Lumenate - Illuminating the Habit Loop

This Lumenate case study explores how we transformed a unique, light-driven meditation app into a habit-forming experience that keeps users coming back. Through research, persona development, and iterative prototyping, I tackled high drop-off rates by redesigning the onboarding journey and enhancing core features like the journal. The result is a smoother, more intuitive experience that turns first-time curiosity into lasting engagement.

Contents

1. Contributions 

2. Contributors 

3. Project Background 

4. Setting the Scene 

5. Research and Personas

6. Approach and Design

7. Prototyping and Testing 

8. Next Steps

9. Prototype

Contributions

Conducted user interviews, analytics reviews, persona creation, and journey mapping, while participating in design studio sessions. Produced low- and high-fidelity prototypes, ran multiple rounds of usability testing, and delivered a handover package with actionable recommendations for Lumenate.

Contributors

This project was completed as part of a General Assembly course, with guidance from tutors and in collaboration with three other designers. Each team member contributed across all areas, taking the lead on different phases while working closely together to deliver on Lumenate’s brief.

Project Background

Lumenate is unlike any other meditation app. By using the torch on the back of a phone, paired with sound in a dark space, it creates semi-psychedelic light patterns that guide the user into deep meditative states. Their mission is to make subconscious exploration more accessible to everyone.

The app already had a passionate user base, but analytics revealed a steep drop-off in the first days of use. Many people downloaded Lumenate, signed up, and completed the introductory demo, but then never returned for a full session. Churn research revealed a clear picture: the top reasons for cancellation were a lack of content and forgetting to use the app.

The brief’s primary objective was to help customers integrate Lumenate into their routines by making habit formation easier and more natural. A secondary goal was to identify low-effort, high-impact UX improvements for current users. Success would be measured by a reduction in subscription cancellations and an increase in the number of completed sessions during the first month.

Fig 1. A few of lumenates marketing materials.

Setting the Scene

The starting point was a thorough review of Lumenate’s analytics. Two drop-off points stood out: the gap between sign-up and completing the first demo session, and the gap between completing the demo and starting a full session.

Interviews previously conducted by Lumenate with churned users supported these findings. The most common reasons for cancellation were a perceived lack of content and not using the app enough.

From this, several working assumptions emerged: Lumenate users tend to be more open to experimental experiences than typical wellness app users, place high value on content variety, expect some familiar features from other meditation apps, and often fail to form a habit simply because they forget about the app.

To validate or challenge these assumptions, a research plan was developed. It aimed to explore the motivations and behaviours of Lumenate’s existing audience, alongside the habits of wider health and wellbeing app users. The objectives were to identify what drives subscriptions, the expectations users have before downloading, what they enjoy most, and common points of frustration. In parallel, the plan examined how other wellbeing apps encourage habit formation and considered the ethical implications of those approaches.

Fig 2. Live analytics from the app. This was over a 3 month period.

Research and Personas

Understanding Lumenate’s audience required insights from both committed users and those familiar with other health and wellbeing apps. Nine interviews were conducted in total: six with current Lumenate users and three with users of other wellbeing products. A comparative analysis of competing apps supplemented the qualitative findings, helping to frame user expectations in the wider market.

Interviews with Lumenate Users

Discussions with Lumenate’s existing audience revealed a highly engaged and enthusiastic group. Many described the experience as “hard to explain – you have to try it to understand it,” praising both the calming interface and the distinctive light-and-sound effects. When asked about areas for improvement, the most frequent request was a more flexible journal feature. Users wanted the ability to edit past entries, add richer notes, and track moods over time - features they felt would deepen their reflection after sessions. The second most common request was the option to integrate personal music into sessions. Importantly, most long-term users had not experienced the early drop-off seen in analytics. This reinforced the idea that the product itself resonated with its audience; the real challenge lay in onboarding new users in a way that encouraged them to return and form lasting habits.

Fig 3. Affinity map of lumenate user interviews. Each colour represents a different user and each grouping represented pain or pleasure points.

Interviews with health and well-being app users

The three participants from outside the Lumenate user base—regular users of other wellness apps—brought a different perspective. They were accustomed to platforms offering extensive content libraries, built-in social features, progress tracking tools, and gamified incentives. Lumenate’s highly specific and minimalist experience felt unusual by comparison, and without a broad range of familiar features, they were less likely to persist through multiple sessions to experience its benefits.

Fig 4. This venn diagram represents the differences and similarities between regular well-being app users and lumenates users.

Comparative Analysis

Reviewing a variety of other wellbeing apps confirmed that while Lumenate belongs to the same general category, it occupies a far more niche position. Most mainstream apps attempt to address multiple aspects of wellness, whereas Lumenate offers a focused, highly distinctive experience. This raised a central question: how much familiarity with traditional app features would a new user need to feel comfortable enough to give Lumenate a genuine chance?

