Mobile product · 0 → 1 · iOS & Android
Stilla is a calm movement practice that treats consistency as returning — not a streak to defend. A complete product design, from discovery research to a 24-screen system.
Scroll
Overview
Most fitness apps run on pressure: streaks, rings, leaderboards. They work until you miss a day — then the guilt makes you quit. Stilla is the opposite: short, well-composed sessions for strength, mobility, breath and rest, framed so that rest is never failure.
I led the work end-to-end — discovery research, information architecture, a calm design system, and 24 production-ready screens with a working prototype.
The problem
Across 15 interviews and a 214-person survey, the same story surfaced: people don’t lack motivation — they’re worn down by guilt, decision fatigue and noise. Rest is treated as failure.
Approach
Diverge to understand the problem, converge to define it — then diverge to explore solutions and converge to ship. Qualitative depth balanced with quantitative rigour.
Who we designed for
Three primary personas, grounded in the segments, behaviours and verbatim quotes from the field.
“Missing a day shouldn’t mean starting over. I just want to keep coming back.”
“Just tell me what to do today. I don’t want to think — I want to start.”
“I want depth and variety — and progress I can see without it turning into a scoreboard.”
Synthesis
Six affinity themes pointed to one direction — replace pressure with kindness, and decisions with guidance.
Competitive positioning
Audited against five leading movement apps on the two axes our users cared about: how it feels, and how it decides for you.
Design principles
No guilt, no streak fire. Rest is part of the practice.
Reduce every decision to a single, kind prompt.
Numbers inform — they never gamify or pressure.
Progress is framed as coming back, not scoring.
A coach paced like a metronome, not a stopwatch.
Warm paper canvas, serif moments, generous space.
Design system
Sage leads, azure supports. Three typographic voices and soft-geometry components — 1.5px borders, pill radii, warm brand-tinted shadows. Every screen is built from these.
The design
A warm, three-voice type system — Cormorant serif for affirmations, Manrope for UI, JetBrains Mono for the numbers that matter — on a paper canvas, with sage as the single primary colour.
Onboarding
Five gentle steps capture intention, level and a realistic weekly rhythm — styled as full-card choices, never bare radios — so the first session already feels personal.
The core loop
One composed session, chosen for you — plus optional extras.
Focus, length, what you’ll need, and a calm intensity read.
Mono countdown, coaching cues, a breath-led rhythm.
A 4-second ambient loop — recovery, not a stopwatch race.
A quiet recap and a single reflection — no fireworks.
Editorial programs & sessions — curated, never an algorithmic feed.
Calm mono stats and a gentle “time moved” chart.
Bookmark any program or session to a personal library.
Motion & detail
Calm by default — 220ms transitions, ambient 4-second loops, and haptics that replace loud visuals. Banned: bounce, confetti, per-tick buzzes.
A slow, ambient pulse paces recovery — never a countdown to race.
Segmented controls slide; views cross-fade. No springy overshoot.
Saving fills softly with a single selection haptic — hover to feel it.
Begin blooms outward into focus; Complete settles inward into rest.
Outcomes & targets
Validated in usability testing and tied to a HEART framework — with a north-star that rewards returning, not streaking.
The system · 24 screens
Reflection
The hardest part wasn’t adding features — it was the discipline to remove pressure. Every streak counter, every red ring, every “you’re behind” was a decision to leave out. What’s left is quiet, beautiful, and returnable.
Ship event tracking for “weekly returning practitioners” and the HEART signals.
Expand the calmest content where the research showed the deepest pull.
Full WCAG 2.2 AA audit, dynamic type and reduce-motion across every screen.