Megan Whelen
2023–25

Reputable

Founding designer at a health startup. I helped it pivot from a consumer app to a research platform for wellness brands, and raise $1M+.

Welcome screen: connect your wearable and join with an invite codeHome: today's check-in for the product being tested, plus other factors like late caffeineSleep study set-up: rewards and the steps left before starting

The problem

People signed up for the consumer app, then stopped using it. It wasn't clear who it was for.

What I did

Ran the research behind a pivot to a research platform, then rebranded the company and designed both the participant app and the dashboard brands buy.

Result

$1M+

raised, double the target. The sales pipeline grew 6x in one quarter.

01

Nobody knew what it was for.

Nof1+ let people test supplements and routines against their wearable data. People finished signing up, then stopped using it.

I audited the app, ran a workshop with the team, and tested a new flow with 10 Oura ring users who had never seen it.

Nof1+ onboarding before the redesign
Before: Nof1+ onboarding.

02

Build what customers asked for.

Our first pitch was a public review site for wellness products, showing live study results. In seven interviews, brand founders said no.

What they did want was affordable proof that their products work. So we became a research platform, and I designed the dashboard brands buy.

Brand dashboard: study results against a control group, with who took part and the latest feedback
Brands watch their study results live. Rebuilt in 2026 from my original design.

03

Make finishing a study feel good.

Research data is only as good as the people who finish the study. Daily check-ins earn points called heartbeats, and finished studies unlock badges.

I used Octalysis, a gamification framework, to choose which motivations to design for: progress, ownership and a little social proof.

Intro: each daily check-in earns heartbeatsIntro: one heartbeat at a time
Heartbeats intro. Rebuilt in 2026; the illustrations are the originals.
Join a study: studies by category with the heartbeats each one earns60 days of Oura data imported as the starting pointBadge earned: Women's Health Warrior, plus 300 heartbeatsBadge collection with progress toward the next ones
Studies, starting data and badges. Rebuilt in 2026 from my original designs; the badge art is the original.

The numbers

80–90%participant compliance, vs 65–70% industry average
9/10participant NPS across 4 studies
6xsales pipeline in one quarter, $260K to $1.55M

Sales led the pipeline growth and named the redesigned dashboard demo as a driver.

What didn't work

Brands loved transparency until it was theirs.

Public study results excited everyone, until founders imagined their own product failing in public.

Several other pivots died before this one held. I learned to let go of ideas quickly and listen to what sales, research and operations were hearing.