Movement Ecosystem:
Designing a Comprehensive Wellness Platform Strategy

Sweatcoin is a Health & Fitness app that turns steps into currency, using rewards and gamification to drive user activity and retention with 150M+ users

Strategic Design North Star Design Product Transformation Behavioral Design

Details

Project link

Check in App Store

Industry

Health & Fitness / B2C

Role

Design Director

Executive Summary

Role Design Director
Team Cross-functional strategy team: CEO, CPO, 6 Product Owners, 7 direct reports: Product Designers
Timeline 4 months strategic exploration phase
Business Impact Identified pathway to transform standalone health apps into integrated ecosystem serving 150M+ users, positioning for ecosystem-driven revenue growth
Key Decisions Comprehensive market analysis, behavioral segmentations, ecosystem architecture design

The Strategic Challenge

Our company had achieved significant scale with 150M+ users across 2 main products over 9+ years, but it faced fundamental growth limitations operating in standalone silos. Despite strong user engagement, it was missing opportunities to create deeper value and sustainable competitive advantages.

The core challenge

  • Fragmented user experience: Users sought holistic wellness but received disconnected point solutions

  • Limited monetization depth: Standalone apps hit a natural ceiling for lifetime value

  • Competitive vulnerability: Easy for competitors to replicate individual features

  • Market evolution mismatch: 2024 wellness trends demanded integrated, personalized experiences

Key market insights

  • Healthcare system global crisis creating demand for preventive solutions

  • Rise of neuroscience and behavioral science in consumer wellness

  • Data-driven personalization is becoming essential

  • Growing audience sophistication around holistic health approaches

Leadership Approach

As a Design Director, I reframed this from feature roadmap planning to fundamental business model evolution:

Built Strategic Alignment

Cross-functional leadership: Collaborated with the strategy team, spanning the CEO and individual product owners

Stakeholder engagement: Led trend research and strategic planning across business directions

Implementation planning: Translated high-level vision into an actionable roadmap

Navigated Market Complexity

Trend analysis: Synthesized 2024 wellness landscape including emerging technologies and user behaviors

Competitive positioning: Identified white space between existing health apps and comprehensive platforms

User research integration: Connected market trends to actual user needs and behaviors

The market isn't asking for better step counting. It's demanding holistic wellness platforms. Comprehensive health ecosystems

Established Design Principles for the Ecosystem

Built cross-functional alignment

  1. Holistic integration — Physical and mental wellness as an interconnected system

  2. Behavioral stickiness — Focus on habit formation over feature engagement

  3. Scalable personalization — Data-driven insights enabling individualized experiences

  4. Professional validation — Clinical backing for credibility and efficacy

Wellness, Health and Fitness trends research

The ecosystem strategy required comprehensive market and user validation. Working with business development and research teams, we quantified the ecosystem opportunity:

Healthcare system global crisis

Healthcare systems face crises globally due to a confluence of factors: rising demand, insufficient resources, outdated infrastructure, and limited accessibility. These challenges underscore the need for comprehensive reforms to ensure sustainable and inclusive healthcare for all.

Resources:
Harvard Business Review | Bloomberg Businessweek | The Economist

The rise of neuroscience and behavioural science popularization

The topic is surging on social media, notably through podcasts, enjoying a newfound popularity. Audiences are growing, reflecting a rising interest in understanding the mind.

Resources:
Huberman Lab | The Drive Podcast with Peter Attia | TPH with Dan Harris | Glucose Goddess by Jessie Inchauspé

Data-driven approach

Wearable devices like the Apple Watch are becoming essential tools for health tracking. Since iOS 17, Apple has focused on Mental health features and cardiovascular health.

A growing interest in personalized health monitoring has increased the use of continuous glucose monitors(CGM) among health-focused folks to gain insights into metabolic health.

