Mary Kate Larson

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CleanMind


CASE STUDY · IOS APP · UX/UI DESIGN · 2025

ROLE

TIMELINE

TOOLS

PLATFORM

Solo UX/UI Designer

3 months · Sep–Dec 2025

Figma · FigJam

Interactive prototype — all screens clickable with Smart Animate transitions

Try the prototype

iOS · Mobile-first

— OVERVIEW

— OVERVIEW

— RESEARCH & DISCOVERY

A companion for the moments between meetings.

The streak mechanic is the problem.

There are 21 million Americans in recovery. Most formal support — therapy, AA, sponsor calls — runs on a schedule. Cravings don't.


CleanMind fills the gap: daily check-in habits, in-the-moment coping tools, and progress tracking built around the real emotional texture of sobriety. It treats setbacks as data, not failures — because the streak-reset model that every existing app relies on was breaking people, not supporting them.

— PROBLEM STATEMENT

People in sobriety need in-the-moment support, but existing apps either feel clinically cold or gamify recovery in ways that cause users to delete the app after a single relapse. There's a gap for something that feels genuinely human.


I audited five apps — I Am Sober, Sober Grid, Nomo, Bearable, Headspace — alongside published research on digital health interventions for substance use disorder. The pattern was consistent: streak mechanics that reset to zero on relapse. Users reported deleting the app entirely rather than facing a zeroed counter. The app's primary motivational tool was also its primary churn driver.



WHAT EXISTING APPS GOT WRONG

DESIGN OPPORTUNITIES I IDENTIFIED

  • Streak reset on relapse → immediate abandonment


  • Cold, clinical UI language created emotional distance


  • No in-the-moment craving support — only retrospective logging


  • Check-ins designed as data collection, not genuine support


  • No guidance for the first 72 hours of a new attempt

  • Milestone model that accumulates — never resets


  • Warm, conversational UI language


  • Craving response flow within 3 taps from anywhere


  • Check-ins that feel like a conversation, not a form


  • Progress framing that survives setbacks