Verdant Health.
A wellness app that earned a 4.8★ rating on launch day — designed around real habits, not ideal ones.
What needed to change.
Most wellness apps are designed for people who are already motivated. Verdant needed to serve users who wanted to build habits but consistently failed to maintain streaks — the 80% who churn within 2 weeks.
Behavioral research showed that existing apps punished missed days with broken streaks, creating shame spirals that led to abandonment. Verdant's founding team wanted a fundamentally different emotional model — one that met users where they were, not where they wished they were.
How we got there.
Behavioral Research
Partnered with a behavioral psychologist to review habit formation literature. Interviewed 24 people who had tried and abandoned wellness apps, focusing on the emotional moments around missed days.
- —Behavioral research synthesis
- —Emotional journey maps
- —Failure mode analysis
Concept Development
Developed 4 distinct habit models — daily streaks, weekly rhythms, points-based, and milestone-based. Ran concept validation sessions with 30 participants to measure emotional resonance and perceived effort.
- —4 concept prototypes
- —Concept validation report
- —Emotional resonance scores
Interaction Design
Designed the core check-in flow through 11 iterations. Obsessed over micro-interactions — the haptic feedback on completion, the animation when a weekly goal is met, the gentle nudge copy when a user hasn't checked in.
- —Interaction specification
- —Animation library
- —Copy guidelines
Visual Design & System
Built a design system rooted in calm — muted greens, generous whitespace, and typography that never shouts. Created a custom illustration set for empty states and celebrations that felt warm, not corporate.
- —iOS design system
- —Illustration set
- —Component library (Figma)
Beta & Launch
Ran a 6-week beta with 200 users, iterating on the onboarding flow 4 times based on drop-off data. Launched to the App Store with a 4.8★ rating from 340 initial reviews.
- —Beta test report
- —Onboarding iteration log
- —Launch metrics dashboard
A "no-streak" habit system built on weekly rhythms instead of daily perfection, paired with a check-in flow designed to take under 60 seconds, and a visual progress model that shows growth over months, not days.
Weekly Rhythm System
Instead of daily streaks that punish missed days, Verdant uses weekly rhythms. Miss Monday? Tuesday still counts. The visual model shows a growing garden over months — users see progress even when weeks are imperfect.
Sub-60-Second Check-In
The daily check-in was designed to be faster than opening Instagram. Three taps: how you feel, one habit logged, one intention set. The entire flow was timed in testing until it consistently came in under 60 seconds.
