Cycle App
Cycle is an app I designed over the course of a semester. Its motto: “For Every Body’s Phases”. Cycle functions as an inclusive health app for period tracking, learning about gynecological procedures, and much more.
01.
Introduction
I wanted to design a safe, secure app for people to take ownership of their health. This inclusive app would help people track their periods & symptoms, quickly send information to doctors, connect with friends, and inform them of various topics related to gynecological health and wellness.
02.
About the Client
This project was undertaken over the course of a UX Design class. I was tasked with finding something I was passionate about, some kind of problem in society, and designing an app to meet that need. I didn’t like any of the period tracking apps I’d seen before, and I wanted to create something inclusive and expansive.
03.
Challenges
There were lots of challenges when it came to developing this app prototype. While I had a semester to work on it, it still felt like I was running out of time. The biggest problems I encountered were:
- Going Solo. This was the first time I used Figma to design an entire application. While I had the support of my professors, I was designing by myself.
- Research, research, research. This app needed lots of it, and I had limited resources (such as no budget!) I needed to conduct competitive analyses. I also had to find and interview potential users.
- Ensure Inclusivity. When someone hears about a “period tracking app”, their mind goes to women. While many of my users would be cisgender women, they certainly wouldn’t be all my users. I also needed to design for trans men and nonbinary people.
- Scope. I wanted this app to be bigger than a typical period tracking app. I wanted to build features that would allow users to talk to their friends, send information to their doctors, read articles related to gynecological health, customize their profile, and have an AR component guiding them through gynecological procedures!
04.
Solutions
See my complete research, interviews, and moodboards here.
This project was one of the most ambitious I’ve ever undertaken. I tried and failed many times.
The first step was interviewing potential users. It’s difficult to get user interviews without a budget, so I asked around campus until I found five people. It was from these interviews that I got the idea to add a social component to the app.
The next step was competitive analysis. I looked over several period tracker apps on the market. As I suspected, they weren’t very inclusive, and often provided information that wasn’t relevant to the user.
After initial research, I started moodboarding. I wanted my app to be friendly, inviting, and colorful. With a couple of iterations, I settled on a celestial theme. Since periods are on a monthly cycle and so is the moon, I thought it would be a fun feature to connect monthly calendars with the lunar cycle.
Then came screen design. I would build out different screens, start connecting them together through Figma’s prototyping feature, and test them. Eventually, through lots of design, I created a complete app experience. This took months, because I had lots (and lots) of different components! If I had time to work on this for months more, I would have refined it a little and user tested with a broader audience.
05.
Results
Completing this project was one of my proudest moments in college. Destigmatizing and demystifying periods, advocating for bodily autonomy, and providing inclusive experiences, are all things I’m very passionate about . I was told throughout the process that I was doing too much. But I wanted a complete experience. I researched, designed, and tested this app entirely on my own. Because I did it my way, I get to see my own design sensibilities and passions shine through. The end result is one I still adore. You can experience the app here.
01. Introduction
I wanted to design a safe, secure app for people to take ownership of their health. This inclusive app would help people track their periods & symptoms, quickly send information to doctors, connect with friends, and inform them of various topics related to gynecological health and wellness.
02. About the Client
This project was undertaken over the course of a UX Design class. I was tasked with finding something I was passionate about, some kind of problem in society, and designing an app to meet that need. I didn’t like any of the period tracking apps I’d seen before, and I wanted to create something inclusive and expansive.
03. Challenges
There were lots of challenges when it came to developing this app prototype. While I had a semester to work on it, it still felt like I was running out of time. The biggest problems I encountered were as follows:
- Going Solo. This was the first time I used Figma to design an entire application. While I had the support of my professors, I was designing by myself. I didn’t have a team to bounce ideas off of, so the successes and failures were all on me.
- Research, research, research. This app needed lots of it, and I had limited resources (such as no budget, I’m a student!) In the initial stages, I needed to make competitive analyses of similar health apps. I also had to find and interview potential users to find out what they needed from an app like this.
- Ensure Inclusivity. When someone hears about a “period tracking app”, their mind goes to women. While many of my users would be cisgender women, they certainly wouldn’t be all my users. I also needed to design for trans men, nonbinary people, and everyone in-between. I wanted to make sure my app wasn’t isolating or stigmatizing any marginalized groups.
- Scope. I wanted this app to be bigger than a typical period tracking app. I wanted to build features that would allow users to talk to their friends, send information to their doctors, read articles related to gynecological health, customize their profile, and have an AR component guiding them through gynecological procedures! It was a lot to put on myself.
04. Solutions
See my complete research, interviews, and moodboards here.
This project was one of the most ambitious I’ve ever undertaken. I tried and failed many times before I got a product that was usable and appealing.
The first step was interviewing potential users. It’s difficult to get user interviews without a budget, so I asked around campus until I found five people. It was from these interviews that I got the idea to add a social component to the app. I also started researching gynecological health. I wanted information to be as accurate as possible.
The next step was competitive analysis. I looked over several period tracker apps on the market (including Flo, the Apple Health App, etc). As I suspected, they weren’t very inclusive, and often provided information that wasn’t relevant to the user.
After initial research, I started moodboarding. I wanted my app to be friendly, inviting, and colorful. With a couple of iterations, I settled on a celestial theme. Since periods are on a monthly cycle and so is the moon, I thought it would be a fun feature to connect monthly calendars with the lunar cycle.
After I had a visual design I liked and an overall brand guideline, there came lots and lots of screen design. I would build out different screens, start connecting them together through Figma’s prototyping feature, and test them. Eventually, through lots of design, I created a complete app experience. This took months, because I had lots (and lots) of different components! If I had time to work on this for months more, I would have refined it a little and user tested with a broader audience.
05. Results
Completing this project was one of my proudest moments in college. Destigmatizing and demystifying periods, advocating for bodily autonomy, and providing inclusive experiences, are all things I’m very passionate about. I was told throughout the process that I was doing too much. But I wanted a complete experience. I researched, designed, and tested this app entirely on my own. Because I did it my way, I get to see my own design sensibilities and passions shine through. The end result is one I still adore. You can experience the app here.
