Lantern Letters

the feautures
the features

Inspiration

Lantern Letters was inspired by the stress and burnout many students experience while trying to balance academics, extracurricular activities, and personal responsibilities. I noticed that most productivity apps focus only on tasks and deadlines, but they rarely consider how students actually feel. I wanted to create a calming digital space that supports both productivity and emotional well-being, helping students stay organized without feeling overwhelmed.

What it does

Lantern Letters is a gentle study and wellness web app that helps students manage their tasks, track their mood, and stay focused. It includes a task manager, a Pomodoro study timer, ambient focus sounds, mood tracking with visual charts, monthly study summaries, and supportive family messages with text, photos, or voice notes. The app also provides a friendly overload warning when too many tasks are added to a single day.

How we built it

We built Lantern Letters as a single‑page web application using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. We used LocalStorage to save user data directly in the browser so the app works without a backend.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was integrating multiple interactive features—such as the Pomodoro timer, charts, and recordings—while keeping the app stable and responsive. Another challenge was designing features like overload warnings and reminders in a way that feels supportive and encouraging rather than stressful or overwhelming.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud of creating a fully functional, all‑in‑one platform that combines productivity and emotional support. We successfully built multiple advanced features without requiring a server and designed the app to feel calm, simple, and student‑friendly.

What we learned

Through this project, we learned how to structure a full application from idea to implementation, manage multiple features in one codebase, and focus on user experience and design. We also gained experience working with browsers, data visualization, and local data storage.

What's next for Lantern Letters

In the future, we hope to add cloud syncing across devices, AI‑powered emotional support and study suggestions, customizable themes and study companions, optional integrations with tools like Google Calendar and school platforms, and Study Companion (while studying).