2026
Aurora
Inspiration page
CONTEXT
The brief was intentionally open, so I grounded my interpretation in Aurora's own product and language rather than guessing. I never received the app access code after registering (a French phone number complicated UK verification), so this was built entirely from product research and informed intuition, not from exploring the live app directly.
RESEARCH
Real design tokens extracted directly from Aurora's site.
#0A0A0A
Background
#111111
Surface 1
#141414
Surface 2
#FF8000
#FFD24D
#E66000
Hellix
Display & Headlines
Hellix
Body & UI
THE WORK - MOBILE
Mobile is the primary surface. This is where Aurora's real product lives, based on the official app screens I reviewed.
KEY DECISIONS - MOBILE
01
Bottom nav (calendar, orb, globe) always sticky at the bottom of the viewport. Shown at the bottom of this static mockup for display purposes, but fixed in the real product.
02
Active nav state shown in white, inactive in grey. The orb stays orange at all times, so that color never doubles as a "selected" signal.
03
Globe icon represents the Inspirations tab, shown active here since this is that screen.
04
Category icons act as anchor links to their matching section further down the page, not filters. A navigation shortcut on a long scrolling screen, not a way to hide other collections.
05
"Curated today" appears only on the hero card, not repeated on every collection's first card. The badge only means something if it stays rare.
06
Collections scroll horizontally, matching a native touch gesture on mobile.
07
"See all" is the last card in each horizontal scroll row, same size as the photo cards, using a dimmed photo with the label overlaid rather than an empty box, so it keeps the same visual rhythm as the rest of the row.
08
Personalization strip stacked vertically to fit mobile width.
09
Greeting uses the recipient's actual name. A deliberate choice to make this feel like the real product moment they'd open, not a generic demo screen.
THE WORK - DESKTOP
Aurora's own outreach mentioned an ambition to "be multi-device." Here's how the same experience extends to desktop.
KEY DECISIONS - DESKTOP
01
The orb is a separate, fixed element in the bottom-right corner of the viewport, matching the floating-assistant convention used by tools like Intercom. Shown near the hero's bottom-right edge in this static mockup, but intended to persist through scroll in the real product.
02
Top nav keeps the wordmark centered with calendar, globe, and profile icons visible top-right. No hamburger menu, since hiding navigation behind a menu works against Aurora's proactive, effortless positioning.
03
Category icons act as anchor links to their matching section further down the page, not filters. A navigation shortcut on a long scrolling screen, not a way to hide other collections.
04
Collections use a static 3-card grid instead of horizontal scroll. Scroll-drag isn't a native desktop gesture, so the pattern was adapted rather than ported directly from mobile.
05
"See all" appears as a text link in each collection's header, next to the category tag, since there's no scrollable row to anchor an end-card to.
06
Personalization strip shown side by side, since desktop has the width to fit both without stacking.
BEYOND THE BRIEF
One thing I noticed while researching: your Bookings feed uses a small 'Your turn' status tag for pending decisions. That same lightweight signal could extend to the Inspiration feed itself, for recommendations with a real time window, like tonight's table, reinforcing urgency without adding new visual weight.
Another small idea: the orb's glow currently reads as one constant, always-on state. There could be a nice opportunity to let its intensity shift subtly with urgency, glowing a touch brighter when a time-sensitive recommendation is waiting, reinforcing 'Real-Time Execution' without adding new UI.
Finally, a naming thought: 'Aurora Dose' is a nice branded name for proactive recommendations. That same vocabulary could extend naturally to push notifications and in-app alerts, giving the proactive layer one consistent identity across every touchpoint, not just this screen.