An abstract visual system for Vessel
Vessel is a digital wellness app designed for women navigating transitions - grief, motherhood, burnout, perimenopause, or simply the daily weight of holding it all. I was commissioned to create a collection of abstract visuals that would represent different breathwork practices, turning each breathing pattern into a visual refuge that users could connect with emotionally before they even press play.
Creative Direction
The core challenge: how do you visualise breath? Most wellness apps rely on clinical animations or generic nature photography. Vessel needed something different - artwork that could hold emotional complexity without words, that felt intimate and honest rather than polished and distant.
My approach centred on watercolour abstractions as the visual language. Each piece represents a breathwork journey or emotional state, not an instruction or outcome. The aesthetic intentionally resists the rigid minimalism of most wellness apps. Instead, these visuals feel like something you'd find in a journal, a quiet room, or held close when you need grounding.
Visual System
I created 20 abstract compositions, each paired with a specific breathwork practice. The system uses colour and form as emotional language:
Colour palette:
Warm pinks and terracotta = grounding, safety, return to self
Cool blues and aqua = expansion, breath, spaciousness
Layered washes = complexity, the coexistence of multiple truths
Soft, bleeding edges = permission to be uncertain, to not have answers
Key visuals include:
Grounding Breath - pink dome with solid base, for when you need to feel held
Ocean Breath - aqua waves with dissolving forms, for grief and release
Threshold Breath - overlapping shapes in blue-pink gradient, for moments of transition
Rest Breath - circular glow with warm centre, nervous system reset before sleep
Each artwork functions as both a meditation object and a playlist cover - something users return to visually as part of their practice. The organic, imperfect quality mirrors the experience of breathwork itself: messy, layered, deeply human
Application
The visuals live across the app experience:
Practice library thumbnails (grid view of all 20 breath journeys)
Full-screen meditation companions during sessions
Progress tracking visuals that soften as you complete practices
Social sharing assets that feel personal, not branded
Unlike traditional UI that treats images as decoration, these abstractions are the interface - the primary way users navigate and choose their practice.
Impact
This visual system gave Vessel:
Immediate emotional recognition - users can "feel" which breath they need by the artwork alone
A distinct visual voice in the crowded wellness app space
Artwork that mirrors the user's inner landscape - organic, layered, unfinished
Flexibility to expand: each new breathwork technique can receive its own visual while staying cohesive
Designed to hold emotion, not solve it - these are visuals in service of presence, not productivity.
