2023
Redesigning Personal Zen, to improve
first session retention.
My Role
Product Designer (UX/UI, Research)
Scope
Focused on improving first-session retention by refining the core gameplay loop and introducing lightweight feedback to reinforce progress.
Personal Zen helps people manage stress and anxiety through short, science-based interactive exercises, a proven method that helps people break negative thought patterns and build healthier ones.
Gameplay Overview
After completing a brief anxiety disorder survey, users enter 3–5
minute play sessions, tracing paths left by positive sprites while avoiding negative ones and earning medallions along the way.
Despite a strong therapeutic foundation, many users dropped off after their first session, suggesting the app wasn't clearly communicating its value early enough to motivate return. App Store reviews flagged the gameplay as repetitive, and many users never reached the app's full therapeutic benefit.
How might we strengthen first-session engagement and motivate return without compromising the app’s calming, therapeutic foundation?
Internal data pointed to two areas of early drop-off for the app: onboarding and the core gameplay experience. With that, I set out to understand where users were losing momentum and why.
To understand where users were losing momentum, I mapped the first-time experience from onboarding to gameplay.
A six-step onboarding added friction before gameplay
Instruction-heavy prompts required excessive reading before interaction
The assessment added value through personalization, but requiring seven screens before gameplay meant users had to commit before experiencing the game.
While playing the game, I swiped on the positive paths as they appeared on the screen while intentionally ignoring negative or unhappy faces.
Each session lasted 3–5 minutes and was designed to be calm and repetitive by intention.
Progress was visually represented through the environment, but it was unclear how this signaled session completion or whether a session had been successfully completed.
Core Gameplay Loop
Few wellness apps use game mechanics intentionally, I looked at casual games like Cut the Rope and Fruit Ninja, which use short, repeatable loops and simple interactions. This helped identify which patterns could support a calming experience and which would introduce pressure or distraction.
What this uncovered
Cut the Rope showed that clear goals and rewards keep people coming back. Fruit Ninja had strong feedback, but the scoring felt too competitive. I kept the feedback, not the pressure.
Based on these findings, I redesigned the core gameplay to make progress visible and more meaningful during each session. I removed competitive scoring and introduced lightweight feedback to reinforce progress without adding pressure.
I tested the redesigned experience with nine (9) participants using a high-fidelity prototype, comparing the current and updated flows.
Evaluation Approach
Participants
Who We Tested
Nine (9) Users
How We Tested
45 min moderated sessions (Zoom)
Devices: iOS and Android; some Android users had swipe issues
Research Questions
Was the updated experience
more motivating?Did progress and feedback
feel meaningful?Would you return to the app?
Evaluation Focus
Onboarding comprehension
Emotional response to progress
Replay motivation
Key Decisions
and Outcomes
Adding lightweight gamified elements increased engagement without adding pressure, helping users better understand their progress and motivating return, though some reward mechanics still felt unclear and revealed opportunities to simplify feedback and progression.
Challenge #1
Users found the Resilience Meter and the term “resilient” confusing and evaluative.
“Not a fan of the resilience meter; the app telling me I’m resilient doesn’t sit right.”
Decision
I recommended removing the Resilience Meter and redesigned it as a simpler game summary, reinforcing session completion rather than labeling emotional states.
Challenge #2
Users were unclear about the purpose of collecting medallions and expected trade-in or reward options.
“I guess you collect the medallions, I don’t know what those are for.”
Decision
I designed a reward view using patterns observed in casual gameplays, prioritizing clarity and simplicity with the most intuitive option selected through stakeholder review.
These findings shaped the final design decisions carried into the shipped experience.
This validated the shift toward visible progress and lightweight feedback, which were carried into the final experience.
“More structured and calming”
“Encouraging without being competitive”
“Rewarding without feeling like a game”
Potential opportunities to improve upon beyond the scope of this project.
Assess Long Term Engagement
Track how often users return over time (for example, after their first session and over the following days) to understand whether the updated experience is building a consistent habit.
Refine Motivating Features
Users responded positively to the game summary but wanted clearer value from medallions and points. Next steps would explore ways to strengthen progress and return incentives without adding heavier game mechanics.
Improve Accessibility
Address platform-specific interaction issues flagged during testing, including swipe gesture inconsistencies on Android, and ensure visuals, language, and interactions support users with varying cognitive and emotional needs.