0->1 PRODUCT DESIGN - BARNEY
PRODUCT STRATEGY, INTERACTION DESIGN, UX & UI DESIGN
2025
INTRODUCTION
Bridging Life After Rehab
“When the phones went quiet, people fell through the cracks.” This was the reality for treatment centres trying to support alumni. Without the right tools, most alumni relapsed within a year. Barney set out to change that.
As the sole product designer, I took a new business idea from discovery to MVP, translating user insights into prototypes, defining scope, and aligning web/mobile experiences. The platform secured £500k in early funding and achieved a 96% success rate in usability testing.
YEAR
2025
TIMELINE
16 WEEKS
ROLE
FOUNDING PRODUCT DESIGNER
CONTRIBUTORS
FOUNDERS
PRODUCT MANAGER
ENGINEERING LEAD
PURPOSE
Why It Mattered
Barney was born out of deeply personal experience with addiction, relapse, and the cycle of treatment. The founders had seen first-hand the challenge of staying engaged after leaving a centre — and tragically, a close friend, Barney, passed away after his own struggles. That loss reinforced the urgent need for better post-treatment support.
Relapse rates after rehab were high (50–75% in the first year), centres were doing their best with limited tools, but there was no effective way to keep alumni engaged long-term. Alumni, meanwhile, left without structured support or easy access to trusted counsellors.
This mission resonated with me too. A few years earlier I made a documentary about people experiencing homelessness in London due to addiction, and saw how fragile recovery can be. That’s why I felt so committed to this project — it wasn’t just about designing an app, but addressing a very real gap that costs lives.
RESEARCH
Listening to Alumni & Clinicians
The founders came to me with plenty of exciting feature ideas, but I knew we first had to move past assumptions and ground the work in research.
We needed to see the problem from every angle — alumni’s lives after discharge, counsellors’ struggles, and centres’ needs.
User & Stakeholder interviews
I spoke to 6 alumni, 3 counsellors, and leaders across 2 rehab centres to understand their needs.
The key insights were stark: alumni felt abandoned after discharge, counsellors lacked tools for follow‑up, and managers couldn’t access data to improve programmes
Competitor Analysis
Existing sobriety apps weren’t connected to rehab programmes, leaving both sides without the tools to track progress, spot triggers, or prevent relapse.
That said, many apps offered features users already enjoyed — like streak tracking, reminders, and community support. We drew on these familiar patterns but connected them with rehab programmes, making it easier for alumni to adopt the app their centre recommended.
PROBLEM
Where Things Broke Down
My research revealed three core issues. Together, these insights made it clear: the problem wasn’t just relapse, it was a broken relationship between centres and alumni. The challenge became clear — with so many needs, where should we focus first?
The cliff edge after rehab
Alumni lost daily structure and accountability, leaving even small triggers to spiral into relapse.
Counsellors flying blind
With 20–40 alumni each, tracked in spreadsheets and phone calls, it was almost impossible to spot early warning signs in time.
Leaders without proof
Centres couldn’t demonstrate long-term outcomes to funders or families, limiting both improvements and sustainability.
HABITS
Designing for Lasting Routine
To make the app genuinely supportive in recovery, I looked at how to weave habit-building principles directly into its features.
Drawing on the cue–routine–reward framework and by embedding these mechanics into everyday interactions, the app could help alumni not only track their progress but also form sustainable habits that support long-term recovery.
PROCESS
Shaping the Path
I worked with founders and stakeholders to validate directions before diving into design: pressure-tested assumptions, prioritised features, and mapped constraints to ensure we were solving the right problems in the right order.
✦ Assumption-mapping with stakeholders to surface risks, align on strategy, and translate business goals into features.
❒ Card sorting, voting, and prioritisation exercises to define the information architecture and identify the most critical.
✔ Early alignment with engineering, mapping constraints to shape scope realistically and ensure a feasible MVP.
CHALLENGE
Designing the Metrics That Matter
To make the platform truly valuable for treatment centres, I had to move beyond simple individual profiles and design metrics that revealed the bigger picture — recovery, risk, and impact. My guiding question was always: What story do these numbers tell, and what actions can a rehab centre take because of them?
With this in mind, I anchored the dashboard around three core goals:
#1
Prevent relapse by spotting risks early.
#2
Reintroduce alumni into rehab when needed.
#3
Demonstrate outcomes and engagement to funders and staff.
Initially, I designed the dashboard graphs directly in Figma with notes on how they should work. But both founders and developers challenged this approach.
The founders, with their deep recovery experience, pointed out that sobriety data is highly time-based. For example, “sobriety days” only start counting after discharge — so a graph alone could misrepresent progress, especially in the early stages.
Meanwhile, developers noted that static designs with notes didn’t capture the complexity of different data scenarios.
Here is how I addressed both concerns:
Added discharge date as a filter
Allowing rehab users to select relevant time periods, and included explanations alongside graphs to clarify how sobriety data might fluctuate.
Created detailed technical documentation
Explaining in detail how each dashboard metric should be calculated, ensuring alignment between design, product, and engineering, also helps rehab onboarding their staff on understanding the platform.
SOLUTION
Linking Progress to Insights
The mobile app empowered alumni to build healthy habits and track their journey. Every interaction fed into the rehab's web dashboard, transforming individual progress into metrics that helped centres prevent relapse, re-engage alumni, and demonstrate impact.
Onboarding that Builds Momentum
Alumni set their sobriety clock during signup, so their very first login shows visible progress, reinforcing motivation and anchoring them in recovery.
Reflections that Turn Into Insight
Alumni self-assessments and daily reflections flow directly into the centre’s dashboard, surfacing early relapse risks and enabling proactive staff intervention.
Recovery As a Connected Journey
Group sessions, shared calendars, and “reach out” flows link alumni with peers and counsellors, while dashboards translate scattered interactions into clear, actionable support.
Professional Care, Human Connection
Barney’s identity blends professionalism with wellbeing. Calming greens and supportive purple convey trust, growth, and empathy. The logo nods to a “B” while symbolising rehab centres and alumni staying connected through Barney.
IMPACT
I designed and prototyped the full experience, achieving a 96% success rate in usability testing and helping the founders raise £500k in early funding, while securing three rehab clients.
We just launched the test version of the app and are conducting a final round of testing. My work continues as I iterate and support engineers and shape future features to deepen its impact. Two upcoming areas of focus are:
📅 Calendar Insights
A longitudinal view of mood and behavior changes, helping alumni reflect on their journey while giving centres visibility into recovery patterns.
🤖 AI Relapse Prediction
Using self-assessment data at scale to flag early warning signals, enabling counsellors to deliver timely, proactive support.