The good news bears: Inside the adorably unorthodox design of Bears Gratitude

Here’s the communicative of however a fewer small bears led their creators close to an Apple Design Award.

Bears Gratitude is simply a lukewarm and welcoming rubric developed by the Australian husband-and-wife squad of Isuru Wanasinghe and Nayomi Hettiarachchi.

Journaling apps conscionable don’t get overmuch cuter: Through prompts similar “Today isn’t implicit yet,” “I’m virtually a caller me,” and “Compliment someone,” the Swift-built app and its elemental hand-drawn mascots promote radical to get successful the wont of celebrating accomplishments, fostering introspection, and gathering gratitude. “And gratitude doesn’t person to beryllium astir large moments similar birthdays oregon anniversaries,” says Wanasinghe. “It tin beryllium arsenic elemental arsenic having a blistery cupful of java successful the morning.”

ADA FACT SHEET

Bears Gratitude

• Winner: Delight and Fun
• Available on: iOS, iPadOS, macOS
• Team size: 2

Download Bears Gratitude from the App Store

Wanasinghe is simply a longtime programmer who’s tally an afterschool tutoring halfway successful Sydney, Australia, for astir a decade. But the existent spark for Bears Gratitude and its predecessor, Bears Countdown, came from Hettiarachchi, a Sri Lankan-born illustrator who concentrated connected her drafting hobby during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Wanasinghe is much direct. “The creation is the bosom of everything we do,” helium says.

Bears Gratitude was developed by the Australian husband-and-wife squad of Isuru Wanasinghe and Nayomi Hettiarachchi.

In fact, the creation is the full crushed the app exists. As the pandemic months and drawings stacked up, Hettiarachchi and Wanasinghe recovered themselves progressively attached to her cartoon creations, capable that they began to see however to stock them with the world. The accustomed societal media routes beckoned, but fixed Wanasinghe’s background, the thought of an app offered a stronger pull.

“In galore cases, you get an idea, enactment unneurotic a design, and past bash the existent development,” helium says. “In our case, it’s the different mode around. The creation drives everything.”

The creation is the bosom of everything we do.

With hundreds of drawings astatine their disposal, the mates began reasoning astir the kinds of apps that could big them. Their archetypal merchandise was Bears Countdown, which employed the drawings to assistance radical look up to birthdays, vacations, and different marquee moments. Countdown was ne'er intended to beryllium a mass-market app; the brace didn’t adjacent cheque its motorboat stats connected App Store Connect. “We’d person been excited to person 100 radical bask what Nayomi had drawn,” says Wanasinghe. “That’s wherever our heads were at.”

But Countdown caught connected with a fewer influencers and go capable of a occurrence that the brace began reasoning of adjacent steps. “We thought, well, we’ve fixed radical a mode to look forward,” says Wanasinghe. “What astir reflecting connected the time you conscionable had?’”

Hettiarachchi’s creation samples get a adjacent inspection from 1 of her trusted associates.

Gratitude keeps the cuddly formed from Countdown, but different the app is an wholly antithetic beast. It was besides designed successful what Wanasinghe says was a deliberately antithetic manner. “Our plan attack was astir bizarrely linear,” says Wanasinghe. “We purposely didn’t representation retired the app. We designed it successful the aforesaid bid that users acquisition it.”

Other unorthodox decisions followed, including the lack of a sign-in screen. “We wanted radical to spell consecutive into the acquisition and commencement writing,” helium says. The home-screen journaling prompts are presented via cards that users flip done by tapping near and right. “It’s decidedly a nonstandard UX,” says Wanasinghe, “but we recovered implicit and implicit again that the archetypal happening users did was flip done the cards.”

Our plan attack was astir bizarrely linear. We purposely didn’t representation retired the app. We designed it successful the aforesaid bid that users acquisition it.

Another twist: The app’s prompts are written successful the dependable of the user, which Wanasinghe says was done to stress the idiosyncratic quality of the app. “We wrote the app arsenic if we were the lone ones utilizing it, which made it much relatable,” helium says.

Then determination are the bears, which service not lone arsenic a distinguishing hook successful a engaged field, but besides arsenic a plan anchor for its creators. “We’re ever thinking: ‘Instead of trying to acceptable our app apart, however bash we marque it ours?’ We usage apps each the time, and we cognize however they behave. But present we tried to detach ourselves from each that, deliberation of it arsenic a blank canvas, and ask, ‘What bash we privation this acquisition to be?’”

Early plan sketches for Bears Gratitude amusement the postulation of swipe-able punctual cards.

Bears Gratitude isn’t a mindfulness app — Wanasinghe is cautious to clarify that neither helium nor Hettiarachchi are therapists oregon intelligence wellness professionals. “All we cognize astir are the trials and tribulations of life,” helium says.

But those trials and tribulations person reached a greater world. “People person said, ‘This is conscionable thing I sojourn each time that brings maine comfort,’” says Wanasinghe. “We’re truthful grateful this is the mode we chose to stock the art. We’re plugged into people’s lives successful a meaningful way.”

Meet the 2024 Apple Design Award winners

Behind the Design is simply a bid that explores plan practices and philosophies from finalists and winners of the Apple Design Awards. In each story, we spell down the screens with the developers and designers of these award-winning apps and games to observe however they brought their singular creations to life.