CycleSync
Cycle tracking built for irregularity.
PCOS affects roughly 6–12% of reproductive-aged women, and the experience is isolating: menstrual health is taboo, patients often don't know who to talk to after diagnosis, and mainstream tracking apps make it worse — their monthly-calendar model assumes regular cycles, so irregularity reads as an error state. Patients told me it made them feel “abnormal.” Mental and emotional wellbeing, the hardest part of PCOS, is absent from these products entirely.
“I don't know who to talk to”
Isolation after a PCOS diagnosis came up again and again — support mattered more than any single feature.
Taboo creates information gaps
Because menstrual health stays unspoken, patients struggle to find information that applies to them.
Irregularity reads as an error state
Standard 28-day calendar UIs make irregular cycles feel 'abnormal' — the UI itself was hurting users.
A month grid assumes a 28-day loop — irregularity reads as an error.
A year ring has no 'correct' length — irregularity is just the shape of your year.
Tracking, understanding and support in one loop.
A yearly circular tracker, not a monthly calendar
The signature decision: replace the month grid with a yearly circular view designed for irregularity. When the model doesn't assume a 28-day loop, an irregular cycle stops looking like a mistake.
Community as a core surface, not a tab
Isolation was the loudest research finding. CycleSync builds in experience-sharing and peer encouragement, and lets users invite trusted friends and family into their support loop.
AI-personalised resources, filtered by symptoms
Instead of a generic content feed, suggested reading is filtered by each user's symptoms and preferences — lowering the barrier to finding information that actually applies to them.
Personalise everything
No two PCOS patients present the same. Symptoms, quick links, community recommendations and monthly insights are all user-configurable rather than fixed.
- ✕ Assumes a regular 28-day loop
- ✕ Mental health lives in a separate app
- ✕ Generic one-size content feed
- ✕ Fixed layout, fixed assumptions
- ✓ Yearly circular model, built for irregularity
- ✓ Mood and wellbeing tracked alongside cycles
- ✓ AI-filtered resources by symptom
- ✓ Everything personalisable
Tested with 3 users and 1 domain expert: positive reactions to using the product for mental wellbeing alongside menstrual tracking, with feedback that the design streamlined tracking and encouraged a more proactive approach to self-care.
- Research beats hypothesis: I expected CBT-style interventions to matter most; users prioritized tracking and community.
- Empathy sometimes means restraint — in sensitive health contexts, some problem-solving approaches shouldn't ship.
- Next time: empathy mapping earlier, and lo-fi prototype testing before committing to features.
