Lucid by Sleep Cycle
Context
Many people around the world use apps like Sleep Cycle to understand and improve their sleep patterns. This app registers different data such as the duration and quality of sleep and the mood after waking up to provide the user with insights and self-knowledge.
Another technique used in self-knowledge processes is writing a dream diary. That is why we created the feature Lucid for Sleep Cycle. With this feature, users are able to register their dreams and answer key questions that allow them to establish patterns, understand their dreams and their mood changes, and keep a registry of what they dream.
This feature allows Sleep Cycle to provide a more holistic vision of sleep, that pleases users and provides an added value that differentiates this app from others in the market.
Aims and objectives
The main objective of this project was to create an awareness journey that would tell the users about the new feature and persuade them to use it.
Another objective was to help users build a closer and more personal relationship with the Sleep Cycle app, which would have as a consequence a higher brand fidelity.
We also had three main UX writing objectives:
For users to click on the CTA and go to register a dream.
For users to use the tags to classify their dream.
For users to try to register their dream again even after a system error.
General information
This project was developed as part of a UX Writing Bootcamp with Design Core. The course had a duration of 6 weeks, it was conducted in Spanish, and the final project was developed in groups.
My role: Lead UX writer and coordinator.
UX toolkit for this project: Competitive Benchmark | Mood Map | Awareness Journey in Whimsical | Medium fidelity prototype in Figma
Our process
Competitive Benchmark
These are some improvements or advantages that our feature would have compared to the competition:
The possibility to register the dreams in many different forms: written, drawn, or voice recorded.
Combine the information of a dream diary with that of the sleep cycles to provide the user with a more holistic and complete view of their sleep.
Presenting the sleep diary as a tool for everyone and not only people who are seeking to have lucid dreams.
These are some key findings of the benchmark to emulate in our feature:
Offering the possibility of using a password to make users feel safe.
Sending reminders to record the dreams.
Registering emotions and daily mood.
Putting tags.
Providing key guiding questions for the users.
Mood Map
In order to create the pieces for the user journey, we first developed a mood map that followed Nielsen and Norman’s heuristics and would help as a guide to writing our texts. In this map, we wrote the different steps that the user would follow and how we wanted them to feel throughout the whole process.
Thus, for example, we decided:
If the user feels confused because they don’t know how to use the new feature
We will make them feel accompanied and clearly guided
By telling them which are the steps they need to follow to register their first dream
And also:
If the user feels frustrated or annoyed because they couldn’t record their dream
We will make them feel understood, supported, and in charge
By telling them that we understand and giving them clear instructions of what to do next
User Journey
After defining how we wanted our users to feel throughout the journey, and deciding what were the main points that we wanted to explain, we wrote the pieces for the user journey.
This was the most important part of the project and the most difficult one. We knew we didn’t have too much space to convey to the users why and how to use the new feature and it took many iterations to get the words right.
We discussed and changed every title, every verb, and every button. One of the most difficult problems that we had to solve was regarding the buttons: at the beginning, we wrote some buttons from the user’s point of view, that is, for example, “Check my first dream”, and other buttons were commands that we were giving the users. For example, “Go to your dream diary”. In the end, after many discussions and many different texts that didn’t convince us, we decided to write every button from the point of view of the users, because they are the ones doing the actions.
Prototype
Finally, in order to present our feature, we decided to create a medium-fidelity prototype that emulated the style of Sleep Cycle and showed the awareness journey in a more didactic and fun way. This would also emulate how the UX Writing people would ideally work in the real world within a UX Design team: they would have to write the copy in the design to make sure it makes sense and it fulfills the user’s needs.
These are the screens that I created for the prototype.
Conclusions and takeaways
My main conclusion after finishing this project is that copy can really make or break a user’s experience of our apps. Of course, there are many variables that play a role in the user experience like how intuitive an app is or how clear the information architecture is, but if the words aren’t clear and useful, the user will have trouble. This is especially important the more complex the app is where words shouldn’t be an afterthought, and I believe that we as UX writers have to advocate for the importance of the job we do.
I am also conscious that the difficulties that we had throughout this project and all of the iterations we had to do to end up with copy that was good enough are nothing compared to a real-world scenario where there are many different stakeholders, voices, and opinions to consider. And although I don’t have an absolute answer to how to navigate this kind of difficulty, I would say that focusing on users and how they speak will always be a good guiding principle. For this project, we couldn’t have actual users, but I am aware that without them whatever we do are just guesses.
Finally, I would say that learning about UX writing has definitely had an impact on my everyday life and how I communicate. Now, I am more aware of what I write and I am always thinking about what I write and trying to make sure that it is clear and useful. I am also more conscious of how every app and website talk to me as a user and I am developing a more critical eye.