What makes you get out of bed every morning?

For me, it is building Chroma.

When we started Chroma, our mission was not simply to build another coloring app. We wanted to create a digital coloring experience that felt as relaxing and immersive as sitting down with a favorite coloring book.

Our mantra has always been simple:

Color Your Stress Away

But that phrase is more than a tagline. It represents the purpose behind everything we build.

Why Stress Reduction Matters

Stress has become a defining challenge for many college students.

According to NeuroLaunch, 87% of students reported feeling overwhelmed by everything they had to do, while 66% experienced overwhelming anxiety during the previous year.

Those numbers inspired us to ask a simple question:

Can digital coloring measurably reduce stress?

Putting Chroma to the Test

In collaboration with Product Space at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, we conducted an exploratory study involving 70 undergraduate students.

Participants were randomly assigned to spend 10 minutes completing one of three activities:

• Resting quietly

• Choosing their own stress-relief activity, such as listening to music, using social media, or taking a nap

• Coloring with Chroma

Before and after each activity, we measured participants’ self-reported stress levels and heart rates.

What We Found

All three groups experienced some improvement after 10 minutes, but participants who used Chroma showed the largest average reductions.

Passive rest

Participants who rested quietly experienced:

• A 0.47-point reduction in self-reported stress

• A 2.37 beats-per-minute decrease in heart rate

Self-selected activities

Participants who chose their own activity experienced:

• A 0.40-point reduction in self-reported stress

• A 2.0 beats-per-minute decrease in heart rate

Coloring with Chroma

Participants who used Chroma experienced:

• A 0.97-point reduction in self-reported stress

• A 6.39 beats-per-minute decrease in heart rate

In other words, the Chroma group experienced nearly a full-point reduction in reported stress and a noticeably larger average decrease in heart rate than either comparison group.

These early findings are encouraging. They suggest that even a brief, 10-minute digital coloring session may help people step away from the noise of the day and feel calmer.

More Than Numbers

The results are exciting, but the numbers are not the most meaningful part for me.

The most meaningful part is knowing that something we built can genuinely help someone feel calmer—even if it is only for 10 minutes.

That is why I get out of bed every morning.

Purpose is not just about building software. It is about building something that makes someone’s day a little better.

The data tells one part of the story. Our users tell the other.

That review has always stayed with me because it captures exactly why we built Chroma.

We created Chroma to give people a place where they can slow down, express themselves, and rediscover the simple comfort of coloring.

The Next Chapter for Chroma

This study was an early step in understanding how digital creativity may support relaxation and well-being. It also strengthened our commitment to making Chroma more calming, immersive, and accessible.

And now, we are preparing to take the next step in our mission to help people find calm and creativity through color.

Coming soon…

Author: Nikita Kapoor ( Founder @ Chroma )

Thank You ❤️ to the Product Space - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Team for this Study

#StressRelief #StudentWellness #CreativeWellness #mindfulcoloring #chromacoloring #digitalcoloring #coloringtherapy #arttherapy