FIg 5. Part of the comparative analysis, cataloging features and how commonly they appeared across the most common 4 wellbeing apps.

Key Insights

• Committed users found strong value in the app.

• Several improvements could be made with minimal effort to enhance the user experience.

• Drop-off in habit formation occurred only among new users.

• Other wellbeing apps are not direct competitors; they occupy the same space but are more likely to be used alongside Lumenate rather than replace it.

Personas

From the combined insights of the interviews and the comparative analysis, two personas were developed.

From these personas 2 problem statements emerged. For Georgie, the representation of a new user that was curious, but had not yet committed to Lumenate: the need to understand Lumenate organically, with guidance that makes it easier to experience its benefits and integrate it into a routine.

For Ralph the representation of a committed Lumenate user that would like an improved experience: The need for a more flexible, editable journal to support long-term reflection and emotional tracking.

Approach and Design

With the problem statements defined, a collaborative design studio was held with the Lumenate team. The session served two purposes: to share research findings and to align on a creative direction that addressed both user needs and business goals.

Over two rounds of sketching, three themes consistently rose to the top:

1. Clear, instructional content during onboarding to guide new users.

2. A structured journey or narrative within the app to create a sense of progression.

3. An improved reminder and notification system to encourage regular use without becoming intrusive.

Fig 6. This image is the crazy ‘8’s that i did for quick brain storming for Georgie’s new onboarding journey.

Fig 7. This shows my crazy ‘8’s for improving Ralph’s journal entries.

These themes were then mapped back to the personas.

For Georgie, the newcomer, the solution took the form of a structured welcome journey. This would guide her through an introductory session followed by a second session, after which she would be rewarded with three free sessions of her choice from the full library. This approach recognised that Lumenate sessions differ from traditional meditation practices—most users did not complete sessions daily or in quick succession. Offering a week of unrestricted access, a common tactic in wellness apps, would not deliver the intended value for Lumenate’s weekly-use pattern. User interviews had suggested that it often took around three sessions for someone to fully appreciate the benefits, making this structured path both strategic and user-centred.

For Ralph, the loyal user, the focus shifted to redesigning the journal feature. This enhancement would allow editable entries, mood tracking, and note-taking, providing a richer, more meaningful record of his experiences. The aim was to deepen his connection with the app without adding unnecessary complexity to the clean, minimal interface he valued.

Prototyping and Testing 

Welcome Journey

Fig 8 Here is an initial example of the low fidelity wireframes. The full initial flow has been featured in the appendix.

Low-fidelity wireframes were created to test both the narrative of the welcome journey and the clarity of iconography. These were iteratively tested with six users to validate that changes from earlier iterations led to improvements.

Key insights from testing:

• Offering a choice between a “guided” or “open” session too early created uncertainty and reduced engagement. This choice was removed in favour of a more structured path and later A/B tested to confirm its effectiveness.

• Reward tracking felt unnecessarily complex and was simplified to display only the number of sessions remaining.

• Lock icons used to indicate unavailable content were often misinterpreted, so they were replaced with explicit “Paid Content” labels.

Fig 9. Here is an initial example of the low fidelity wireframes.

High-fidelity prototypes were developed with three guiding principles: maintain consistency with Lumenate’s existing design system, improve accessibility, and ensure consistent alignment using layout grids. These were tested with ten users, leading to several key refinements.

Key insights from testing:

• The call to action “Access Everything” on the reward screen was replaced with “Subscribe Now” for clarity, and additional copy was added to signal the end of the journey.

• Session duration indicators were redesigned so that fixed times appeared as plain text, while adjustable times were clearly interactive.

• A dedicated reward information screen was introduced to explain the benefit and how to use it.

Fig 10. Here is an example of the final high fidelity wireframe flow.

Journal Improvements 

As this was a secondary goal and time was limited, improvements were made to the journal page but not fully tested.

Key improvements included:

• Expanding the journal so entries could be more detailed and follow a clearer structure, inspired by features in other wellbeing apps.

• Allowing flexibility for users to create either simple or more in-depth entries after sessions.

• Introducing the ability to edit past entries, removing the restriction of journaling only immediately after a session.

Fig 11. Here is the new and improved Journal feature. Previously it was just a text box that you could add feelings to after your session. The cards on the left hand image were not clickable and users were not able to look more deeply into their journal.

Next Steps

• Conduct testing of the updated journal with frequent Lumenate users to validate improvements.

• Run an A/B test on the second step of the welcome journey to compare starting with a guided session versus an open session.

• Based on interview feedback, run a card-sorting exercise to explore alternative ways of organising sessions and improve information architecture.Test the hypothesis that three free sessions is the optimal amount in the welcome journey by trialling different quantities with real users and comparing analytics.

Lumenate Prototype

Click the image to be directed to the lumenate prototype