Designing Soja
A clearer plan after a late night.
I got the idea for Soja while preparing for a flight to New York. I tried Timeshifter for jet lag, and started thinking about the other times my sleep gets disrupted.
For me, that was usually staying up late to study. The hard part was the next few days. I’d sleep whenever I could and hope I’d get back to normal.
I wanted an app that gave me a plan for those days: when to sleep, wake up, nap, have caffeine, and work out. I started with late-night studying because it was something I’d been through myself.
Starting with something I knew
At first I was thinking about jet lag, all-nighters, and late nights out as well. I chose studying as the starting point so I had one situation to work through properly. I knew what being tired for days afterwards felt like.
I wanted to be able to look at a plan and know how it fitted into my day. I also didn’t want following it to feel like another thing I had to keep track of.
The part I thought would be easy
I designed the app myself in Figma, working through different layouts and flows. Supersleep was one of the apps I looked at for inspiration.
The early versions had a full daily schedule, then a dashboard with smaller cards. I also worked through the questions you’d answer to set up a recovery plan. I kept changing the type, spacing, and navigation as I went.
I thought the UI would be the easy part. It ended up being one of the hardest. I didn’t want checking your sleep to feel like a chore, so I spent a lot of time trying to make it feel more friendly and playful.
A few versions along the way
the whole day at onceEarly schedule
trying smaller cardsDashboard exploration
figuring out the setupPlan prototype
What changed after feedback
My brother tried an early version and found it hard to understand. There was too much to work out when he first opened it.
I knew where everything was because I’d made it. Watching someone else try it made me realise how much I was expecting them to already know.
I brought today’s sleep and the next two actions to the front. The full plan was still there if you wanted to look further, but you didn’t have to take it all in at once.
I also changed the colours and made the home screen friendlier. I wanted it to be something you could open when you were already tired and still find your way around.
Bringing the screens together
The app icon
I wanted the icon to feel friendly too. I tried the same sleepy shape in blue, peach, and orange. These are the three versions together.
Soja app icons
What I learned
I learned that a screen could make sense to me and still be confusing to someone else. My brother’s feedback was useful because it gave me something specific to change, rather than just wondering whether it looked good.
I’d spent a lot of time adjusting the UI. After that feedback, I spent more time deciding what actually needed to be on the home screen. Showing the next two actions made more sense than putting the whole day in front of someone.
The early prototypes helped me compare ideas and explain the design to someone else. They also gave me something concrete to change when the feedback came in. Next time, I want to share those prototypes sooner, before spending as much time polishing a layout.
I still want to understand how easy Soja is to follow over a few days. Making the first screen clearer was one part of that. Whether the plan is easy to keep coming back to is something I still need to learn.
Visit Soja