Rosso - Award-Winning Interactive Painting App

Awarded Mintbean’s Star Award + Certificate of Completion Built during the Fall 2021 Mintbean Hackathon Role: UX Designer | Team: 2 Developers, 1 UX Designer

Rosso was born from a simple idea: creative tools should inspire calm, not chaos. During the Fall 2021 Mintbean Hackathon, I collaborated with two developers to create Rosso, a lightweight design application focused on artful color palettes, intuitive tools, and an ambient user experience — all wrapped in a compact, collapsible UI.

The result was a web-based sketch tool for digital creators, moodboard artists, and storytellers who want to create freely, surrounded by a calming aesthetic and immersive soundscapes.

As the UX Designer on the team, I was responsible for:

Designing low-to-high fidelity wireframes with tools such as Figma & Wix

Developing a collapsible UI system

Creating user flows for painting, erasing, resizing, and resetting

Curating a series of four themed color palettes and icons

Aligning design decisions with natural ambiance (soundscape integration)

Collaborating daily with developers to ensure front-end feasibility

Testing the prototype for responsive behavior and interaction consistency

Brush Tool Use the brush to paint freely, inspired by the palette of your choice.

Size Slider Easily adjust brush size by sliding left or right for precise control.

Straight Line Tool Create geometric shapes and angles effortlessly — perfect for patterns.

Eraser Tool Mistakes are part of the process — erase with intention.

Clear Canvas Start fresh at any moment with a single click.

Each palette was crafted to evoke a specific emotion or narrative:

Warmth – cozy reds and oranges

Eden – earthy greens and neutrals

Azure – peaceful blues and aquas

Moonlight – soft darks, cool silvers & purples

To further enhance the immersive experience, Rosso includes natural soundscapes sourced from NatureRadio.org, a nonprofit that archives and shares audio from national parks and protected areas. Users can draw to the sounds of rain, wind, birds, and forests — fostering calm while creating.

Rosso was recognized with Mintbean’s Star Award for its thoughtful design approach, intuitive UI, and creative direction. We also received a Certificate of Completion, acknowledging our collaborative work and time-bound success during the hackathon.

This project taught me the importance of balancing aesthetics with usability under real-time constraints. Working closely with developers helped me better understand feasibility limitations, and sharpened my communication skills when translating design logic into code. I also deepened my sensitivity toward building mindful, emotionally resonant tools: A theme I continue to explore in future work.