Optimizing Elegant UX for Established Wellness Brand

Product Design UX Research Prototyping Mobile Web Wellness Enterprise

QUICK READ ➤ As a consulting designer embedded with Soothe's product team, I led the redesign of their mobile app, designed a new web booking platform from scratch, and improved the therapist experience around surge pricing — modernizing a fragmented digital presence for one of the largest on-demand wellness platforms in the US.

Role  Consulting Product Designer
Scope  Mobile, Web & Therapist App
Client  Soothe (Enterprise)
Type  Contract Engagement

Overview

Soothe’s previous digital experience was outdated, overly dark, and not reflective of its wellness-focused brand identity. The mobile app had a clunky booking flow that created unnecessary friction, and there was no web-based platform for users who preferred booking on desktop. Additionally, therapists struggled to understand surge pricing in the offers they received, which impacted booking efficiency.

My approach focused on three key areas:

  1. Mobile App Redesign – Modernizing the interface, improving accessibility, and refining the booking experience while introducing the new Soothe Plus subscription service.

  2. Web App Design – Expanding user access by creating a streamlined, visually cohesive web booking platform.

  3. Therapist Application Enhancement – Redesigning offer views to clearly communicate surge pricing and help therapists make informed decisions.

The engagement covered all three workstreams end-to-end, from research and wireframes through to high-fidelity design and handoff.

Mobile App Redesign

Challenge

The existing mobile experience was outdated, failing to align with modern UX best practices or the company's wellness-focused brand identity. The app felt overly dark and interface-heavy, had an inefficient booking flow that created unnecessary friction, and lacked a clear framework for introducing the new Soothe Plus subscription service.

Approach

I shifted the visual language from dark and heavy to light, calm, and inviting — introducing a refined color palette and leaning into high-quality photography to reinforce the therapeutic nature of the service. Beyond aesthetics, I simplified the booking flow, improved contrast ratios and touch target sizes for accessibility, and designed a seamless integration of Soothe Plus into the checkout experience.

One deliberate constraint was balancing innovation with continuity. Rather than reimagining everything, I retained key photographic imagery and service naming that existing users already recognized, drawing instead on interaction patterns from Uber and Lyft to modernize the experience without alienating the existing customer base.

Impact

The redesign was delivered and well-received by the Soothe product team. While the designs were not ultimately shipped — a product prioritization decision on the client side — the work served as a north star reference for subsequent internal design iterations.

Web App Design

Challenge

Soothe had no web presence for booking — all transactions ran through mobile. This created a ceiling on addressable users, particularly corporate and enterprise clients who preferred desktop. The challenge was to design a web experience that felt native to the platform, not like a port of the mobile app.

Approach

I designed the web booking platform from scratch, taking advantage of the larger canvas to reduce the number of steps in the flow compared to mobile. The design incorporated video content more prominently to explain services and build trust — something mobile couldn't support as effectively. Throughout, I maintained visual and interaction parity with the redesigned mobile app while respecting the distinct expectations of desktop users.

Impact

The web platform design was completed and delivered as part of the broader engagement. As with the mobile work, final implementation decisions rested with the client's internal team.

Therapist Application Enhancement

Challenge

Therapists were struggling to evaluate surge pricing in the booking offers they received, leading to confusion and missed high-value appointments. The information was present but poorly structured — therapists couldn't quickly assess whether an offer was worth accepting.

Approach

I redesigned the offer view to surface surge pricing clearly and immediately, using visual hierarchy and structured pricing breakdowns to help therapists make faster, more confident decisions. The goal was to reduce cognitive load at a moment when speed and clarity mattered most.

Impact

This was the one workstream that was deployed to production. The Soothe team confirmed the redesigned offer view improved therapist engagement with high-demand booking requests.

Conclusion

Soothe was a different kind of challenge than building from scratch — coming into an established brand with existing users and strong opinions required as much restraint as invention. The goal wasn't to reimagine everything, it was to elevate what was already there. That kind of work, balancing innovation with continuity, is something I find genuinely interesting and do well.