Snoozefest
Designing
for Better
Sleeping Habits
OVERVIEW
A calm, personalized sleep tracker built around routine, structure, and the feeling the app itself is trying to create.
ROLE
UI / UX Designer
Solo Project
PROJECT TYPE
Mobile App
Sleep / Wellness
TIMELINE
Oct 2024
4 weeks
FOCUS
Visual + Interaction Design
Creating calm
WHAT I DID
Identified the problem from lived experience, evaluated a competitor, built a comprehensive design system, and delivered a high-fidelity prototype across four core screens.
THE PROBLEM
Sleep is chronically undervalued — and the tools meant to help aren't helping.
People know sleep matters, but busy schedules, social pressure, and stress make consistent sleep feel aspirational, and the apps designed to help either overwhelm with data, feel too clinical to return to, or speak to no one in particular.
DISCOVERY
Most sleep apps feel like
homework.
RESEARCH + INSIGHTS
What works — and what doesn't.
Heuristic Evaluation — Headspace
Analyzed Headspace against Shneiderman's 8 Golden Rules to understand what a successful wellness app gets right, and where even the best in class leaves room.
IA analysis
Deconstructed Headspace's navigation, search, content organization, and labeling system to identify patterns worth borrowing and gaps worth solving.
1
Generic content doesn't land.
People respond to experiences built for them, their schedule, behavior, goals.
2
The app itself needs to feel calm.
If a sleep app makes you anxious, it's working against itself. The visual design, the copy, the pacing — all of it had to evoke the feeling the app is trying to create.
3
Friction breaks habits before they form.
Manual sleep logging every day is a commitment most people won't sustain. Automation removes the tracking burden so users focus on improving sleep, not recording it.
EXPLORATION
Sketching ideas
to crafting them.
KEY ITERATION
I moved from paper sketches through mid-fidelity wireframes across four core screens before committing to any visual direction. Here is one iteration I worked through:
Open access vs. sequential unlocking
Free browse of all modules. No sense of journey, no structure. Choice can created stress, which is the opposite of the app's goal.
Sequential unlock — each daily module opens after completing the prior one. A light gamification loop that rewards follow-through without feeling stressful.
FINAL SOLUTION
A sleep app that feels as calm
as the habits it's trying to build.
WHAT I BUILT
Home
Greeting, alarm reminder, sleep quote, behavioral nudges.
Wellness modules
3 daily modules, sequential unlock. Dream Bigger browse section.
Sleep tracker
Sleep quality, duration, weekly trend. Manual log available.
Profile
Synced apps, activity history, notifications control.
Visual system
Deep purple and soft lavender evoke calm and dreaminess. Rounded type and soft-edged iconography reinforce a comforting feel. The UI itself should is intended to make users feel relaxed before they tap anything.
IMPACT & REFLECTION
How design transforms an experience:
emotion, color, typography.
What worked
Letting the emotional goal drive every visual decision. Color, type, icon shape, and content sequencing all served a single feeling.
What I'd do differently
Conduct further preliminary research + usability test to validate decisions.
If this shipped, I'd measure…
Daily return rate, module completion rate, and sleep quality trend over 30 days — to see if the habit is forming.
check out my other work!
click to view
Built from curiosity, shaped by empathy.
Washington, DC