Research Summary

USE CASE : TRACK SLEEP AND SEE SLEEP DATA

If I were designing a sleep tracking app, my research would help inform what areas I focused on. Based on what I learned from looking at these apps, I would prioritize:

Ease of device set up instructions to capture sleep data
- Ability to turn off the instructions if the user doesn’t need the reminder
Quick access to start and stop sleep tracking
Making sure data visuals are clear and organized

[ HIGHLIGHTS ]

Here are some features that make for a good experience:

Clarity of instructions for setting up device for capturing sleep data
Action to end tracking is clear
Engaging display of data using both color and icons to represent groups of data
Presentation of data is clearly grouped and organized
Data graphs are represented by different visual patterns
User is able to drill into individual data points to see more detailed views
Most apps focused on capturing the following groups of data:
- Time Awake
- Time in Bed
- Time Asleep
  - REM
  - Light Sleep
  - Deep Sleep

[ POINTS OF FRICTION TO AVOID ]

Graphs looking exactly the same or using the same visual patterns or line weights
Starting or stopping sleep tracking taking extra steps or more complicated actions

[ THINGS TO EXPLORE ]

Do players care to understand exactly how the sleep quality scores are calculated or is it more important to see the increase or decrease in their score
Which data-points are most valuable to the user

Pokémon Sleep

App Link: https://www.pokemonsleep.net/en/

TRACKING SLEEP

[ PROS ]

Clarity of instructions for setting up device for capturing sleep data
Gamification of sleep tracking provides user incentive to keep going
Engaging sleep tracking screen
Action to end tracking is clear (slide to end session)

SLEEP DATA

[ PROS ]

Engaging display of data using both color and icons to represent groups of data

[ PAIN POINTS ]

Custom terms (dozing, snoozing, slumbering) does not immediately communicate what they mean
How sleep score is calculated is not immediately clear
Most graphs look exactly the same (same visual representation)

Pillow

App Link: https://pillow.app/

TRACKING SLEEP

[ PROS ]

Clarity of instructions for setting up device for capturing sleep data
Presets for wake times make it convenient to switch between alarms

[ PAIN POINTS ]

Action to end tracking is not clear

SLEEP DATA

[ PROS ]

Presentation of data is clearly grouped and organized
Most of the data is represented by both text labels and icons

[ PAIN POINTS ]

How the sleep quality score is calculated is not immediately clear

SleepScore

App Link: https://www.sleepscore.com/sleepscore-app/

TRACKING SLEEP

[ PROS ]

Explanation of how the microphone and speaker of user’s device is clear and informative while offering reassurance of the user’s privacy

[ PAIN POINTS ]

Instructions to set up device for capturing sleep data are not clear

SLEEP DATA

[ PROS ]

Most of the data is represented by both text labels and icons
Sleep graph clearly shows when the user went to bed and when they woke up with the data in between displayed chronologically

[ PAIN POINTS ]

How the sleep quality score is calculated is not immediately clear

Sleep Cycle

App Link: https://www.sleepcycle.com/

TRACKING SLEEP

[ PROS ]

Action to stop tracking clarifies itself if the user doesn’t manage it right away (tapping or touching the screen clarifies that the user needs to slide up to end the session)
User has the option to turn off the device set up instructions so that they don’t see it in every session

[ PAIN POINTS ]