EMORI, an emotion regulation app co-created between three Latvian universities, has won the prestigious Red Dot Design Award in the category "Brands and Communication Design" for 2023.

The EMORI emotion regulation app, created in Latvia, is the result of a joint work of three universities – the Art Academy of Latvia, Riga Stradiņš University and Ventspils University of Applied Sciences – and brought together both students, bachelor, master and doctoral, and their lecturers. Winning the Red Dot Design Award is a significant achievement of interdisciplinary university cooperation in Latvia, and is the first project of its kind to receive a design award of this calibre.

EMORI is a prototype self-help, mental health app for Android/iOS, designed to develop emotion recognition and regulation skills in its users. It is also a research platform, for the anonymous collection and analysis of emotion regulation data in the Latvian population. The app is illustrated, interactive, intuitive and suitable for a wide audience. Healthcare professionals and designers, along with a large number of users have been involved in content development during each iteration of the app. EMORI content has been clinically validated as theraputic and results are empirically supported.

Staff from universities involved in the development of the app:

- Lecturer and researcher Karina Šķirmante (software development work, technical consulting, system prototyping), student of the first level professional higher education programme "Programming Specialist" Jānis Vīksne (software development and testing).

- Art Academy of Latvia: associate professor Liene Jākobsone, professor Barbara Ābele, assistant professor Matīss Zvaigzne, lecturer Markus Rožkalns, functional design master students Džūlija Ekuse (Trutiak) (process and interactive design) and Sandra Sugako (content structuring and testing), graphics and packaging bachelor students Dārta Galiņa (UX/UI design) and Ričards Znutiņš-Znutāns (illustration and branding).

- Riga Stradiņš University: Professor Kristīne Mārtinsone, lecturer and PhD student Inese Paiča (app concept, content structuring), Master's students Maruta Linuža and Inga Iejava (content development and pilot studies), Bachelor's student Jete Anna Balama (pilot study). The content development of the app is currently being continued by Elīna Ieva Smule, a PhD student in the Psychology PhD programme.



“The Red Dot Design Award” is one of the largest design competitions in the world, with around 20,000 global entries each year. The competition has been running since 1955 and is organised by the Design Centre Rhine-North Westphalia, one of the oldest and most renowned design institutions in Europe. This award has been presented in the categories "Product Design", "Communication Design" and "Design Concept". The jury was made up of an international panel of independent designers and design professors. “Red Dot” is a worldwide recognition of excellence.