Sleeppal
Sleeppal (formerly XSleep) helps users build better sleep habits with calming routines and soothing audio. However, the original app faced high churn, poor usability, and an outdated interface.
As the sole product designer, I led the end-to-end redesign — improving user experience, defining the MVP, refreshing the brand, and collaborating with developers to bring Sleeppal to life.
Visit Link
Client
Sleeppal
Team
1 Designer (me), 3 Developers, 1 Stakeholder
my role
• Product and Visual Design
• UX Research and Testing
• Design System Creation
• Cross Functional Collaboration
Time
6 months (Currently in Beta)
Here's how we achieved a 44.4% increase in task success rate on SleepPal following the redesign.
Problem
XSleep faced significant challenges with low user retention and difficulty attracting new users. The app’s cluttered interface and confusing user journey made it difficult for users to access core features, leading to frustration, high churn, and negative reviews.
Context
Over time, XSleep had shifted its focus toward gamification elements — such as virtual bedrooms, in-app coins, decorative rewards, and anonymous chat features. While these additions aimed to increase engagement, they ended up distracting from the app’s core purpose of helping users sleep better. The client recognized this misalignment and wanted to reposition XSleep as a focused sleep wellness app, removing unnecessary features and simplifying the user experience.
Goal
The goal was to redesign XSleep into a clean, user-friendly sleep wellness app. By streamlining the experience and highlighting essential sleep tools, the redesign aimed to reduce churn, attract new users, and rebuild trust in the product.
PHASE 1
Competitor Analysis
To better understand user expectations and industry standards, we analyzed leading sleep wellness apps including Calm, Headspace, Sleep Cycle, and Pillow.
While leading apps like Calm and Headspace excel in relaxation content, and apps like Sleep Cycle and Pillow focus on sleep tracking, there is a clear gap for an app that helps users build sustainable sleep habits through guided routines.
We prioritized essential features based on user needs and competitor analysis. Non-essential gamification elements were removed to keep the product focused. The MVP included:
Sleep Quiz
Relaxation Audio Library
Alarm Setup
Monthly Sleep Stats
Profile & Settings Management
PHASE 2
Evaluating the existing app through two methods
With limited resources, our goal was efficient prioritization, avoiding simultaneous testing of all features. To gain insights into product problem areas, we employed two research methods:
1- Heuristic Evaluation
2- Usability testing
01
Heuristic Analysis
Using Jakob Nielsen’s 10 general principles for interaction design, a heuristic evaluation was conducted to find usability problems in the existing app. We all sat down together and talked about the problems that the current features had. We used Jakob Nielsen’s 10 interaction design principles to assess the app's usability. As the sole designer within the team, I took the lead in consolidating our findings and identifying areas for improvement.
02
Usability Testing
Usability tests were conducted with existing users from the client, along with feedback received through app reviews. These tests aimed to gain qualitative insights into the challenges users were facing, which then informed decisions on design improvements. The studies were conducted remotely via video calls and screen sharing software. Examples of task scenarios are provided below.
TASK GOAL
Choose a music track to play during sleep
Task Scenario
Explore the app's collection of calming tunes and choose the perfect melody to accompany you into a restful night's sleep.
Task Goal
Clock in to sleep
Task Scenario
Ensure you wake up on time by configuring the app's alarm to match your schedule. Simply input your preferred wake-up time.
Task Goal
Stop the Alarm
Task Scenario
You are woken up by the alarm in the morning. Demonstrate how you would stop the alarm using the app.
Task Goal
Check your stats
Task Scenario
After a week of using the app, you want to see your sleep patterns and progress. Demonstrate how you would access and review your sleep stats within the app.
Qualitative insights
Home Screen: The Home screen was not intuituove enough for users to quickly find out the alarm or the music. They were taking much longer than anticipated.
Alarm Screen: Users encountered difficulty setting their preferred alarm on the Alarm screen, as it was unexpectedly nested within user settings, leading to confusion and longer-than-anticipated setup times.
Music Screen: Although users could play music, they expressed frustration at the absence of options to asave tracks they like listening to, highlighting a need for additional features to enhance user experience and customization.
Results from the usability test done for the existing app
The bar graph below demonstrates that during testing with five users, tasks took longer than expected to complete. Many tasks were left incomplete, suggesting a need for guidance and improvement. There was a 45% task success rate.
Task Success Rate
PHASE 2
The redesign of sitemap
Due to time constraints, we couldn't do card sorting. Instead, we looked at how our competitors organized their features to get ideas for our sitemap
Low Fi Wireframes
Home Screen: The Home screen was not intuituove enough for users to quickly find out the alarm or the music. They were taking much longer than anticipated.
Branding and Style Guide
For the branding and style guide, we explored several concepts incorporating elements like sleepy eyes, night clouds, sleep hats, soothing sounds, and stars, aiming to capture the essence of relaxation and tranquility.
FINAL LOGO
Design System
I created the design system to ensure our product maintains a consistent look and feel across platforms. It streamlines our design process, making it faster and more efficient to create new features. Additionally, it promotes collaboration among team members and ensures our product is accessible to all users. Ultimately, the design system serves as a foundation for creating user-friendly digital experiences.
Modernizing the Home Screen
We focused on making the home page more modern by replacing illustrations with text and icons. For the MVP, we streamlined the main features to include Home, Music, and Alarm, each with their respective sub-features. We utilized a card-based layout to organize these elements, ensuring a clean and intuitive user experience
Streamlining the Alarm Screen
For the alarm screen, we prioritized ease of use by allowing users to select the time through a simple scrolling mechanism, eliminating the need to navigate through settings to change the time. Additionally, we incorporated a prominent "Start" button, enabling users to easily activate the alarm when they are ready to sleep.
Adding a tab of favorites to Music Screen
For the music screen, we introduced a "Favorites" page where users can save their preferred tracks. Additionally, we added sections for recommended music and trending tracks, providing personalized and popular options for users to explore.
Usability Testing
We tested the new app design using Maze and observed that users could easily complete tasks. This testing demonstrated significant improvements in user efficiency and overall experience. However there were some parts that we still needed to fix.
Results from Usability test done for the redesigned version
We checked the new design with the same set of new users. We saw that users were easily able to complete the tasks this time. Almost all the users were able to quickly finish the tasks without any errors. We saw higher task success rate as it was 65% this time compared to 45% last time.
Task Success Rate
44.4
more tasks completed following the redesign
Key Learnings
Collaboration with Developers:
Working closely with developers revealed gaps in our initial planning, such as missing screens and new requirements emerging during development, like the empty state for the favorites screen. This taught me the importance of continuous communication and adaptability.
Testing
We faced challenges with automated testing tools like Maze, which gave inconsistent results. As a result, we relied heavily on in-person testing to ensure accuracy and reliability. This experience emphasized the need for robust testing methods.
Design System Development
Creating the design system from scratch was a significant learning experience. A highlight was successfully prototyping an interactive alarm feature that matched the stakeholder's vision after several iterations. This process showed me the value of iterative design and aligning with stakeholder expectations.
Next steps
Test MVP with users
The product is currently in its beta version. Once it is ready, we plan to test it with a select group of users to gather feedback and identify areas for improvement. To facilitate this process, we might incorporate a survey within the app to collect user feedback directly. This will help us understand user needs better and make necessary adjustments before the full launch.
Add more features
The previous version of the app included features that could have significantly boosted business revenue, such as selling products like sleep masks directly through the app. We plan to reintroduce and enhance these features once the app gains traction in the market and demonstrates positive performance. This strategic addition will not only improve user experience but also open new revenue streams for the business.