April 2022 - October 2022
Challenge
Design a wellness app that empowers users to take control of their physical, mental, and medical health—while supporting a sustainable, balanced lifestyle. The solution needed to prioritize accessibility, ease of use, and long-term engagement to help users stay consistent and motivated.
Problem
In today’s fast-paced, hustle-focused world, self-care often takes a back seat. While wellness apps exist, many fail to keep users engaged or provide the tools they need to build lasting habits—leaving people stuck in a cycle of eat, sleep, work, repeat.
Hypothesis
I believe that by designing a simple, supportive app that allows users to track physical goals, monitor mental wellness, and celebrate small wins, we can help them build healthier habits and lead more balanced lives. The app will show success when users report increased satisfaction with their wellness journey and show consistent engagement with tracking and check-in features.
Competitive Analysis:
MyFitness Pal & MyID - Medical ID
Key Takeaways
Initial Ideas
Simple dietary and mental wellness tracking
Gamified features to encourage engagement
Secure medical record access
In-app connection to coaches or health professionals
Community support in a judgment-free environment
Interviews & Surveys
14 Participants
After conducting a series of user interviews and surveys, I categorized responses into four key themes: physical activity, nutritional tracking, quality of life, and happiness & mental health. This helped me identify the most pressing needs and desires users had when thinking about their health and wellness.
Nutritional Tracking
Quality of Life
Physical Activity
Happiness & Mental Health
*percentage of responses that reflected the themes found in interviews
80%
70%
60%
30%
Key Insights
90% of interviewees used MyFitnessPal but 60% of them don't keep up with it regularly
80% of interviewees didn't believe their concerns were severe enough to attend therapy
Some features, such as online document storage and utilizing a built-in contact doctor/life coach, weren't received well from our sample group I cut those features to shift focus.
Name
Pronouns
Occupation
Age
Alex Kamal
He/Him
Software Engineer
32
Alex is goal oriented and driven to maintain a healthy diet, exercise daily, and get 8-9 hours of sleep every night. With a work from home job, he spends a lot of time sitting and has recently invested in an at home gym so he could cut spending and time going to and from the gym.
Goals
Expand knowledge of diet and nutrition
Learn more about at home workout routines
Track eating habits
Motivations
Improve and maintain current exercise routine
Prevent future health problems
Fit into current wardrobe of clothes so he doesn't have to buy more
Frustrations
Some apps have too many unnecessary options/information
Eating out proves difficult to quickly find nutrition information
Name
Pronouns
Occupation
Age
Vince Phan
He/Them
Line Cook
25
Vince works 10+ hour days on their feet and carries their workload home.
They don't consider their mental health and expresses no motivation to keep up a healthy lifestyle because they're so tired. They're aware of their mental status but doesn't know where to start in changing their lifestyle
Goals
Learn about more recipes to accommodate nutritional needs
Let go of work stress
Improve mental and physical health
Motivations
Live a happier life
Get on top of a healthy lifestyle routine
Find joy and energy in outdoor activities like hiking/climbing
Frustrations
Doesn't know where to start in maintaining a work/life balance
Unmotivated to keep up with healthy habits because of fatigue
User Personas
Opportunities
Find Exercises: Blogs/links that users can access directly through the app that provide exercises and how to videos so they don’t have to leave the app to use another one to find relative information.
Customize Workout Routine: Include a database of workouts that users can choose from and search within, with dropdown menus of numbers for sets and reps for ease of usability. We can also include an internal calendar that sends notifications of when it’s workout time!
Track Results: In addition to users setting goals, utilize a visual tracker so users can easily see their progress and stay motivated to keep up with their routines.
Mental Wellness: Provide an in-app self assessment quiz to provide knowledge and insight for the user to increase self awareness. We can also provide a blog where the user can discover free resources to starting a mental health journey.
Set Goals: Separate physical health and mental health pages for organizational tracking to avoid overloading information. Allow users to set when to be notified so they don’t feel pressured.
Document Journey: Include daily mood check ins and store answers for users and provide a journal they can write in for why they’re feeling a certain way. Then plot results on a graph so users can go back and see their moods throughout time to review why they were feeling a certain way for self reflection and growth.
First iterations through wireframing
Wireframes
Key Insights
About 50% of the categories I created made sense to the sample group so I used that data and some of the categories users made to iterate the sitemap into a new version.
Sitemap
User Flows
01
02
03
Usability Test
3 Scenario Tasks
6 users
10-15 Minutes/Task
Test Objectives
Do users like the layout of the prototype and the concept of the app as a whole?
Are users able to navigate the app to complete the tasks in a timely manner with little friction?
Will users like and utilize the concept of a physical/mental health tracker
Findings
Reviewing the feedback and usability data, I realized the design needed another pass—particularly the visual hierarchy and overall layout. While users were able to complete their tasks with little issue, and many appreciated the use of simple, approachable language, there were still a few key oversights. One of the most important was clarity: some users struggled to find features due to confusing icons and placement. These were small fixes, but meaningful ones—reminders that even minor friction can impact the overall experience. Every tweak was a step toward making the app feel more intuitive, welcoming, and genuinely useful.
Prototype
Collaborative Design
After making edits based on usability test data, I turned to my UX peers for a round of design critique. The feedback sparked thoughtful discussions—some suggestions immediately clicked, while others challenged my approach. For the latter, I stood by my decisions, explaining the reasoning behind each choice. It was a collaborative and eye-opening experience that reminded me how essential it is to both give and receive feedback in a creative space. We weren’t just refining our designs—we were learning how to grow as designers together.
Design Style
With each round of feedback and iteration, the design grew more thoughtful and refined. Compiling the visual design document was the final step. Organizing every decision and detail into a format that someone else could easily pick up and run with. Much like setting up a well-prepared service station, this document ensures a smooth handoff, to set the next person up for success.
#7DBBF4
PRIMARY
#2094FF
SECONDARY
#3A76AC
TERTIARY
#4F4F4F
#707070
#B8B8B8
"Final" Designs
Reflection
This project was stepping stone for entering the world of UX. It started out as an ambitious collection of ideas—but through learning UX fundamentals, testing, feedback, and iterations, it slowly revealed to me what it could be. LifeBalance became a lesson in restraint, adaptability, and thoughtful design. I learned to let go of features that didn’t serve the user and focus instead on creating something purposeful and usable.
LifeBalance is still evolving, just like I am. As I continue growing in this field, I’ll keep testing, refining, observing, and listening because good design, like good service, is never really finished — it’s a practice of staying curious, flexible, and thoughtful in each step of the process