We collaborated with Planned Parenthood Federation of America to redefine how people monitor their birth control, as well as their periods, to give them a fuller picture of their reproductive health.
We created Spot On, an innovative app that takes the complexity out of birth control and period tracking and introduces fun ways to stay consistent. The app won the Communication Arts Magazine Award of Excellence and the Fast Company Innovation By Design Award.
iOS Development
Android Development
UX/UI Design
Product Strategy
Content Strategy
Illustration/Animation
User Acquisition
QA
Swift
C++
Java
YAML
Spot On allows users to track any birth control method that affects their menstrual cycle, (including pill, patch, ring, shot, IUD, and implant) by recording their periods, moods, symptoms, and activities over time.
We developed Spot On in partnership with the Digital Product Lab at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a team focused on using innovation and technology to expand access to sexual and reproductive healthcare and information.
“I really can’t overstate the importance of this, Small Planet’s developers are involved in every part of the project … they’re even part of strategy conversations.“
Senior Director
Making a complicated app that is simple to use means shifting a lot of complexity toward development.
At the start, we didn’t realize that we’d be effectively making several apps in one — one for each method of birth control that was represented at launch, as well as an option to be on no method — or that we’d end up with an app that has more possible states than there are atoms in the universe. (We actually calculated this!)
Spot On’s primary interface focuses on a single-day view to encourage daily engagement. The more information a user enters, the smarter the app becomes, predicting cycles more accurately and providing relevant insights, reminders, and tips.
Users are in charge of the paths they take, but the “story” still has to make sense even when the reader randomly jumps around. We added a timeline ribbon that offers quick, easy access to any point in the future or past, and provides an at-a-glance view of major events across the timeline.
It was a priority for the app to make no gender or sexual orientation assumptions about the user, and that’s reflected in the design and UX.
The input interface, which we call the Health Diary, gets some of the most positive reactions in the app because we use emojis, physics, and bubbles to make an otherwise mundane daily task fun.
Spot On also has a dinosaur mascot named Cycleosaurus™, because who needs heavily-gendered butterflies and flowers when you can have a dino?
