About the project
Mensura is a mobile diary app that helps people keep track of their alcohol consumption. The user logs what they drank and how much during the day, and the app converts it into pure alcohol, shows the share of the daily limit and keeps statistics. A distinctive feature is the visual style built on imagery from ancient Greek pottery.
The challenge
Alcohol tracking apps easily turn into either a dry calculator or a preachy service you want to delete. We needed to build a diary that is convenient and comfortable to open every day: quickly add an entry, see the total and get gentle motivation to keep logging.
Daily overview
The main “Overview” screen shows the selected day: at the top there is the month and a date strip for quickly switching between days, below are the “Wellbeing” and “Relationship with alcohol” cards, the list of drinks and a circular indicator of the day’s pure alcohol intake as a percentage. We paid special attention to the empty state: if nothing is known about the day, each block politely says the diary has nothing to show yet and suggests tapping “Plus”. In the free version, there is an ad banner at the top and a button to upgrade to the ad-free premium version.
Adding an entry
The central “Plus” button in the bottom menu opens the add screen. First comes the question “How do you feel today?” with five options named after mythological heroes: Sisyphus, Fury, Theseus, Odysseus and Hercules. Each has a hint icon with an explanation. Below is “What should we add to the drinking diary?”: beer, wine, sparkling wine, spirits, port and cider, each with its average strength. The first option is “Nothing — an alcohol-free day”, so sober days also count in the statistics instead of looking like gaps.
Relationship with Mensura
In the “More” section, besides the subscription status, there is a “Relationship with Mensura” card with personal usage statistics: installation date, number of sessions and entries, the length of the current daily logging streak and the longest streak. Below are the user’s rank framed in a Greek ornament and a progress bar to the next level. Keeping the diary regularly becomes a game goal that makes you not want to skip a day.
The result
We designed a diary where logging a day takes just a few taps and the total is immediately visible as a percentage of the daily amount. The bottom menu brings together the overview, analytics, goals and the “More” section, while the rank and streak system motivates regular logging. The classical styling with ornaments and painting inspired by Greek vases makes the app recognizable and takes unnecessary heaviness off the subject.