Salty Notes:
The Tin-Bound Diary
A twist on the traveler’s journal, bringing delight and inspiration to productivity.
Project Type: Delightful Product Design
Project Duration: September 2025
Role: Solo Designer
Overview
This project presents a unique take on the traditional traveler’s journal: a stylized cover with removable notebook inserts. Salty Notes is designed after tinned sardines and contains various notebook inserts that are stylized off of fish. The resulting product invites a sense of delight and whimsy in daily tasks such as note taking, doodling, or habit tracking.
The Challenge?
To create a product that would incite delight in students
To create a moment of surprise
To create a moment of serendipity
Methods
Research:
Market research
User Testing
Ideation:
Sketching
Prototyping
Material Testing
Construction adjustments
Feedback:
Critique sessions
User Feedback
Initial Sketches
The Approach
After researching existing examples of delightful design, and receiving peer feedback on my initial sketches, I began the to prototype the journal cover and notebook inserts.
A pain point I immediately ran into was properly installing the elastic straps that would hold the notebooks inside the cover.
User Testing
Usability testing was conducted to gain insights on what elements of the design were successful and which ones were falling short. Five users, age 21-40, explored the notebook for 60 seconds, then mapped their emotional journey, noting any moments of surprise, delight, hesitation, or confusion.
Findings
Delight can be incited through moments of surprise, serendipity, cuteness, engagement, reassurance, and liveliness.
Users are hesitant to use a product when they feel like it is too delicate or they are unfamiliar with how it works.
A delightful design doesn’t have to be novel, just a little creative.
Aesthetics matter when designing delight, however functionality is equally important.
