From zero to market traction: a recovery app that grew 90% week over week

A sobriety recovery app designed from scratch. Brand identity, a full design system, and the core experience, taken from nothing to real traction in sixty days.

90%
Week over week growth
68%
Onboarding completion
4.8
App Store rating
Role
Product Design & Branding
Timeline
60 days
Scope
Product design, Brand, Design system

The challenge

Designing for people on the worst day of their week.

Recovery products are used at the exact moment someone has the least patience for a bad interface. Every extra tap, every unclear label, every cheerful piece of copy that lands wrong is a reason to close the app and not come back. The bar for clarity is higher here than in almost any consumer category, and the cost of getting it wrong is not a churn statistic.

What I did

Strip the product to what someone can use when they are not at their best.

Brand identity, a complete design system, and the core experience, built from zero. Onboarding was designed to be finishable in one sitting, which is where most health apps lose people. Within sixty days the app was growing ninety percent week over week, completing onboarding for sixty-eight percent of new users, and holding a 4.8 rating on the App Store.

← All work