AURA Devices: Designing a Smarter Health Experience

AURA Devices is a healthtech startup redefining how people monitor and improve their body through compact, wearable technology. The AURA Strap 2 turns the Apple Watch into a full-body composition tracker — and the AURA Appexpands that experience, helping users stay engaged, track their progress, and ultimately reach their health goals.

In my role as Design Director, I led product design and visual communications, contributing to two key areas:

  1. Visual Identity & Brand Communication — to help drive hardware sales and support positioning in the competitive healthtech market

  2. Product & Experience Design — to increase the app’s value, improve retention, and grow premium subscriptions

The Starting Point

When I joined, AURA already had a bold, creative brand identity and a bright visual style that stood out in the market. The app covered core functionality, allowing users to view and store their measurement data. However, it lacked depth in engagement and needed to better communicate the value of premium features.

On the brand side, the marketing team had recently migrated the website to Shopify, which improved e-commerce capabilities but came with new design constraints.

My goal was not to start over — but to enhance, evolve, and scale the experience, aligning product and communication to support business growth.

Research & Design Approach

We adopted a lean and iterative approach using:

  • User surveys to uncover unmet needs and emotional drivers

  • A/B tests  to validate hypotheses about content, visuals, offers

  • MVPs where testing wasn’t feasible at scale

  • Behavioral data to understand engagement and drop-off points

With time, we developed a deep understanding of our audience — their goals, challenges, and expectations.

These insights helped us make smarter design decisions across the product and marketing funnel — from choosing the right tone of voice, to refining visuals and storytelling, to shaping how we present offers and guide users through their journey

Visual Communication for Growth

In parallel with product improvements, I worked closely with the marketing team to test and refine our visual communication strategy across email campaigns, paid social ads, and the website. Instead of relying on assumptions, we ran a series of experiments to understand what truly resonates with our audience.

We tested different formats, tones, visuals, and content types — gradually uncovering patterns. For example, we found that metallic surfaces in photos subtly evoked fitness associations (e.g., gym equipment), which increased performance. Insights like these helped us shift toward more effective creatives.

Through ongoing iteration, we not only improved the design of our assets but also sharpened our understanding of user perception and intent. Alongside improved tooling and better execution from the marketing team, this led to a 2x increase in devise sales.

We now also have a clear view of our growth levers — including how a redesign of the website can further contribute to sales expansion.

Transforming the App into a Health Companion

One of the key insights we gained was that users aren’t seeking raw data — they’re seeking transformation. They don’t want to just measure their body, they want to reach goals, build habits, and understand progress.

Our goal became clear: evolve the app from a passive tracker into an active health assistant.

As a playing coach and design lead, I co-developed several features that helped users stay on track:

Strategy & Vision

One of my key contributions at AURA has been helping shape the long-term product strategy. Based on user research, behavioral data, and iterative experiments, I worked closely with the product team to shift the app’s focus from body measurement to meaningful transformation — supporting users in building habits and reaching personal health goals.

This vision is now reflected in a clear, user-centered roadmap. I contributed to identifying strategic directions, prioritizing ideas, and designing core features that support this shift.

Some of the planned initiatives include tools that:

  • Help users connect their lifestyle choices with physical outcomes over time

  • Support long-term motivation and behavior change

  • Provide a more holistic view of user well-being, blending objective and subjective inputs

We’re building not just a product, but a system that empowers users to take charge of their health in meaningful and sustainable ways.

Results

Despite operating under typical startup constraints — limited time, budget, and team capacity — we delivered meaningful outcomes:

  • 10x growth in premium subscriptions

  • 2x increase in device sales

  • Noticeable improvement in weekly retention and session depth

  • A strong foundation for product-led growth

So, let's do something cool:

So, let's do something cool: