Case Study
NAPTZ – Build a ritual in 90 seconds
Designed the NAPTZ ritual builder so sleepy brains can pick a soundscape, visuals, and timer without cognitive load.
Overview
NAPTZ blends layered audio, breath-synced visuals, and a timer that remembers preferences. My job was to make the entire ritual creation flow feel like stacking cards—not editing a DAW.
Problem / Goal
- Early prototypes buried the good sounds inside long menus.
- Users needed a way to save presets for “focus” versus “sleep” without naming files.
- Timer UI had to allow dual alarms (sleep + wake) in one step.
My Role
Experience mapping, visual design, audio system guidelines, and QA on Lottie animations tied to breathing.
Constraints
All sound layers had to stay under 25 MB combined, and everything needed to be CoreAudio-friendly.
Process
- Wireframe → built a card-based selector with immediate previews.
- UI → created gradient pulses that sync to BPM and reduce brightness over time.
- Shipping → shipped preset management, timer logic, and adaptive copy for sleepy wording.
Outcomes
- Users reach their first ritual in 1m 42s (down from 3m+).
- Preset recall accounts for 68% of daily sessions, proving the memory feature matters.
- TODO: add metrics once Android launches.
Live Product
Next Steps
Adding smart alarm handoffs to HomeKit and experimenting with noise-reactive visuals. Want to apply this ritual builder pattern elsewhere? Download the build or send me the brief.