The Eight Sleep Pod is a bed cover designed to regulate temperature for improved sleep quality, allowing users to control each side of the bed through the Eight Sleep app.
I led the complete redesign of the app’s temperature and alarm control to enhance usability. The updated app was launched to 70k+ members in September 2023.
Before vs After
Discovery and Research
To kickstart the project, I interviewed 30+ existing users of the product, and analyzed feedback from user surveys from the past year.
A key insight quickly emerged: Users were frustrated by the navigation's lack of memorability, and were frequently confused by the usage of different temperature controls.
Explorations
Simplifying navigation
The app was difficult to navigate, primarily because 2 of its core features were intertwined: temperature control and alarms/bedtime settings. To tackle this, I updated the information architecture of the app to streamline core actions:
Previous Information Architecture
Updated Information Architecture
Clarifying temperature controls
After multiple rounds of exploration, prototyping, and testing, we aligned on exploration #3 below:
Temperature Control Explorations
User Testing
Testing with beta users showed improved usability with navigation and alarms, but uncovered problems with the new temperature control.
Beta feedback
Final Designs
Through rapid iterations and testing, we pivoted by bringing back the dial, with key updates that improved usability and clarity.