Illustration · Vector Art · UX/UI Design

I build worlds. Then I invite you in.

Design, for me, is a stage — a place to give form to the worlds, ideas and images that only existed in my head. I think of it like travelling and talking to strangers: every project speaks a different language, and my job is to speak it fluently. If the audience doesn't get it, the design failed. Not them.

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Featured projectBlooming Habit

SpecialityArt-driven UX

ToolsFigma · Illustrator

StatusOpen to work

✦

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About me

A world-builder who happens to design

I'm Ethan — illustrator, vector artist, and UX/UI designer. But more than any title, I'm someone who's been building imaginary worlds since before I had the tools to share them. Games, comics, fictional universes with their own rules and atmospheres — those are what shaped how I see creativity. Not as output, but as invitation.

That's still how I approach design. Every project is a world with its own logic, its own audience, its own language. My job isn't to impose a style — it's to listen to what the project wants to be and then push that as far as it can go. The best feedback I can get is simply: "it looks good" or "I get exactly what you mean." That's the whole game.

I got into design because I wanted to give form to things that only existed in my head. AI can generate images now — that didn't kill my love for it. If anything it made me more certain: what I'm after isn't the output. It's the act of making something real that others can step into and experience.

Illustration Vector Art UI Design UX Research Figma World-building Character Design Prototyping

Selected work

Projects that matter

Mobile App · Illustration · UI Design

Blooming Habit

A gamified habit-tracking app built around a magical growing plant. Custom illustrations, character design, and a full UI system — all from scratch.

Desktop App · UX/UI Design · 2026

YouLab

A YouTube content management workspace designed for creators who want to own and organize their knowledge.

Mobile App · UX Design · 2026

HomeFit

A beginner-first home workout app that eliminates decision fatigue with one personalized daily routine.

Mobile App · UX Design · 2026

Patha

Describe the problem you solved, what you designed, and the outcome.

How I work

Art first, then function

Feel the world

Before a single wireframe, I sketch the mood. What does this product feel like? What colours live in it? I build the atmosphere first.

Map the journey

User flows and wireframes grounded in real behaviour. I find where the friction is, then design around it — keeping the world intact.

Illustrate & build

Characters, assets, UI components — I make them from scratch. High-fidelity Figma prototypes that feel alive, not assembled from templates.

Polish & ship

Every edge case, every micro-interaction, every hover state. I care about the details that most people never notice but always feel.

Capabilities

What I bring to a team

Illustration & Art

Character design
Vector illustration
World-building
Asset creation
Visual storytelling

UX/UI Design

Wireframing
High-fidelity UI
Interactive prototypes
Design systems
Usability thinking

Tools

Figma
Adobe Illustrator
Clip Studio Paint
Notion & FigJam
Photoshop

Get in touch

Let's build a world together

Open to full-time roles, freelance projects, and creative collaborations.

[email protected] LinkedIn Behance Resume ↓

Case study · Mobile App · Concept Project

Blooming Habit

A gamified habit-tracking app where daily tasks feed a growing virtual plant — turning routine into something magical.

RoleUI Design · Concept · Prototype

ToolsFigma

TypeMobile App · Concept

StatusPrototype complete

01 — Problem & Goal

Why do people quit their habits?

Most habit-tracking apps feel like checklists. They rely on streaks, and when you miss a day the streak breaks — and so does your motivation. There's no emotional connection, no real sense of a living world to return to.

I wanted to design something that made habit-building feel rewarding and alive. Not a productivity tool — a world you actually want to come back to every day.

"What if missing a day didn't feel like failure — but like your plant just needed a little extra care?"

Three core systems needed designing: an onboarding that teaches through play, a daily task loop with a satisfying reward, and a magic shop where earned points unlock new seeds. An articles section was also added to help users discover and commit to healthy habits.

02 — Key Screens

Every screen, designed with intention

From planting your first seed to completing daily tasks and browsing the shop — here's the full experience.

Seed SelectionChoose seed, set tasks & make a promise

Daily TasksComplete tasks to collect energy

ArticlesLearn healthy habits to add to your routine

Magic ShopSpend points on new seeds & tools

Plant EncyclopediaTrack your collection across tiers

03 — Plant Growth System

Three flowers, four stages each

Each seed has its own visual journey. The more consistently you complete your habits, the further your plant grows — from a tiny seed to a glowing full bloom.

