A Flexible Self-Care System for the Unpredictable Lives of Busy Parents
Client
Socio LTD.
Year
2020
Role
Product Designer
Self-Care Shouldn't Feel Like Another Chore for Busy Parents
The Nourish Mobile App Uniquely Honors Time Constraints and Builds True User Empowerment
Parents are told to practice self-care — yet many existing solutions assume time, energy, and flexibility they don’t actually have. This project explores how re-framing self-care itself can make support feel accessible rather than aspirational.
GOAL
Re-frame self-care through mindset, language, and interaction design
AUDIENCE
Parents of children under 18
METHODS
User interviews
Competitive analysis
Wireframing
Prototyping
Usability testing
OUTCOME
A mobile concept that helped parents recognize and validate the self-care they’re already doing
Problem
Self-care is framed as something parents earn
After meeting all other obligations
Parents described self-care as important, yet consistently out of reach. Time, energy, and competing priorities push it to the “top of the ladder,” making it something they rarely reach — and often abandon altogether.
Several users stated outright that this problem could not be solved.
“Time is a fixed asset so everything else gets prioritized”
- quote from user interview
INSIGHT
Parents are already practicing self-care —
but the market doesn't recognize it
Small, everyday actions that parents in user interviews valued — eating a meal, brushing hair, choosing clothing intentionally — were often described with embarrassment, as if they “didn’t count.” These moments were dismissed because they didn’t match how self-care is typically marketed.
The issue wasn’t behavior, it was a definition problem that is reinforced by products that ignore time reality.

There is an opportunity to bring mindful awareness to any small, nourishing actions that, in turn, builds feelings of accomplishment in taking care of oneself.
Solution
A Customizable Self-Care App Structured for Time Constraints, Designed to Expand Mindsets and build internal resourcing
Nourish is a self-care app designed around how time actually works for parents — not how wellness apps wish it did.
The app organizes self-care ideas into three
time-based tiers:
- Maintain: seconds to reset or acknowledge care
- A Little Extra: 5–10 minute opportunities
- Out of the Ordinary: ideas that require planning and intention
Users can add their own ideas to each tier, gradually building a personalized library that reflects their real lives and changing needs.
This structure does more than suggest activities — it also:
- Reduces decision fatigue
- Interrupts the belief that self-care requires “enough time”
- Encourages creative, self-directed thinking about care
Tiered Self-Care Ideas Based on Time Constraints
Customizable Library of Self-Care Ideas
Supportive Language
Go Kit for decision-fatigued moments
Community support
"I still use the ideas from testing the Nourish app, weeks later."
User from Prototype Testing
User selecting an idea for how to practice self-care that day
User checking in that they completed the task
The full case study is in progress
In the meantime, I would love to chat about the details of the entire process and how I went from the initial problem to measuring the outcome of prototype testing.
Send me an email, I'd love to talk about this project and how my point of view can help your team!