Resources:
iOS 17 Health – two big changes | Tracking My Blood Sugar

Key Strategic Decisions

Ecosystem Architecture Over Feature Addition

Decision: Designed an integrated platform connecting body, mind, technology, and healthcare rather than adding standalone features

Structure:

  • Core platform: Movement tracking as the central nervous system

  • Connected experiences: Mindfulness, rewards, healthcare, and technology integration

  • Progressive complexity: Entry-level to advanced user pathways

Business Value:

  • Created a defensible competitive moat through integration complexity

  • Enabled cross-product user journey optimization

  • Established foundation for multiple revenue streams

Behavioral Segmentation Strategy

  • Identified the highest-value segment as the primary growth opportunity

  • Revealed product-market fit gaps in existing offerings

  • Enabled targeted development and marketing strategies

Healthy Habits Enthusiasts

Who are they?

New Year’s Resolution folks

Intentions:
start a new life after Xmas. Set an ambitious goal for yourself

Market: well-established
Solutions: plenty of apps

Resources:
Why Most New Year's Resolutions Fail

Huberman Husbands

Intentions:
live a longer, healthier, more fulfilling, productive life without chronic disease

Market: empty for now but not for long
Solutions: not released yet

Resources:
What Is A TikTok Huberman Husband

Rising Trend

People in a Pivotal Moment

Intentions:
realising the vital changes that should be done to a lifestyle before it's too late

Market: not established
Solutions: mainstream healthcare

Resources:
NHS Prevention Programme
Healthy People 2030

B2B / B2C

Technology Integration Framework

Decision: Built platform architecture supporting wearables, smart devices, and health monitoring tools

Integration Points:

  • Smart scales and CGM tracking for metabolic health

  • Blood pressure monitors and smartwatches for cardiovascular data

  • Meditation and breathing apps for mental wellness

  • Healthcare provider connections for professional oversight

Outcome:

  • Positioned platform as central hub for health data aggregation

  • Created a sticky ecosystem through device integration

  • Enabled AI-driven personalization and health predictions

Stickiness-First Design Philosophy

Decision: Prioritized long-term behavioral change over short-term engagement metrics

Core Principles:

  • Reward-driven wellness: Positive reinforcement for healthy actions

  • Small steps, big impact: Sustainable habit formation approach

  • Heart-centered insights: Stress pattern recognition through biometric data

  • Community health support: Social accountability and shared goals

  • Data-driven decisions: Transform daily actions into health insights

Business Value:

  • Higher lifetime value through sustained engagement

  • Reduced churn through habit integration

  • Premium positioning through behavioral science approach

Motivational drivers

New Year’s Resolution folks

New life | New me

Main motivation:
Craving for self-improvement, personal growth and make positive changes

Commitment level: ✦✧✧✧✧

Deep-core driver: dissatisfaction
Fears: intimidated by a new unknown process and uncertain about steps

Fear to Fail Previous Negative Experience Lack of Actions

Huberman Husbands

Biohacking

Main motivation:
Want spend less efforts on manually gathering their data from different sources in Google Sheets and analysing it

Commitment level: ✦✦✦✦✧

Deep-core driver: self-improvements
Fears: not a user-friendly interface that doesn’t track all they want

Silver-Bullet Tool Analytical Eager to Learn

People in a Pivotal Moment

Life threatening conditions

Main motivation:
Healthcare professionals underscored the level of the health issue. Ready for commitment to making the necessary changes

Commitment level: ✦✦✦✦✦

Deep-core driver: desire to live
Fears: a threat to life, fear of death

Insurance Prevention Programs

Organizational Impact

This strategic exploration transformed how the company approaches product development and market positioning.

Before Strategic Work

  • Separate product teams working in isolation

  • Feature-driven development without overarching vision

  • Limited cross-product user journey consideration

  • Reactive approach to market trends

After Ecosystem Strategy

  • Unified product vision driving all development decisions

  • User journey optimization across the entire platform

  • Proactive market positioning in emerging wellness categories

  • Strategic framework for future product decisions

Specific Organizational Changes

  • Product roadmap realignment: 2024 planning now follows ecosystem principles

  • Team structure evolution: Cross-product collaboration increased 3x

  • Investment focus: R&D budget redirected toward integration technologies

  • Market positioning: Company messaging shifted from "fitness app" to "wellness ecosystem"s

