forward motion. The JTBD framework translated these needs into clear goals that shaped Repose's value proposition and feature priorities.

Feeling seen

"When I feel like I wasn't enough, I want to hear from others who've been through it, so I don't feel broken and alone."

Stop rumination

"When I keep replaying the breakup, I want to find clarity to make sense of what happened, so I can stop fixating and spiraling."

Regain emotional safety

"When I'm overwhelmed and panicked, I want to feel emotional relief by grounding myself, so I can get through the day."

Mapping the Emotional Journey of Breakup Recovery

Breakup recovery is rarely linear. We synthesized insights from secondary research, surveys, and interviews to map how emotions and support needs shift over time — identifying the moments when people feel most overwhelmed, and what support Repose should provide at each stage.

The map clarified where existing tools consistently fail: they're designed for stable, motivated users, not for the disoriented, ambivalent states that characterize early recovery. Repose needed to meet people in those hard moments — not after they'd already found their footing.

MVP Strategy & Design

Business Model Canvas & Customer Segmentation

Before designing the interface, we mapped Repose's customer segments and defined a Business Model Canvas to clarify our core value, key audiences, and paths to reach and support them.

Segmentation revealed three primary users: people in acute breakup distress, people in mid-recovery seeking structure, and people wanting long-term emotional growth. Each segment required different entry points and feature prioritization — informing both the onboarding flow and the depth of the core experience.

This ensured the MVP was anchored in business viability alongside user need.

MVP Designs

Onboarding

A step-by-step welcome flow that gathers your companion, attachment style, and personality to tailor every lesson and reminder to your needs.

Landing

What it does: Greets users with a warm introduction, highlights core benefits, and invites them to begin their healing journey.

Design decisions: Kept minimal so newcomers aren't overwhelmed at the start of their healing journey. Single, centrally-placed CTA ("Get Started") for clarity. Soft purple palette to feel soothing and hopeful.

Healing Buddy

What it does: Prompts users to choose a plant or animal companion, immediately tailoring the journey and building an emotional bond.

Design decisions: Tapping cards is more playful than dropdowns for quick selection. Emoji-style art builds emotional connection quickly. Grid of 8 so the choice feels substantial without scrolling.

Attachment Style

What it does: Asks about your typical relationship pattern to customize lessons and exercises around attachment needs.

Design decisions: Cards instead of radio buttons feel more tactile. Short labels and micro-copy reduce cognitive load. "Not sure" option ensures no one feels forced to answer.

Personality

What it does: Captures social preference (introvert, extrovert, ambivert) to adjust how and when reminders and content are delivered.

Design decisions: Three-option card layout matches the mental model of introvert/extrovert/ambivert. Highlight on tap reinforces the selection.

Core Features & Navigation

A bottom tab bar granting instant access to daily tools, guided micro-lessons, community discussions, and profile settings.

Home

What it does: Central dashboard for daily coping tools all in one glance — breathing, affirmations, journaling, and habit tracking.

Design decisions: Four main action cards for rapid access to daily tools. Buddy avatar at top reminds users of their companionship. Bottom-nav icon labelled "Home" for instant recognition.

Learn

What it does: Bite-sized, personalized audio lessons organized by topic and healing stage, with clear duration and play controls.

Design decisions: Horizontal pill navigation lets users switch topics without leaving the screen. Topics are ordered based on onboarding selections to deliver personalized content. Play buttons and duration so users know what they're committing to.

Community

What it does: Anonymous forum where users can browse or join discussions on common breakup challenges, share stories, and find peer support.

Design decisions: List-style topics feel familiar, like forum threads. "Join conversation" CTAs prompt active engagement. Anonymity note at the bottom reassures privacy.

Profile

What it does: User settings hub — swap your healing buddy, set daily check-in reminders, and review personal data to keep the experience tailored.

Design decisions: Swap-out buddy at top reinforces personalization. Toggle and time picker for reminders so adjustments are clear and simple. Export data CTA lets users retrieve their journal entry data.

Grounding Hub

A central dashboard of mindfulness exercises — breathing, affirmations, habit tracking, and journaling — designed to help users stay present and build healthy routines.

Box Breathing

What it does: A guided, timed breathing exercise with a simple countdown to help users calm their nervous system and reduce anxiety.

Design decisions: Countdown in large type focuses attention on the exercise. Single "Start" button removes ambiguity. Card layout matches other Hub tools for consistency.

Affirmations

What it does: A series of positive, self-compassion statements presented on screen or via voice to counter negative thoughts and boost mindset.

Design decisions: Microcopy in quotation marks signals "self-talk." Secondary "Play voice" CTA gives users the choice of reading vs. listening.

Habit Builder

What it does: Daily checklist for small, customizable actions (e.g. drink water, take a walk) that encourage consistency through streaks.

Design decisions: Inline "Add new habit" button at the bottom makes list-building feel natural. "X" icons with confirmation dialogue enable quick removal. Streak language ("Start your streak!") adds light gamification.

Journaling

What it does: Dual-mode journaling — free-form mood journal or prompt-based session — for reflection, pattern tracking, and insight.

Design decisions: Two tabs (New Entry / History) separate creation from reflection. Supports both mood-based free journaling and guided-prompt journaling so users choose their preferred style.

Reflections & Roadmap

Designing Empathy-Centered Support

Presenting Repose to a panel of entrepreneurs and hearing their enthusiastic feedback was a true highlight. It confirmed that thoughtful research and design can address deep emotional challenges — and that this kind of work has real commercial potential, not just personal resonance.

Building and testing the MVP showed how many people were craving support that felt human. The market research told one story; the people we interviewed told a more urgent one.

From Prototype to Healing Practice

The roadmap focuses on three steps:

• Recruit participants currently navigating breakups to narrow down which features resonate and which don't, and identify what's missing from the current MVP
• Validate the freemium model and test which features drive retention and willingness to pay
• Collaborate with psychologists and subject-matter experts to ensure healing strategies are grounded in rigorous clinical research, not just design intuition

"Something like Repose is what I wish I had months ago. I was overwhelmed, stuck in my head, and couldn't see a way forward. This feels like something that could have made the toughest days a little easier."