Balance App | 2025
Design System &
Transformation
Description
How we transformed the Balance Meditation and Sleep app into a user-centered and winning product.
Role
Lead Product Designer
Problem
How can we scale mindfully and still stay user-centered?
We made things simpler for engineering with a flexible design system, while staying close to our users and helping Balance grow and earn sustainably.
Impacting the users and business needs
Over the past two years, I led a collection of design initiatives that helped elevate Balance to a new level. This work spanned across foundational design system improvements, product growth strategies, and a deep commitment to our users.
We ran surveys and qualitative research to better understand our users’ problems, needs, and jobs to be done. These insights grounded all our design decisions and helped ensure we stayed genuinely user-centered.
Growth through design
Some of our highest-rated features came directly from user feedback, including background sounds and the improved search experience. Listening to users not only shaped better experiences, but also positively influenced app store reviews.
Another key challenge was transitioning from a 1-year free trial to a 30-day one without hurting user acquisition. Through strategic paywall experimentation and allowing users to “sneak peek” into the app, we managed to continue scaling subscriptions. This wasn’t the beautiful side of design, but it was essential: using design thinking to meet business needs without compromising user trust.
Experience revamp
We redesigned core parts of the app, leveraging OS capabilities like widgets, and future-proofed our system to support wearables such as WatchOS. This required rethinking the design system at its core—making it modular, scalable, and responsive.
Impact
These combined efforts resulted in significant growth in paid subscriptions, a rise in app store ratings, and an increase in our average review score—clear signals that mindful design can drive both user satisfaction and business outcomes.
4.8 stars
Across Apple and Google, with over 115K reviews, while winning App of the Day and App of the Year.
4M to 20M users in 2 years
Over 200K subscriptions.
Balance App | 2025
Design System & Transformation
Description
How we transformed the Balance Meditation and Sleep app into a user-centered and winning product.
Role
Lead Product Designer
Problem
How can we scale mindfully and still stay user-centered?
We made things simpler for engineering with a flexible design system, while staying close to our users and helping Balance grow and earn sustainably.
Impacting the users and business needs
Over the past two years, I led a collection of design initiatives that helped elevate Balance to a new level. This work spanned across foundational design system improvements, product growth strategies, and a deep commitment to our users.
We ran surveys and qualitative research to better understand our users’ problems, needs, and jobs to be done. These insights grounded all our design decisions and helped ensure we stayed genuinely user-centered.
Growth through design
Some of our highest-rated features came directly from user feedback, including background sounds and the improved search experience. Listening to users not only shaped better experiences, but also positively influenced app store reviews.
Another key challenge was transitioning from a 1-year free trial to a 30-day one without hurting user acquisition. Through strategic paywall experimentation and allowing users to “sneak peek” into the app, we managed to continue scaling subscriptions. This wasn’t the beautiful side of design, but it was essential: using design thinking to meet business needs without compromising user trust.
Experience revamp
We redesigned core parts of the app, leveraging OS capabilities like widgets, and future-proofed our system to support wearables such as WatchOS. This required rethinking the design system at its core—making it modular, scalable, and responsive.
Impact
These combined efforts resulted in significant growth in paid subscriptions, a rise in app store ratings, and an increase in our average review score—clear signals that mindful design can drive both user satisfaction and business outcomes.
4.8 stars
Across Apple and Google, with over 115K reviews, while winning App of the Day and App of the Year.
4M to 20M users in 2 years
Over 200K subscriptions.
Balance App | 2025
Design System &
Transformation
Description
How we transformed the Balance Meditation and Sleep app into a user-centered and winning product.
Role
Lead Product Designer
Problem
How can we scale mindfully and still stay user-centered?
We made things simpler for engineering with a flexible design system, while staying close to our users and helping Balance grow and earn sustainably.
Impacting the users and business needs
Over the past two years, I led a collection of design initiatives that helped elevate Balance to a new level. This work spanned across foundational design system improvements, product growth strategies, and a deep commitment to our users.
We ran surveys and qualitative research to better understand our users’ problems, needs, and jobs to be done. These insights grounded all our design decisions and helped ensure we stayed genuinely user-centered.
Growth through design
Some of our highest-rated features came directly from user feedback, including background sounds and the improved search experience. Listening to users not only shaped better experiences, but also positively influenced app store reviews.
Another key challenge was transitioning from a 1-year free trial to a 30-day one without hurting user acquisition. Through strategic paywall experimentation and allowing users to “sneak peek” into the app, we managed to continue scaling subscriptions. This wasn’t the beautiful side of design, but it was essential: using design thinking to meet business needs without compromising user trust.
Experience revamp
We redesigned core parts of the app, leveraging OS capabilities like widgets, and future-proofed our system to support wearables such as WatchOS. This required rethinking the design system at its core—making it modular, scalable, and responsive.
Impact
These combined efforts resulted in significant growth in paid subscriptions, a rise in app store ratings, and an increase in our average review score—clear signals that mindful design can drive both user satisfaction and business outcomes.
4.8 stars
Across Apple and Google, with over 115K reviews, while winning App of the Day and App of the Year.
4M to 20M users in 2 years
Grew the app by 5x (from 4m to 20m) while maintaining a category leading 4.8 App Store rating.