Case Study: Sanuro
A look into my design process for creating Sanuro.
Project Overview: SANURO is an end-to-end product design case study developed during my Product Development course at CareerFoundry.
Role: Product Designer
Project Type: UX/ UI Case Study
Duration: May - December 2025
Tools: Pen and Paper, Figma, Figjam, Miro, Adobe Creative Suite
Designing by listening to users.
For many neurodivergent individuals, wellness can feel overwhelming — scattered resources, complex apps, and support that often feels impersonal. I created SANURO, a calming mental health and wellness app designed specifically with neurodivergent users in mind.
My user research revealed three core needs:
Meaningful health tracking
Curated content tailored to neurodivergent patterns
A progress board to celebrate milestones
At the center is Nora, a friendly AI health assistant who guides users like a trusted best friend. For subscribers, SANURO offers additional benefits such as expert appointments, downloadable content, and deeper personalization. Free users can unlock these premium features for a limited time simply by making progress in the app, ensuring encouragement is built into the experience. Care Guides also have tools to share content, review patient histories, and provide more comprehensive support.
At its heart, SANURO is built on one belief: seeking help should never feel like another obstacle — it should feel safe, supportive, and uncomplicated.
User Personas
Drawing from my user research, I developed personas that helped me better understand and visualize the people Sanuro is meant to support.
User Flows
My personas and research showed that users want straightforward navigation and easy access to essential features. I used these insights as the foundation for building Sanuro’s core user flows:
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User Story: As a newly diagnosed neurodivergent, I want to log and track my mood, so that I have a better understanding of myself.
Reasoning behind the flows: After logging in to the app, I wanted to give the user different ways to log their health data. I knew that I wanted to give them an option to log their data from the home screen, but also allowing them the same approach through the Check-In page.
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User Story: As a mindful adult, I want to be able to schedule and chat with a health expert, so that I can ask questions and gain insight about my health without feeling judged.
Reasoning behind the flows: Since this is a subscription feature, I wanted to separate the flow from the home page, so I want to concentrate it on the Expert page and Calendar Dashboard.
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User Story: As a curious neurodivergent user, I want to access health content so that I can learn how to take better care of myself.
Reasoning behind the flows: I wanted to present users with a few ways to access health content- through the home page and also the media page, to allow for easy access.
Low-Fidelity
Beginning with low-fidelity sketches helped me experiment freely, clarify the user journey, and shape the app’s fundamental structure.
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My user research and analysis of commonalities across various neurotypes indicated that the design and user interface needed to be simple and straightforward, minimizing the number of steps. This insight led to the idea of using modals as the primary UI component, allowing users to enter health data and view their history easily.
Building on the design of the modal on the Check-In page, I decided to incorporate a drop-down menu that allows users to select which tracker to use for data entry without navigating back to the main Check-In page.
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After designing the home page and Check-In modal, I began hand-sketching the essential screens for the consult page and the appointment-booking process. I kept user journey maps, user flows, and sitemaps in mind throughout this phase.
For the consult page, I aimed to create a layout that mirrored the home page while clearly showcasing the medical expert’s profile photo and essential information.
On the appointment-booking screen, I focused on streamlining the process by preventing users from having to re-enter information already associated with their accounts (such as name, age, birth date, and neurotype). Instead, users only complete the most essential details: Expert Availability, Reason for the Appointment, and Communication Style.
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While sketching the desktop version of the AI filter on the Learn screen, I was inspired to apply a similar layout and visual elements to the mobile experience.
My goal for the AI filter was to ensure users could interact with it like any other filter while also accommodating the need to search for content if a filter option was not available.
Mid-Fidelity
At this stage, I stepped back from the low-fidelity wireframes and focused on resizing my initial elements according to a 12 column mobile grid.
I also worked on establishing a clearer visual hierarchy by incorporating more white space, which helped make each wireframe feel less visually overwhelming.
High-Fidelity
As I transitioned into high-fidelity design, my focus shifted toward refining Sanuro’s core user journeys while bringing the brand’s visual identity to life. With the color palette, design language, and component library established, I began shaping the final mobile screens for three essential flows.
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Transitioning into high-fidelity, I focused on making the health-logging experience feel clearer and more approachable. I refined the structure, spacing, and visual hierarchy so users could log data confidently without feeling overwhelmed by unnecessary steps.
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While evaluating my mid-fidelity wireframes, I noticed the scheduling flow required more navigation than intended for Sanuro’s calm, streamlined experience. I refined the flow by reusing an established modal component, helping consolidate actions and create a more intuitive, lower-effort interaction.
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As I refined the media page and AI filter into high-fidelity wireframes, I updated the page name from “Learn” to “Grow.” This shift felt more aligned with Sanuro’s brand ethos—celebrating personal growth rather than framing content as instructional.
Usability Testing
The goal of this usability study was to assess how easily users could learn and navigate the prototype. By observing participants as they interacted with the app’s key features, I gained insight into their behaviors, expectations, and areas where the design could be strengthened.
