Client
Zleep
What
Branding + UX/UI + Illustration + Product Design
Industry
Mental Health & Wellness Tech
Zleep — A Gamified Therapy App for Insomnia Built From Scratch
Zleep — A Gamified Therapy App for Insomnia Built From Scratch
Zleep — A Gamified Therapy App for Insomnia Built From Scratch
4+ Years of Design: Branding, UI, Illustrations, and Animations for a Living App
4+ Years of Design: Branding, UI, Illustrations, and Animations for a Living App
4+ Years of Design: Branding, UI, Illustrations, and Animations for a Living App
Zleep is a CBT-based app that treats insomnia like therapy with a psychologist—but gamified, interactive, and accessible. I designed everything from zero: branding identity, entire app architecture, wireframes, UI, custom illustrations, animations, web, social media, and video. What started as a freelance project in 2021 became a long-term partnership. The app is alive, active, and constantly evolving. The challenge: managing creative vision when the founder keeps adding features.
Zleep is a CBT-based app that treats insomnia like therapy with a psychologist—but gamified, interactive, and accessible. I designed everything from zero: branding identity, entire app architecture, wireframes, UI, custom illustrations, animations, web, social media, and video. What started as a freelance project in 2021 became a long-term partnership. The app is alive, active, and constantly evolving. The challenge: managing creative vision when the founder keeps adding features.
Zleep is a CBT-based app that treats insomnia like therapy with a psychologist—but gamified, interactive, and accessible. I designed everything from zero: branding identity, entire app architecture, wireframes, UI, custom illustrations, animations, web, social media, and video. What started as a freelance project in 2021 became a long-term partnership. The app is alive, active, and constantly evolving. The challenge: managing creative vision when the founder keeps adding features.
The Challenge: Creating Coherence in a Feature-Rich App
The Challenge: Creating Coherence in a Feature-Rich App
The Challenge: Creating Coherence in a Feature-Rich App
Zleep is ambitious. The app combines multiple powerful capabilities: a structured CBT program with 13+ different therapeutic approaches, daily interactive activities, gamification with progress tracking, meditation guides, sleep metrics dashboards, and content libraries. Each feature is valuable on its own. Together, they form a rich, highly layered experience. The challenge wasn’t adding functionality—it was creating a visual and structural system capable of holding that complexity while still feeling calm, guided, and intuitive. The goal was to reframe therapy from something that feels like a task into something engaging, approachable, and rewarding, while ensuring progress feels motivating without becoming manipulative. So, how do you design an app that does a lot, yet feels simple?
Zleep is ambitious. The app combines multiple powerful capabilities: a structured CBT program with 13+ different therapeutic approaches, daily interactive activities, gamification with progress tracking, meditation guides, sleep metrics dashboards, and content libraries. Each feature is valuable on its own. Together, they form a rich, highly layered experience. The challenge wasn’t adding functionality—it was creating a visual and structural system capable of holding that complexity while still feeling calm, guided, and intuitive. The goal was to reframe therapy from something that feels like a task into something engaging, approachable, and rewarding, while ensuring progress feels motivating without becoming manipulative. So, how do you design an app that does a lot, yet feels simple?
Zleep is ambitious. The app combines multiple powerful capabilities: a structured CBT program with 13+ different therapeutic approaches, daily interactive activities, gamification with progress tracking, meditation guides, sleep metrics dashboards, and content libraries. Each feature is valuable on its own. Together, they form a rich, highly layered experience. The challenge wasn’t adding functionality—it was creating a visual and structural system capable of holding that complexity while still feeling calm, guided, and intuitive. The goal was to reframe therapy from something that feels like a task into something engaging, approachable, and rewarding, while ensuring progress feels motivating without becoming manipulative. So, how do you design an app that does a lot, yet feels simple?
The System: Visual Coherence, Information Architecture, and Restraint
The System: Visual Coherence, Information Architecture, and Restraint
The System: Visual Coherence, Information Architecture, and Restraint
I solved this through three design strategies: 1. Design System for Consistency: Built a coherent design system in Figma with reusable components, color palette, and typography. This meant: no matter how many features the app grew, it felt like one product, not a collection of features. 2. Information Architecture: Instead of overwhelming the user with everything, I created clear hierarchies: - Home screen shows only what's relevant today (day's program + progress) - Navigation is minimal but complete (intuitive tab structure) - Deep features accessible but not pushed 3. Custom Visual Design: Instead of generic icons or UI patterns, I created a custom illustration style and bold color palette. The UI served dual purposes: it's striking AND it guides users emotionally through the experience.
