Challenge
At the time, CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I) was only delivered via in-person 1:1 therapy. This meant a purely in-person experience had to be translated into a digital framework. Another challenge was to allow for multiple logs — not just a sleep log, but also a worry log, a baseline log, and an ongoing maintenance log.
Also, CBI-I included a Sleep Restriction Therapy Program — a therapy within a therapy — which needed it’s own independent framework within the Help4 Insomnia application.
The final challenge was to consolidate not only the design and layout but also the structure of Help4 Insomnia and Help4 Tobacco Cessation to create a single design system for both applications.
Solution
I created a reusable format for the delivery of the therapy and the behavior logging. I crafted a logging capability that was flexible enough to accommodate sleep behaviors, sleep baseline, and worries. And I captured the elements of Sleep Restriction Therapy and translated them into a proprietary functionality that was granted a patent.
Learnings
I personally focused more on the Tobacco Cessation application than the Insomnia Application. My role on this project was to build out wireframes and developing an information architecture and design system that could be applied consistently across both Help4 Insomnia and Help4 Tobacco Cessation.
This was nevertheless a big learning experience. Both CBT programs were different enough that not everything could be standardized between the two applications. I learned that it was possible was to build a consistent interaction design and design system so that even where there were variances in the structure and navigation due to the uniqueness of each program; the look and feel still lent itself to an intuitive familiar experience across both programs.
Patent
Zansors submitted a patent for technology around this application. I was named in the patent specifically for an algorithm I wrote for a sleep cycle recommendation engine around a sleep restriction therapy scheduler included in this application. You can view the patent here on google patents. At the time I was most excited to be able to apply my math degree to write the algorithm.
Insomnia Algorithms 〉
Wireframes
There were about four iterations of wireframes for the tobacco app - early, middle, late, and a final version with a full visual treatment. For the final mockups we worked with a visual designer.
Early Wireframes
Below is a selection of initial wireframes for Help4 Insomnia. They show what the basic layout and organization of the application will look like.
Middle Wireframes
The second iteration of the app was much more involved. At this stage the content started to become more organized into a coherent platform that could support a unified design system for both the tobacco and insomnia applications.
Mockups
The final iteration of the app received a full visual treatment.
