CIRCADIAN MOON
An app for regulating life and get enough sleep time
Project Context: finished the mockup, now on the launch stage
Jinhao Guo
BACKGROUND
Since university, I realized that many young adults (or colleagues) are experiencing the issue of lack of sleep because of:
ignore the
significance of sleep
stay up late
unbalance schedules
RESEARCH
By using the interview method to 5 interviewers, I concluded 3 reasons why large number of young adults are difficult to go to sleep on time:
Don’t want to go to sleep
Cause:
- tight schedule under rapid life, no free time
Result:
- scrolling phones for entertainment
- artificial lights on devices affect the circadian rhythm in human brain
“Normally, I will spend 1-1.5 hours on phone before falling asleep.” - Celina
Cannot sleep
Cause:
- pressure, experiencing work/study overload
Result:
- stay up late, even the whole night, causing sleep irregularity
“I want to go to sleep on time, but I have too much work to do, so I often delay to go to bed.” -Lisa
Cannot falling to sleep
Cause:
- Previous two reasons may cause hard falling sleep (circadian system)
- anxiety and stress
Result:
- negative falling asleep loop.
“Sometimes I feel stress, it is hard for me to stop thinking and falling asleep when I lying on bed, and the following two days are not efficient.” - Sarah
.png)
PRODUCT VISION
I decided to come up with a solution to regulate user’s sleeping habits and get enough sleeping time, also remind them of the necessity of sleeping, and suggest users give up unnecessary activities.
Design for:
- User lack of sleeping management delayed sleep between ages 13-30.
- User with signs (light symptoms) of delayed sleep
- User with irregular working schedules
PERSONA
Primary Persona
Name: Nancy
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Nancy is an architecture student who is having frustrations with her sleeping habit.
Pain points
1. Irregular sleeping schedule leads to a messy circadian rhythm.
2. cannot sleep on time due to anxiety and bad self-control.
3. lack of sleep causes a low-efficiency day.
Persona Goal
1. Adjust circadian rhythm
2. Go to bed on time to be able to wake up on time
3. Ensure enough sleeping hours to make a productive day
“I felt sleeping is wasting time but I still require it.”
p
Secondary Persona
Name: Sarah
Age: 23
Occupation: Flight Attendant
Sarah graduated from the university and became an air attendant.
Pain points
1. work during irregular hours, facing the issue of irregular sleeping schedules
2. hard for her to fall asleep during a non-sleepy period.
Persona Goal
1. Make sure to achieve enough sleeping hours under the irregular schedule, seize the gap time to take rest
2. Jet lag adjustment
3. Avoid artificial light before bedtime, create a relax and meditate sleeping environment
“Sleeping is significant. It is a basic healing process.”
Per
USER JOURNEY
Click image to see details
I mapped out the user journey based on the interview and listed out the pain points and design opportunities. By doing so, we could iterate the design to achieve the goal and avoid unnecessary features.
IDEATION AND STRATEGY
Along with strategies to solve persona pain points, different forms of notifications will run through the processes to target issues that user find difficult to go to sleep (don't want go to sleep, cannot sleep, cannot falling to sleep)
MVP LAUNCH
To avoid feature creep, my first-round MVP will cover strategies 1 to 3, test out the main user flow that solves primary persona Nancy's pain point.
1. Lunar phases imitation
Goal > adjust circadian rhythm, Implicit notification
2. Energy level visualization
Goal > sleeping quality analysis
3. Meditation
Goal > relax, prepare to go to sleep
ADDITIONAL/SECONDARY FUNCTION
4. Short nap
Goal > extra rest, prevent break circadian rhythm, higher efficiency
5. Jet lag adjustment
Goal > regulate jet lag, serious staying up late (all night)
6. Customization (Lock, Artificial light control )
Goal > Small goal achievements, supervise user
7. Entertainment
Goal > reward and punishment system to supervise user
MVP LAUNCH
1. Lunar Phases Imitation
FULL MOON
YOUR ARE ENERGETIC
USE YOUR ENERGY
NEW MOON
YOUR ENERGY IS LOW
SLEEP
THIRD QUARTER
YOUR CAN TAKE A SHORT NAP
GET SOME ENERGY BACK!
WANING GIBBOUS
YOUR ARE ENERGETIC
USE YOUR ENERGY
WANING CRESCENT
GET READY TO SLEEP
WAXING CRESCENT
YOUR ENERGY IS LOW
CONTINUE SLEEPING
FIRST QUARTER
YOUR ENERGY IS LOW
CONTINUE SLEEPING
WAXING BIGGOUS
YOUR ENERGY IS LOW
CONTINUE SLEEPING
To solve the circadian rhythm, we came up with an idea of the lunar phases; it imitates human’s circadian rhythm in their brain and reminds user spiritual energy level. And the phase speed will increase or decrease depending on Nancy's previous sleeping circumstances.
After Nancy awakes, the moon will tend to become a full moon and gradually decrease during the daytime. If the moon phase turns dark and close to the new moon, it will remind Nancy to sleep and generate energy.
Therefore, this moon phrase strategy solves Nancy's pain point of unscheduled circadian rhythm, functions as implicit notifications by appearing on the lock screen when Nancy checks the time on her phone, remind to take rest.
2. Energy Level Visualization
The calculation will be based on standardized data.
- Duration: average healthy adults should aim 7-9 hours of sleep per night
- light sleep percentage (40-50%)
- deep sleep percentage (13-23%)
- fall asleep (5 to 20 minutes for average, everybody is different)
- tossing and turning body (less than 20 times)
- sleeping distraction (less than 30 minutes)
The energy level in percentage is not only a data transformation of visual lunar phases but also an estimation of the current status and sleeping quality report through calculations.
The app offers a wear-able free option, and all data will be collected through the ios system containing accelerometer.
3. Meditation
Here, the meditation tool not only solved the user's pain point of anxiety and stress but also functions as an implicit notification.
Nancy and Sarah can choose to set up and play meditation music (10-20 minutes) to remind them to relax, prepare and get ready to go to bed. There is also an autoplay mode, which will be based on the local weather, and season to play the ideal sound.
Information Architecture: MVP Flow
ADDITIONAL/SECONDARY FUNCTION
4. Short Nap
Here, the additional tool: short nap function will notify both Nancy and Sarah to take extra rest if they haven't slept well on the previous day.
This function allows the user to adjust circadian rhythm, specify prevent over-sleepy and breaking the circadian rhythm, which leads to a negative loop)
Normally, it will appear automatically on the phone lock screen after user finishes h lunch, and it is really easy to set up with a single click.
Hence, this function not only solves Nancy's pain point of low efficiency and makes a productive day, but also let Sarah seize the gap time to take more rest under the irregular schedule
Information Architecture: Short Nap Flow
5. Jetlag
The additional tool: jet lag adjustment function, mainly help persona Sarah to adjust her irregular sleeping schedule under the work requirement.
This forcibly sleep regulate option also help Nancy, in case she is staying up all night, messing her circadian clock, and extremely hard to adjustment sleeping schedule.
Information Architecture: Jetlag Flow
