Análise do uso de ilustrações em interfaces de aplicativos de meditação

Abstract

This study conducts a semiotic analysis of the application of illustrations in the interfaces of three mobile meditation applications: Lojong, Headspace, and Calm. The general objective is to analyze the communicability of illustrations on platforms focused on mental health and well-being that use meditation and mindfulness as methods. The methodology was based on Semiotic Engineering, specifically the template for the metacommunication message to achieve the specific goals of the research. The results reveal that the designers metamessages utilize distinct strategies to promote well-being: Lojong focuses on personification and affective bonding through a mascot; Headspace prioritizes visual didactics and semantic clarity through geometric shapes; while Calm adopts minimalism and visual withdrawal, valuing silence and traditional meditation. It was observed that Lojong and Headspace present a considerable density of promotional illustrations aimed at user retention, whereas Calm reduces visual stimuli to favor focus on audio practice. Ultimately, it was perceived that illustrations act as strategic visual guides that communicate the designer's intent, reducing cognitive load or humanizing interaction, all grounded in the idea to be transmitted. The analysis evidenced that visual design decisions are intrinsically linked to the interface's strategy and message, where the balance between the type and quantity of illustrations being a determining factor for the user's understanding of the system used.