I solved this through three design strategies: 1. Design System for Consistency: Built a coherent design system in Figma with reusable components, color palette, and typography. This meant: no matter how many features the app grew, it felt like one product, not a collection of features. 2. Information Architecture: Instead of overwhelming the user with everything, I created clear hierarchies: - Home screen shows only what's relevant today (day's program + progress) - Navigation is minimal but complete (intuitive tab structure) - Deep features accessible but not pushed 3. Custom Visual Design: Instead of generic icons or UI patterns, I created a custom illustration style and bold color palette. The UI served dual purposes: it's striking AND it guides users emotionally through the experience.
I solved this through three design strategies: 1. Design System for Consistency: Built a coherent design system in Figma with reusable components, color palette, and typography. This meant: no matter how many features the app grew, it felt like one product, not a collection of features. 2. Information Architecture: Instead of overwhelming the user with everything, I created clear hierarchies: - Home screen shows only what's relevant today (day's program + progress) - Navigation is minimal but complete (intuitive tab structure) - Deep features accessible but not pushed 3. Custom Visual Design: Instead of generic icons or UI patterns, I created a custom illustration style and bold color palette. The UI served dual purposes: it's striking AND it guides users emotionally through the experience.
What Zleep Does: Gamified CBT Therapy
What Zleep Does: Gamified CBT Therapy
What Zleep Does: Gamified CBT Therapy
The app guides users through a structured CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) program for insomnia. How it works: - Initial assesstment to understand user's sleep profile (13+ different approaches) - Creation of personalized sleep program divided in +10 chapters (weeks of content, from basic sleep hygiene to advanced cognitive techniques) - Daily activities: interactive exercises, guided meditations, journaling prompts - Gamification: progress badges, streak tracking, level completion - Progress dashboard: sleep metrics visualization, recovery tracking Visual approach: dark navy colors (sleep-inducing palette) combined with playful accent colors, custom illustrations that make guided exercises feel like talking to a friendly guide, not a clinical algorithm.
The app guides users through a structured CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) program for insomnia. How it works: - Initial assesstment to understand user's sleep profile (13+ different approaches) - Creation of personalized sleep program divided in +10 chapters (weeks of content, from basic sleep hygiene to advanced cognitive techniques) - Daily activities: interactive exercises, guided meditations, journaling prompts - Gamification: progress badges, streak tracking, level completion - Progress dashboard: sleep metrics visualization, recovery tracking Visual approach: dark navy colors (sleep-inducing palette) combined with playful accent colors, custom illustrations that make guided exercises feel like talking to a friendly guide, not a clinical algorithm.
The app guides users through a structured CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) program for insomnia. How it works: - Initial assesstment to understand user's sleep profile (13+ different approaches) - Creation of personalized sleep program divided in +10 chapters (weeks of content, from basic sleep hygiene to advanced cognitive techniques) - Daily activities: interactive exercises, guided meditations, journaling prompts - Gamification: progress badges, streak tracking, level completion - Progress dashboard: sleep metrics visualization, recovery tracking Visual approach: dark navy colors (sleep-inducing palette) combined with playful accent colors, custom illustrations that make guided exercises feel like talking to a friendly guide, not a clinical algorithm.
A Living Project: 4 Years of Iteration and Growth
A Living Project: 4 Years of Iteration and Growth
A Living Project: 4 Years of Iteration and Growth
Unlike a typical case study with a clear ending, Zleep it's an active product I've been working on since 2021 as a side project. Over time: - The app has evolved significantly (new programs, features, designs) - New capabilities have been added (the feature creep is real) - I've adapted the design system to absorb these changes without breaking coherence - The relationship is strong: CEO keeps calling, I keep improving What this taught me: design isn't about delivering a perfect static product—it's about creating systems that can evolve, absorb change, and stay coherent even when everything around them is in flux. The app is live on App Store. The CEO is actively promoting it on social media. Users are using it. The product works.
Unlike a typical case study with a clear ending, Zleep it's an active product I've been working on since 2021 as a side project. Over time: - The app has evolved significantly (new programs, features, designs) - New capabilities have been added (the feature creep is real) - I've adapted the design system to absorb these changes without breaking coherence - The relationship is strong: CEO keeps calling, I keep improving What this taught me: design isn't about delivering a perfect static product—it's about creating systems that can evolve, absorb change, and stay coherent even when everything around them is in flux. The app is live on App Store. The CEO is actively promoting it on social media. Users are using it. The product works.
Unlike a typical case study with a clear ending, Zleep it's an active product I've been working on since 2021 as a side project. Over time: - The app has evolved significantly (new programs, features, designs) - New capabilities have been added (the feature creep is real) - I've adapted the design system to absorb these changes without breaking coherence - The relationship is strong: CEO keeps calling, I keep improving What this taught me: design isn't about delivering a perfect static product—it's about creating systems that can evolve, absorb change, and stay coherent even when everything around them is in flux. The app is live on App Store. The CEO is actively promoting it on social media. Users are using it. The product works.
