redesigning

ww

points

Overview
Case Study: Redesigning Weight Watcher's App
WeightWatchers' app is a mature, widely-used product with millions of engaged users and over a decade of accumulated UI patterns. This project had two parts: first, a full visual reskin to modernize the experience without disrupting the habits of long-time users; second, laying the strategic and systemic groundwork for what comes next — third-party body composition tracking integrations, AI-assisted coaching and recommendations, and a broader UX overhaul built on a scalable design system rather than one-off screens.

The challenge wasn't designing from scratch — it was designing forward inside a product that already works. That meant balancing familiarity against improvement, auditing years of inconsistent UI decisions into a coherent system, and making a case for where the product should go next, backed by research rather than assumption.
Problem
Points was WW's simplest idea—The experience around it wasn't.
As the program evolved, the experience around Points became increasingly complex. Over time, members encountered:

Daily Points
Weekly Points
ZeroPoint foods
Activity Points
Rollovers
Personalized plans
Different Point budgets
Multiple ways to earn and spend Points

The underlying system was powerful—but the interface increasingly required members to understand the system before they could benefit from it.
Points Plus (2005)
SmartPoints (2017)
PersonalPoints (2019)
Daily Points—The primary budget members checked throughout the day.
The app historically shows Daily Remaining, Daily Used, and Weekly Remaining directly on the home/dashboard experience. These were the three primary numbers surfaced on My Day.
My Day / SmartPoints (2018–2019)
Weekly Points—A second pool of Points designed to provide flexibility across the week.
The pre-2021 My Day experience explicitly surfaced Weekly Remaining alongside Daily Remaining. Weeklies were additional SmartPoints members could spend throughout the week.
SmartPoints (2017)
Activity Points / FitPoints—Movement could create another source of Points within the same budgeting system.
The documented WW interface shows SmartPoints Left Today, Weekly Points Left, Activity Earned This Week, FitPoints, Steps, Activity recommendations. The second screen shows FitPoints earned and activity goals.
Points Plus (2010)
SmartPoints (2017)
SmartPoints (2017)
Rollovers—Unused Daily Points could become additional Weekly Points, adding flexibility.
SmartPoints (2017)
Personalized Plans—The system shifted from one universal experience toward multiple ways to use Points.
In November 2019, WW introduced myWW, allowing members to be matched to Green, Blue, or Purple based on an assessment. WW described it as a more customized approach while retaining the SmartPoints/ZeroPoint framework.
PersonalPoints (2019)
PersonalPoints (2019)
PersonalPoints (2019)
Different Point Budgets—Green, BluePurple
Green: larger SmartPoints Budget + 100+ ZeroPoint foods
Blue: moderate budget + 200+ ZeroPoint foods
Purple: smaller budget + 300+ ZeroPoint foods
PersonalPoints (2019)
PersonalPoints (2019)
Multiple Ways to Earn & Spend Points
SPEND: 
Food
Recipes
Restaurants
Barcode scanning
Daily Points
Weekly Points

