Youthful’s goal is to build a highly engaging, emotionally smart social media platform designed specifically for teens and young adults. In contrast to traditional platforms that emphasize popularity and perfection, Youthful emphasizes real self-expression, emotional connection, and personalized content discovery based on users' moods and interests.

User Persona

Aisha Kapoor

Age: 16

Occupation: High school student

Tech Habits: Scrolls social apps during breaks and after classes; active on short-form video platforms.

Goals:
Express herself without pressure of flawlessness in selfies.

Frustrations:
Overwhelmed by infinite feeds and "perfect" pictures.
Doesn't wish to post personal photos in real-time.

Motivations:
Wishes for a safe haven to express her current mood.
Longs for bite-sized, mood-matching content to brighten her day.

Rahul Mehta

Age: 23

Occupation: Junior UX researcher at a startup

Tech Habits: Uses apps for inspiration, networking, and side-hustle marketing; values efficiency and authenticity.

Goals:
Discover new design inspiration related to his current creative state.
Create a micro-community around his passion projects (gaming, music).

Frustrations:
Feels isolated when algorithms promote generic or irrelevant content.
Sees low engagement on influencer-saturated platforms.

Motivations:
Desires genuine reactions (beyond likes) that indicate real feedback.
Wants to expand his network organically through shared vibes and ideas.

Problem Statement

Both Rahul and Aisha look for a social space that reflects their emotional state and interests and not necessarily polished perfection. These requirements emphasize Youthful's mood-tagging, avatar-based sign-up, and interest-based feed, providing users with personalized emotional rewards, less friction, and making every experience feel relevant and genuinely "youthful."

Sketches

Wireframe

Final Mockups

Profile Page

Key Features

Bio and identity: Focus on bio, name, and mood.

Tabled content: Reels, Posts, Saved — all sorted neatly for quick access.

Minimal layout: Clean, card-based UI that has white space and soft shadowing to prevent clutter and lower cognitive overload.

Home Page

Key Features

Emotionally intelligent feed: Content is organized according to mood tags, not only popularity.

Post interactions: Emotional responses such as (Loved it), (Felt this), or (Mood) make the conversation more relatable.

Systematic arrangement: All the contents are arranged systematically thus guiding the user's eye.

Explore Page

Key Features

Staggered grid layout: Dynamically visual tiles serve to break monotony and invite content discovery.

Intelligent filters: Interests (music, art, mental health, lifestyle, etc.) and moods enable users to instantly locate relevant posts.

Conclusion

The social experience of the next generation should be more like a mirror than a megaphone.

With empathetic designs, soft interactions, and emotionally intelligent features, this design shows how thoughtful UX can create a secure, expressive, and social digital space — particularly for young users finding their identity and expression online.

As a designer, creating Youthful affirmed a valuable lesson:

Good design doesn't just look good — it feels right.

And if even a single user feels heard, seen, or healed on this platform — the design will have succeeded.