Though common, period pain should not be normalized. Across the world, people who menstruate experience period pain, but are often expected to “deal with it.” The problem exists not only within the prevalence and under-recognition of menstrual pain, but with the lack of non-intrusive, non-chemical, and accessible solutions to relieve that pain.

Founded in 2020, Moonai is a femtech startup developing the first and only app to offer a digital solution for period pain management using brainwave synchronization. I joined the team as the Lead Product Designer to lead the redesign of the user experience, feature strategy, and visual identity of their iOS and Android mobile app.

In their MVP, Moonai had validated the need for and effectiveness of customized sounds to treat period pain. However, there were additional features that the company wanted to implement but had not yet been validated through initial testing. The question I approached research with was, "How might we deliver the most value – that is grounded in both user needs and Moonai's pillars?"
‍
I conducted 10 user interviews with participants who have experienced period pain and currently have methods to manage their pain for 1-2 hour interviews about their experiences.

From this research, we were able to validate certain key features we wanted to incorporate. Additionally, we found new considerations that guided the redesign of the user experience and visual branding.

To guide our ideation and product strategy, I developed a series of How Might We statements based on user research insights. I worked closely with the Head of Product and our new designer to ideate solutions, hone in on the experience, and thoroughly strategize our product offerings.

Shorter timelines led us to prioritize (and cut) features
Our timeline was fairly short, as we wanted to launch and receive KPIs before our next investment round. Our engineering team emphasized that certain features may need to be cut in order to meet the deadlines. Usability testing confirmed this, as participants pointed out that there were some features that were nice to have, but not necessary.

New integration of AI to produce sounds resulted in experience overhaul
After designs were handed off, our business team decided to move forward with a more efficient sound structure. Integrating AI resulted in many considerations and design changes, and because this occurred while our engineering team was building out the app, our communications game went through the roof! Designs were in flux as we learned more from the business side, so I lead communications between design, business, and engineering to ensure that nothing was getting lost in the weeds.

Keeping conversion top of mind
I had a lot of conversations with the Moonai team to discuss how design could help meet business goals. One particular example lies in the subscription plan. I was tasked with determining which features would be offered in the free version and which would be saved for the paid version, so I spent a lot of time thinking through how both experiences would look and feel and what would help meet the business' conversion goals.

In order to provide a balance of calm feelings, scientific backing, and magician archetype branding, I chose a round and familiar typography, pairing it with a color palette that is both subdued while portraying a mystical energy. Because we wanted our product to be usable and accessible by all, I made sure that all of the colors and backgrounds we used met the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) AAA standards.

In addition, I redesigned the logo – the circle represents both the period cycle and a feeling of wholeness, while the diamond represents the sharpness of pain. The overlap indicates that Moonai seeks to bring the two together – bringing a sense of wholeness and relief to pain.

As we wanted to convey a very specific combination of relaxation, reassurance, and ethereal atmosphere, my teammate and I both drew illustrations used in the app.

Simplified home screen with a single key action
A lot of our redesigns coming out of usability testing were to streamline the experience. When users are feeling pain, they say they want relief immediately without distractions and our previous designs were more cluttered. As we incorporated our AI, analyzed user insights, and thought through how to best offer our value proposition, a simplified version made more sense.

Tracking pain while receiving relevant recommendations
We designed a visualization to help users identify their pain insights and offer them an immediate sound recommendation based on their past experiences. Because one of Moonai's pillars is body literacy, we paired this feature with our main value proposition – relieving pain – to provide the most value to the user.
‍
Understanding how sound can reduce period pain
Users can access articles to learn about how sound science and Moonai work together to help them feel more confident in the solution. Research participants call out that because Moonai is a new product, they would want to know how it worked in order to trust it.

Relieving pain through sound
After the user inputs their pain level and emotion, the app utilizes AI technology to pull from our library of sound loops to create a personalized sound that helps relieve users' pain. Usability test participants called out that our quiz experience took far too long, so we revisited how our sound tagging and algorithm worked. After restructuring how our AI worked with our app, we streamlined the experience.

MVP testing results proved that our sound science does offer pain relief to our users, and it was up to us to design the experience around that value proposition. Though our team was small and our timelines were narrow, we were able to create a reassuring and supportive experience for users to achieve pain relief and body literacy.

Moonai launched on the app store in January 2022. As a direct result of my work, Moonai was among the top 12 finalists for the She Loves Tech competition in 2021 and was accepted into the FemTech Lab accelerator program.

Global cross-functional communication
Though our team was small, we were dispersed across three countries (United States, Spain, and Venezuela) and four time zones. We made this work through a beautiful combination of clear communication channels on Slack, updates on development on Taiga, a clear system for updating designs on Figma, design tasks on Notion that I managed daily, and weekly team syncs.

Additionally, because our engineering team was based in Venezuela and the Head of Product + Head of Business were based in Spain, I was inspired to improve my Spanish speaking skills. All of the sprint updates were documented in Spanish, so whenever I had time, I would go through and practice/learn. I now know the Spanish words for many eng terms, but please don't quiz me! :)

Flexibility in product strategy and project management
We also had to think through our features quite a few times as we introduced an AI integration to create our sounds, as our eng team identified constraints within our tight deadline, and as research informed us to take a different approach. This required a lot of flexibility – as we often found ourselves switching routes – and a sharp eye for detail – as one small change in one experience may affect a multitude of others.