( Case study )

Yeti Chat — AI Companion App, UX/UI & Character Design

Domain: Consumer AI / Wellbeing
Services: UX Research; Conversation Design; Mobile App UX/UI; Character & Brand Identity; Design System

OVERVIEW

Product Strategy

An AI companion for the moments you just need someone to talk to. Yeti listens, checks in and remembers, turning a lonely 2am scroll into a conversation that helps.

Design & Branding

Soft, warm and impossible not to like. A purple yeti mascot makes the app feel like a companion, cozy where most AI still feels clinical.

Iterating with Feedback

Every reply was tested for tone, not just accuracy, and refined until Yeti felt patient and warm, never robotic, never preachy.

PROBLEM

Sometimes you just need someone to talk to.

Most people don't need therapy at 11pm. They need someone to talk to. But AI chat still feels cold and transactional, and a friend isn't always one call away.

Support apps often make it worse: forms, mood scales and scripted replies that feel like talking to a help desk.

Young man smiling at the Yeti Chat app on his phone

The Yeti Chat team came to Mara to design an AI companion that feels warm from the first message.

OPPORTUNITY

Make AI feel less like software.

If an AI companion listens, remembers what you told it and checks in later, it can make a hard evening a little lighter. The opportunity was to design that feeling, not just the chat.

The challenge was responsibility. Yeti had to be caring without pretending to be a therapist, and friendly without being childish.

SOLUTION

A friend in your pocket.

Mara designed the full product: conversation design, character and brand identity, and a complete UI system. The app is built around three ideas:

A character, not an interface. Yeti greets you, reacts and keeps the conversation going, so the app feels like someone, not something.

Yeti Chat screens: Hi, I'm Yeti greeting and a chat conversation

Conversations that remember. Yeti picks up where you left off and checks in later, instead of starting from zero every time.

Calm, cozy screens. Soft gradients, rounded shapes and generous spacing keep the experience gentle, even late at night.

Yeti Chat welcome screen with the 3D yeti mascot: Your virtual Chat friend

CORE FLOWS

Sign up in seconds

Email, Google or Apple, with Yeti on screen from the very first step.

A simple profile

Personal information and settings in one calm screen, nothing more.

RESEARCH

How people talk when they're overwhelmed.

We studied how people actually talk when they're overwhelmed: what makes a reply feel caring instead of scripted, where chatbots lose trust, and why most support tools feel like talking to a form.

Tone matters more than answers. People judged replies by how they felt, not how complete they were.

Scripts break trust. The moment a reply sounded templated, people disengaged.

A face helps. A friendly character made it easier to start talking.

Yeti Chat moodboard: AI companion apps and research on chatbots and mental health

VISUAL DIRECTION

Soft, bright and a little bit furry.

Instead of the cool blues of most AI tools, Yeti Chat uses electric cyan and magenta pop around a fluffy purple 3D character. The interface stays clean and quiet, while the character brings warmth and personality to every screen.

STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS

Warmth over efficiency

Every flow was designed to feel caring first and fast second.

Honest about what it is

A companion for everyday moments, clear that it isn't a replacement for professional help.

Character-led

Yeti appears across onboarding, chat and the app icon, so the relationship feels consistent.

BRAND IDENTITY

Cyan & magenta

Electric Cyan and Magenta Pop with Cool Slate and Cloud White: playful, bright and easy on the eyes.

Gilroy

A friendly geometric sans in four weights that keeps conversations light and readable.

The Yeti

A soft purple 3D mascot and a fluffy Y app icon that make the brand instantly recognisable.

DESIGN DECISIONS

Designing a companion, not a chatbot.

How should Yeti sound?

Patient, warm and brief. Replies were tuned for tone: no lectures, no clinical language, no forced positivity.

How much should the app ask?

As little as possible. No mood scales or long forms up front: you start by talking, and Yeti learns from the conversation.

WHERE WE LANDED

An AI companion that feels like company.

Yeti Chat AI companion app: Your virtual Chat friend, with a purple furry yeti mascot

Mobile app

Onboarding with Yeti, sign-up with email, Google or Apple, chat, check-ins and a simple profile.

Character & brand

The 3D yeti mascot, the fluffy Y app icon, a cyan and magenta palette and Gilroy typography.

Design system

A complete UI system built around warmth, delivered in five weeks from discovery to handoff.

KEEPING IT GENTLE

Nothing that feels like a form.

We removed anything that made the app feel clinical: progress bars, scores and settings-heavy screens. What's left is a conversation and a character.

DETAILS

The app icon

A fluffy purple Y that stands out on any home screen.

The Y logomark

A clean geometric Y built on a grid, the flat counterpart to the furry icon.

Small details, big personality.

From the app icon to the logo grid, every brand element carries Yeti's soft, friendly character.

REFLECTION

What we learned

Tone is the product.

For a companion app, how Yeti says something matters more than what it says.

Characters lower the barrier.

A friendly mascot made it easier for people to start a conversation with AI.

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