Stage 1

Seed planted

Stage 2

First sprout

Stage 3

Growing tall

Stage 4

Full bloom ✨

Stage 1

Seed planted

Stage 2

First sprout

Stage 3

Growing tall

Stage 4

Full bloom ✨

Stage 1

Seed planted

Stage 2

First sprout

Stage 3

Growing tall

Stage 4

Full bloom ✨

App Walkthrough

See it in motion

Watch how a user moves through the full Blooming Habit experience — from planting their first seed to harvesting a fully grown flower.

Prototype walkthrough

Video coming soon — replace with screen recording from Figma prototype

04 — Characters & Assets

A world with personality

Every element was designed to feel alive — from the guide sprite to the merchant running the Magic Store.

The Guide

Your companion throughout the app. Celebrates wins, reacts to mistakes, and leads new users through onboarding without a single tutorial screen.

The Merchant

Runs the Magic Store. Designed with a mysterious feel that makes spending your earned points feel like a special, magical event.

UI Icons & Assets

Every icon in Blooming Habit was custom-designed to match the magical teal aesthetic. From navigation icons to in-game currency — all made from scratch.

Coin

Flower

Achievement

Shop

Article

Settings

Harvest

History

Arrow

Star border

05 — Design Process

From sketch to final design

Every screen went through multiple stages. Here's the real journey — from rough ideas on paper to a polished interactive prototype.

Stage 1

Concept sketches & early characters

Before opening Figma I sketched the core mechanic and tested character ideas. The original companion was a cat character with three states: watering, idle, and "stage up". I also explored the plant growth stages and noted "minimal animation" for button transitions, keeping performance in mind early.

Early concept sketch — cat character & plant growth stages

Early cat companion concept — later replaced by the custom sprite

Stage 2

Wireframes

Low-fidelity wireframes to nail layout and content hierarchy before adding visual polish. The wireframes focused purely on what information users needed and in what order — the Articles screen and Shop layout were mapped out here including the "Congratulations" reward screen after completing a task.

Articles / Resources wireframe

Congratulations screen wireframe

Stage 3

Mid-fidelity — finding the visual direction

In mid-fi I started applying the dark atmospheric theme and the ornate UI frame system. You can see the Seed Selection and Daily Task screens evolving — the decorative teal borders and glow effects were gradually introduced. The shop layout also shifted from a light card grid to the darker, more immersive style.

Seed Selection — mid-fidelity

Daily Task — mid-fidelity with teal theme emerging

Stage 3b

Background art — work in progress

Alongside the UI screens, the background illustrations were being developed in parallel. Here you can see the progression side by side — the early version already had the core composition, trees, and colour palette locked in. The final version added richer detail and the signature ornate border frame.

Early version — no frame, simpler detail

Final version — ornate frame added ✨

Main forest background — in-progress version

💡 Key design decision

Why I switched from a cat to a custom sprite

My original concept used a cat as the companion character. As I developed the visual direction, I realised a cat felt too generic — it didn't fit the magical, otherworldly atmosphere I was building. I designed the blob-like sprite instead because it felt more original, could express emotions clearly through simple face changes, and matched the ethereal forest world. It was a harder character to design, but a much better fit for the product.

Stage 4

UI frame system

One of the most distinctive parts of Blooming Habit is the ornate teal border system. I designed a set of reusable decorative frames — a full-screen border, a banner frame, and a dialogue frame — that give every screen a consistent "enchanted storybook" feel. These became the visual backbone of the entire UI.

Full-screen border

Banner / header frame

Dialogue box frame

06 — What I Learned

Lessons from building alone

My first end-to-end concept project. Here's what I took away.

🌿

Onboarding is everything

Teaching users through doing — not instructions — was the hardest design challenge. The guided first-run experience took the most iterations of anything in the project.

✨

Emotion drives retention

The plant metaphor creates real attachment. Users aren't just completing tasks — they're caring for something. That emotional layer is what separates Blooming Habit from a plain to-do app.

🌟

Consistency in dark UI is hard

Maintaining atmospheric lighting, glow effects, and illustrated characters at a high level of polish across every screen was a constant balancing act between beauty and readability.

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