My Role: UX Strategist,
UX Researcher, and UX/UI Designer.
Team: Product Owner, CEO
Year: 2023-2024
Duration: Six Months
Personal Zen is a mobile app that blends journaling and gameplay, grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles, to help users manage stress and anxiety.
Gameplay Overview
After completing a brief GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) survey, users enter 3–5 minute sessions, tracing paths left by positive sprites while avoiding negative ones and earning medallions along the way.
Although Personal Zen was built on a strong therapeutic foundation, data showed that users were not returning after their first session.
The experience did not clearly communicate its value, and App Store reviews often described the gameplay as lacking the feedback and progression needed to sustain engagement.
The challenge was clear: How might we increase engagement without compromising the app’s calming, therapeutic foundation?
Onboarding Flow - Shortened the onboarding and added an optional video so users could understand the app's value and get to gameplay faster, without the cognitive load of the original flow.
Gameplay - Introduced lightweight feedback loops (points, progress tracking, session summaries) to make progress visible while preserving the app’s calming tone.
To understand the existing experience, I conducted a cognitive walkthrough and full UX audit. The initial onboarding spanned six steps, relying heavily on text and forcing users through a long sequence before they could play
Six-step onboarding flow before gameplay
Heavy instructional copy requiring sustained reading
Onboarding Tutorial
Assessment → Personalized Recommendation
Assessment flow translating anxiety check-ins into a personalized session recommendation.
Once users reached the game, the core interaction of tracing positive paths from a happy face while avoiding negative stimuli was intuitive and easy to learn.
While the game was soothing, sessions felt repetitive over time with little indication of completion or improvement — the experience offered no strong reason to return.
Core Gameplay Loop
Core loop reinforcing positive focus through intentional attention and gentle rewards.
To understand how other apps solved similar engagement challenges, I analyzed Cut the Rope and Fruit Ninja, games with strong retention loops and similar game mechanics. While few apps applied game patterns to therapy, these titles revealed transferable strategies: streamlined onboarding, points systems, progress indicators, and end-of-session summaries.
Patterns drawn from casual games that balance engagement with minimal effort.
Building on these insights, I redesigned the onboarding and core gameplay to support steady, mindful engagement. Progress was reframed as gentle encouragement rather than performance, removing competitive scoring in favor of subtle feedback cues and incorporating end-of-session reflections.
After several design critiques and stakeholder reviews, I created a high-fidelity prototype to evaluate how changes affected comprehension, motivation, and willingness to return.
I conducted remote usability sessions with participants recruited via Respondent.io, where users interacted with both the current and updated experience. Insights were synthesized and shared with stakeholders to guide decisions.
Evaluation Approach
Participants
Who We Tested
Nine (9) Users
How We Tested
45 min moderated sessions (Zoom)
Research Questions
Was the updated experience more motivating to keep playing?
Did the progress and feedback feel meaningful?
Would you return to the app?
Evaluation Focus
Comprehension of new onboarding flow
Emotional response to
points and progressMotivation to replay sessions
Key Insight from Testing
9
7
said
“The version with the points was more motivating to play vs. the gameplay in the app.”
Over half of participants found the updated gameplay more engaging
Key Decisions and Outcomes
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
We removed the Resilience Meter in favor of a simpler, more calming game summary, reinforcing session completion and participation 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
Redesigned the reward presentation using patterns observed in casual gameplays, prioritizing clarity and simplicity with the most intuitive option selected through stakeholder review.
Testing clarified how progress and rewards should be framed to motivate continued play.
The
Outcome
Usability testing showed a clear preference for the redesigned experience.
Based on these insights, gameplay improvements such as points, progress feedback, and session summaries were incorporated into the production version of the app.
As the sole UX designer, I was responsible for everything from research to concept development to prototyping and usability testing. This project reinforced how thoughtful gamification can support and reinforce mindfulness rather than compete with it.
Participants described the new experience as:
“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 user behavior over time to guide future adjustments.
Refine Motivating Features
Continue evaluating which interactions feel most engaging and adjust features to gently encourage consistent use.
Improve Accessibility
Make sure visuals, gestures, and language support users with varying cognitive and emotional needs.