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Main Objective: Assess navigation efficiency across the app’s primary features: logging health data, booking an appointment, and filtering content.
Logging Health Data: Evaluate how easily participants can locate the health-logging feature.
Booking an Appointment: Measure how intuitive the scheduling flow is when using modals.
AI Content Filter: Identify any confusion between general content filters and AI-filtered content.
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Depending on the participant’s location, the study was conducted either in person at the participant’s residence or remotely for participants located outside the Los Angeles area.
This approach aligned with SANURO’s goal of being supportive of a diverse range of neurodivergent experiences.
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fter completing the usability testing sessions, I compiled my notes, reviewed the recordings, and created a Usability Test Affinity Map. This allowed me to group similar responses and usability issues encountered during interaction with the prototype.
From these insights, I created a Rainbow Spreadsheet to outline recurring challenges and patterns, which led to the identification of five key issues that required design improvements.
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Issue 1: A majority of participants could not locate the AI content filter.
Severity Level: High
Issue 2: Four out of five participants navigated to the homepage to locate Expert Recommendations.
Severity Level: Medium
Issue 3: Several participants tapped on Little Wins when attempting to access the health-tracking feature.
Severity Level: Medium
Issue 4: Three out of five participants tapped on My Flow when locating and scheduling an appointment.
Severity Level: Medium
Issue 5: Three out of five participants reported that the text colors in the bottom navigation menu were difficult to read.
Severity Level: Low
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Issue 1: Could not locate the AI content filter
Suggested Change: Reformat the Grow page so the AI filter appears at the top of the page.
Hypothesis: Users will find Care Support recommendations more easily due to consistent UI components used throughout the design.
Issue 2: Navigated to homepage to locate 'Expert Recommendations.'
Suggested Change: Add an Expert Recommendations section to the homepage below the For You section and within My Flow.
Hypothesis: Users will naturally navigate to the home screen when searching for personalized content.
Issue 3: Tapped on ‘Little Wins’ to access the health tracking feature.
Suggested Change: Adjust the title and description of Little Wins and reposition the progress dashboard on the homepage.
Hypothesis: Users will locate the health-tracking feature more quickly and with fewer incorrect taps when it is repositioned and renamed from Little Wins to Milestones.
Issue 4: Tapped on 'My Flow' when locating and scheduling an appointment.
Suggested Change: Enhance the calendar dashboard to direct users to the Expert tab and allow rebooking with previous medical experts.
Hypothesis: Users will schedule and rebook appointments more efficiently when the calendar dashboard supports upcoming sessions, past care interactions, and care recommendations in one centralized view.
Issue 5: Text colors in the bottom menu were hard to read.
Suggested Change: Update bottom navigation icons and text so selected states use high-contrast black instead of varied colors.
Hypothesis: Users will navigate more efficiently when the bottom navigation uses high-contrast text and icons rather than low-contrast or purely stylistic treatments.
This product walkthrough reflects what Sanuro aims to bring into users’ lives: calm, clarity, and gentle support. As you explore the core features, you’ll notice how each interaction is thoughtfully crafted to keep things simple, create a consistent experience, and help users feel grounded.
Product Demo
While refining the prototype, I developed a clearer understanding of what users truly needed: consistency, emotional safety, and clear pathways. The experience intentionally avoids overly clinical tones, recognizing that many users associate medical environments with feeling dismissed or unheard. Instead, SANURO focuses on creating a friendly, supportive, approachable, and empowering atmosphere where users feel understood and cared for.
Design System
UI Components
Pattern Library
Images + Voice
Thank you for viewing!
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Over time, my design evolved significantly through continuous feedback and hands-on testing. Early on, my low- to mid-fidelity prototypes for SANURO introduced a few nonstandard UI elements that, while interesting, distracted from the calming environment I wanted to create and risked increasing cognitive overload. After receiving feedback from my tutor and mentor, I refined the visual language and shifted toward more familiar UI patterns in my high-fidelity designs so the experience felt more intuitive and soothing.
User testing also played a critical role in shaping the final experience. Observing participants move through the flows helped me identify areas where navigation felt confusing or where extra steps introduced friction. This insight led me to streamline interactions, add supporting flows, and make key accessibility improvements. Through peer feedback, I was able to further strengthen both the design and the overall experience.
Overall, the prototyping and testing process reinforced the importance of staying open to feedback and allowing the product to evolve. Each iteration made SANURO more usable, functional, and aligned with its purpose.
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There are several key areas I would like to improve in the current prototype. First, I want to strengthen the onboarding experience by guiding new users through the core features immediately after sign-up. These walkthroughs would also be accessible within the account profile, allowing users to revisit them at any time.
Additionally, I plan to further develop the Milestones feature by connecting it directly to the user’s account profile. The goal of this page is to provide a clear overview of achievements, progress, and account status—whether users are on the freemium plan or have an active subscription.
I’m confident these improvements will further reinforce SANURO’s supportive, calming, and engaging experience.