Whisper: Daily Quotes is a mobile app that allows users to track their daily mood, answer a system-generated prompt about how they are feeling, and receive encouragement, advice, or personal anecdotes from other anonymous users.

For this project, I was commissioned by the app developer, Dohhyun Oh, to create a series of mascot character animations in Rive for Argo, the app's cloud-shaped companion character.

Dohhyun Oh — Developer

Ayaka Fuji — Rive Animator & Character Designer

Character Animation (Rive)

Character Design

The original demo version featured a raster-based character illustration.

The goal of this project was to redraw and refine the character as scalable vector artwork in Rive, while bringing more personality and life to the mascot through animation.

The final character needed to feel friendly, expressive, and emotionally supportive, aligning with the app's focus on wellbeing and mental health.

I designed six character states for Argo:

Hi — A welcoming introduction shown when users first open the app.

Note — An animation displayed while users are writing their thoughts.

The last four states represent different moods and include corresponding weather-themed background animations.

Since Argo is based on a cloud motif, I focused on creating a soft, fluffy appearance with warm and approachable facial expressions.

To match the desired visual style, I used gradients and layered highlights to create a subtle sense of depth while maintaining a clean vector-based workflow.

All animations include an introductory sequence followed by looping timelines for continuous playback.

To keep the project scalable and maintainable, the character's facial features (eyes and mouth) and background elements were built as reusable Components within Rive.

This modular structure made updates and future iterations easier while keeping the file organized and efficient.

For the four mood states, I implemented interactions using Rive Data Binding, allowing the app to switch between emotional states dynamically based on user input.

The State Machine was carefully structured to manage both character and background layers, making integration straightforward for the developer and ensuring a smooth handoff process.

By utilizing Data Binding, both the designer and developer were able to collaborate efficiently using a single .riv file, enabling interactive animations to be seamlessly integrated into the final application.

The final deliverables included the completed Rive files and handover documentation for implementation.

It was a pleasure to help bring Argo to life and contribute to an application focused on emotional wellbeing.