Users aren't collecting data for fun. They want personalized insights. Clinically-based recommendations. And no platform is connecting the dots

Market Opportunity Assessment

Working with business development, finance and data teams, we quantified the ecosystem opportunity:

Cohort Revenue Model Active Users’ Lifecycle Northstar Metric
New Year’s Resolution Freemium 2 months DAU
Huberman Husbands Premium subscriptions 4–8 months Retention
Pivotal Moment B2B / Healthcare Providers 3–12 months Behaviour Changes

Key insights

  • Huberman Husbands represent the highest value: 4-8 month engagement cycles, subscription model fit, data-driven preferences

  • Integration gap opportunity: No existing platform offers seamless health data aggregation with personalized insights

  • Professional validation demand: Users increasingly seek clinically-based health recommendations

Strategic Implementation Roadmap

Research & Validation Investment

Research Components

  • Market trend analysis across health, technology, and behavioral science sectors

  • Competitive landscape mapping of 20+ wellness platforms

  • User journey analysis across the existing 150M+ user base

  • Technology feasibility assessment for integration requirements

  • Business model validation through industry benchmark analysis

Strategic Partnerships

  • Wearable device manufacturers (Apple, Fitbit, Garmin)

  • Health data platforms (HealthKit, Google Fit)

  • Healthcare providers and telemedicine platforms

  • Behavioral science research institutions

Design Implementation:
North-Star Concepts

Following the strategic exploration, I led the translation of ecosystem principles into a concrete design vision through comprehensive concept development.

Historical Pain Points

  • Pre-2019: Tech-oriented approach, poor readability, weak brand identity

  • 2021-2023: Performance issues, design inconsistencies, experimental approaches lacking cohesion

  • 2024: Overly gamified UI, users seeking personal insights over entertainment

Key Strategic Decision: Modular Bento Grid Selection

Decision Rationale

Ecosystem enablement: Modular approach supports diverse feature integration
Personalization capability: Enables customization and A/B testing across user segments
Future scalability: Adaptive design accommodates evolving user preferences
Technical flexibility: Facilitates rapid feature updates and ecosystem expansion

Implementation Strategy

Transitional Design: Immediate improvements with swipeable circles and expandable sections
North Star Vision: Long-term modular system for comprehensive ecosystem evolution

Design-to-Strategy Alignment

The chosen structural design directly supports ecosystem strategy:

  • Modular components enable seamless integration of health tracking, mindfulness, and healthcare features

  • Adaptive layouts accommodate different user personas (New Year's, Huberman Husbands, Pivotal Moment)

  • Data visualization flexibility supports personalized insights and professional-grade analytics

What This Taught Me About Design Leadership

This project exemplified my approach to product leadership: connecting strategic market insight to concrete design execution, building systems that outlast individual features, and creating sustainable competitive positioning.

Key Strategic Principles Applied

  1. Market-driven vision: Connected emerging trends to business opportunity and design decisions

  2. User-centered segmentation: Identified the highest-value target personas and designed for their specific needs

  3. Integration-first architecture: Built both business model and design system for ecosystem thinking

  4. Behavioral design foundation: Prioritized sustainable engagement through modular, personalized experiences

  5. Early validation: Test modular design concepts with target user segments before full commitment

What I'd Approach Differently

  • Cross-platform consideration: Ensure the design system works across ecosystem touchpoints from day one

  • Performance impact assessment: Evaluate the modular approach against app performance optimization

  • Design-development handoff: Create clearer implementation guidelines for engineering teams

    The Movement Ecosystem strategy, combined with North-Star design concepts, positions the company to evolve from standalone health apps into a comprehensive wellness platform, with both the strategic framework and visual design system to support sustainable growth.

Bottom Line: This work transformed our approach from feature-driven development to ecosystem-driven design, creating a strategic and visual foundation for serving 150M+ users with integrated wellness experiences that drive user value and business growth.

Head of Design / SWEAT Wallet

SWEAT Economy
Branding