Design Principles for Interactive and Reflective Journaling with AI

Abstract

Designing for reflection and journaling have been prominent research areas in HCI and Interaction Design. However, designing for the experience of journaling that is supported by conversations with AI–Conversational Agent (CA)–to foster reflection seems to be a relatively unexplored area. Furthermore, while there are an abundant number of general guidelines and design principles for designing human-AI interactions, a set of guidelines for designing an interactive and reflective journaling experience with AI is lacking. This paper is a first attempt to address that need. We present the result of a qualitative user study on interactive and reflective journaling. We were interested in attending to our participants’ experiences and finding out their needs regarding the interactive journaling experience with CA. The user needs then were translated to design requirements and thereafter to themes or design principles. Some of our findings suggest that one of the important factors in journaling is the personal aesthetics of writing, by using carefully selected personal tools, specific materiality and interactions. Further, the flow of writing is considered sacred, hence it is almost like an untouchable, reflective ritualistic flow. Reflecting on the findings, we believe the outcome of this study can create opportunities for designing for human-AI interactions that are generative and reflective for activities that require such qualities, such as journaling or creativity.