Unwind is a mobile journaling app that helps people release anxious thoughts before sleep through gentle prompts, expressive writing and a calming release moment.
Product Designer
Mobile App
User Research
SHIPPED
Designing for the Bedtime Mind
Users couldn't quiet anxious thoughts before sleep. Distractions helped temporarily, but thoughts returned at 2am. I designed a journaling app that helps people release thoughts before bed — not just distract from them.
Journalling Thoughts
Releasing Anxiety
PROBLEM
When The Distractions Stop,
Thoughts Appear
When lights went out, anxious thoughts surfaced. Work deadlines. Finances. Tomorrow's meetings. Users tried scrolling, white noise, counting sheep. These were distractions, not solutions. The thoughts always came back.
Heyy Karen! What wakes you up at night? 🤔🤔🤔
I wake up at 2-3am thinking about work
or bugs I need to fix 😶🌫️😶🌫️
RESEARCH
A Gap In The Market For Prevention
Most sleep apps react to anxiety with soothing sounds or guided meditation. Calm, Headspace, and BetterSleep help you feel calm in the moment. But none prevent thoughts from resurfacing. Users still woke at 2am because the root cause — unprocessed thoughts — was never addressed.
Meditations
White Noise
Sleep Stories
Great for falling asleep but doesn't prevent users from waking up at 2am.
SOLUTION
Three Moments That Release
I explored three psychological approaches: cognitive reframing, journaling, and soothing audio. Reframing felt like homework. Journaling felt like relief.
The experience became three moments:
The Invitation
A gentle notification: "Ready to unwind?" Warm, optional, not a command.
II. The Practice
Three simple prompts guide users to release their thoughts. Warm language: "You might notice your shoulders feel tight" instead of "Where do you feel tense?"
III. The Release
Thoughts animate upward as a cloud, dissolving into air. Testing revealed users felt incomplete without this moment — it created the psychological closure they needed to let go.
REFLECTIONS
Empathy Isn't One-Size-Fits-All
Users came to the app with wildly different intent. Some were desperate. Others were skeptical.
The challenge was designing for the full spectrum of motivation and energy. A gentle invitation had to work for someone at their breaking point and someone just experimenting.
Empathy isn't one-size-fits-all. It's designing space for different mindsets to find value in their own way.