Canopy — Case Study | Elisa Galand

The Challenge

Mental health apps feel like homework. We changed that.

1 in 3 people who download a mental wellness app delete it within a week. The reasons are consistent: too clinical, too demanding, too guilt-inducing. The very apps meant to reduce anxiety were creating more of it.

Canopy's founders — a clinical psychologist and a former fintech PM — wanted to build something evidence-based but genuinely delightful. They asked us to design an experience that met people where they were, not where self-help books thought they should be.

"I've tried four of these apps. They all make me feel like I'm failing at being a person if I skip a day. I just… stop opening them."

— Interview participant, 27

Research board showing user journey maps and interview insights

Research & Discovery

We ran a diary study. People were surprisingly honest.

Over 3 weeks, 24 participants documented their daily emotional state and app usage. We supplemented with 16 in-depth interviews and a survey of 280 people aged 18–35.

Streaks create shame

73% of participants felt worse about themselves after breaking a streak, regardless of their actual emotional state. Gamification was backfiring.

Context is everything

Users wanted their app to acknowledge that life is messy. A flat "how are you feeling?" prompt felt tone-deaf after a hard day.

Community > content

Participants who felt part of a community — even loosely — showed 2.4× higher retention. They weren't looking for a library; they wanted to feel less alone.

User persona sheets for Canopy target audience

Our design principle

We landed on one guiding principle that shaped every decision: "Low floor, high ceiling."

The floor — the minimum viable interaction — had to be so frictionless that even on your worst day, you could engage meaningfully. The ceiling had to be rich enough that power users could go deep without ever feeling like they'd hit a wall.

This meant no mandatory daily goals. No streak counters. No "you haven't checked in for 3 days" notifications. Every touchpoint had to feel like an invitation, never an obligation.

Design Process

We co-designed with users. All 8 rounds.

01

Co-Design Workshops

Three workshops with 8 target users each. We built rough prototypes together, letting users reshape the experience in real time. Humbling. Essential.

02

Tone & Language Design

Worked with a copywriter and the clinical psychologist to define a voice system: warm, direct, non-preachy. Every micro-copy was reviewed for emotional safety.

03

Accessibility-First

Mental health users often access apps during high-stress moments. We designed for anxiety states: larger touch targets, reduced visual noise, voice support.

04

Prototype & Validate

8 rounds of usability testing with 6 participants each. We used ProtoPie for high-fidelity prototypes with real animations to test emotional response.

Design process board showing co-design workshop outputs and prototype iterations

The Solution

Meet Canopy. It gets it.

Canopy opens with a single, context-aware check-in that takes 10 seconds or 10 minutes, depending on how you feel. Everything else — journaling, guided exercises, community circles — lives one gentle tap away.

Canopy daily check-in screen with mood slider

10-second check-in — no guilt, no pressure

Contextual prompts — tuned to your mood

Community circles — anonymous, warm, real

The detail that mattered most

We replaced streak counters with a "garden" metaphor. Your care for yourself grows a visual garden — and plants don't die if you skip a day. They just pause. Users responded to this more than any other single design decision.

It sounds small. It wasn't. In post-launch surveys, 61% of users cited the garden as the reason they came back after a difficult week.

Canopy garden feature showing personalised growth visualisation

Outcomes & Impact

People kept coming back. That was the whole point.

We launched to 4,000 beta users over 12 weeks. Retention and wellbeing scores told us we'd got something right.

78% 30-day retention (industry average: 12%)

4.8 average App Store rating from 1,200+ reviews

61% of users reported feeling less anxious after 4 weeks

2.4× more daily active users than initial projections

What I learned

This project changed how I think about engagement. We're trained to optimise for DAU and session length — but on a mental wellness product, those metrics can mean you're causing harm. Healthy engagement looks different. I now always ask: what does good use look like for this product specifically?

Canopy — A Wellness App
That Doesn't Feel Like Therapy