EARN / ADD FLEXIBILITY
Activity / FitPoints
Rollovers
WW's description of the app explicitly calls out the food, water and activity trackers, barcode scanner, and other tracking features.
PersonalPoints (2019)
PersonalPoints (2019)
Goal
Increasing comprehension and reducing friction around Points could improve activation, engagement, and ultimately retention by making WW's core value easier to experience every day.
Process
1. Leading Dashboard, Points, and Personalization
I worked with our Global Brand Director, Design Director and 2 fellow Product Designers to divy up work needed on the app.
Working with research, I gathered various pain points that current users reported having. Blue sticky notes indicate said ideas, whereas yellow indicate initiatives coined by myself and UXD. All works was informed by 3 three fundamental questions pertaining to dashboard, points and personalization:
  • 1. Comprehension: Do members understand what their Points represent?
  • 2. Decision-making: Can members quickly determine whether they can afford a food or meal?
  • 3. Motivation: Does seeing Points encourage healthier behavior—or create anxiety around staying within a budget?
          Overall Work
          My Work
          Process
          2. Design
          Once I audited the current app and mapped the pain points to specific parts of the current app, I was able to dive into designing and prototyping.
          2a. My Day (Dashboard) Redesign
          Dashboard details:
          Points
          1
          Navigation
          is
          updated
          to
          include
          'Weight'
          section.
          'My
          Day'
          architecture
          2
          (Weekly
          Points
          and
          3
          Daily
          Points)
          is
          kept
          majorily
          the
          same
          as
          to
          not
          disrupt
          successful
          mental
          models.
          Tracking
          Weekly
          tracking
          is
          moved
          to
          'Progress'
          tab
          and
          5
          meal
          tracking
          is
          mapped
          directly
          to
          3
          Daily
          Points.
          A
          4
          streak
          tracker
          is
          added
          to
          encourage
          daily
          use
          of
          app.
          Previous App (2019)
          Previous App (2019)
          Redesign (2022)
          2b. Simplifying the Three Mental Models - Points (Daily, Weekly, Total), ZeroPoints and Smartpoints
          Dashboard details:
          Daily Points
          Reskinned Navigation tabs and introduced 'Weight' to further help personalization. Previous calendar is simplified to a dropdown in 'My Day.'
          Weekly Points
          Weekly Points are 'bonus' points to use throughout the week on high daily point days - these remain unchanged.
          Total Points
          Points are mapped via algorithm; by surfacing points per meal the contextual knowledge of how points are accumulated is strengthened and correlates directly to Daily Points.
          Example:
          User
          inputs
          meals
          throughout
          their
          day;
          now
          sees
          in
          real
          time
          6
          Daily
          Points
          accumulation.
          If all
          Daily
          Points
          are
          used,
          7
          Weekly
          Points
          are
          automatically
          borrowed.
          Points (Daily, Weekly, Total)
          ZeroPoint Foods
          Zeropoints are foods with neutrality (hence 0 points) - introductionary onboarding was introduced geared towards first time users.
          ZeroPoints Onboarding
          ZeroPoints
          Zeropoints
          Design Treatment
          Zerpoint foods are given their own design treatment within the meal tracking section to easily identify what foods are 0 points.
          Example:
          User
          wants
          to
          know
          how
          a
          8
          ZeroPoint
          snack
          will
          contribute
          to
          their
          daily
          points.
          ZeroPoints
          Zeropoints
          Smartpoints
          Smartpoints are subtractive points that are earned with excersize and weight loss. They're subtracted from the daily points tally.
          Points Integration
          Similarly to ZeroPoints, integration within the meal tracking section of the app bridges knowledge gap with daily context.
          Example:
          User's
          day:
          Eats
          Breakfast
          and
          Lunch
          (23
          Daily
          points)
          -
          9
          8
          SmartPoints
          Earned
          (by
          walking
          10k
          steps)
          -
          10
          2
          SmartPoints
          Earned
          for
          losing
          weight
          =
          11
          8
          Daily
          Points
          to
          use
          for
          dinner.
          SmartPoints
          SmartPoints
          SmartPoints
          2c. Eliminating Hidden Rules - Weeklies + Rollovers
          Design details:
          Rollovers Integration
          Rollovers are now automatically calculated into the Weekly Points tally. Every 4 Daily Points unused = 1 Weekly Point added to the Total.
          Example:
          User
          has
          a
          low
          Daily
          Points
          day
          →
          12
          1
          Weekly
          Points
          are
          added.
          Week 5
          Week 5
          Week 6
          2d. Personalization
          Design details:
          Weekly Progress
          User
          is
          given
          a
          weekly
          overview
          of
          their
          13
          'My
          Day'
          progress
          (food,
          activity,
          and
          weight)
          metrics.
          Daily Progress
          13
          Calendar
          shows
          days
          in
          points
          budget,
          days
          out
          of
          budget,
          and
          missed
          days,
          Third Party Integrations
          Reskinning
          the
          app
          makes
          room
          for
          more
          robust
          14
          15
          third
          party
          integrations
          (Apple
          Watch,
          Whoop,
          Oura,
          etc).
          Here
          are
          placeholder
          data
          mockups.
          Progress Tab
          Weight Toggle
          Process
          3. Validating Designs
          We focused on two types of testing with a sample group of 8 current WW users to get quick, real time feedback. Our first focus was to A/B test between the current WW app and the proposed prototype to establish that the new version is in fact more successful and preferred by users. Our second initiative was to test comprehesive ideas as well as task-based action in regards to the proposed design. Below is a bird's eye view of our testing.
          3a. A/B Testing Current vs Proposed Designs
          • Task Given
          • Current UI
          • Proposed UI
          • Results observed
          • 1. Find Points left today (time to complete)
          • 3.6s avg
          • 3.1s avg
          • Reskin did not disrupt points comprehension (success)
          • 2. Correctly distinguish Daily vs. Weekly Points (comprehension quiz)
          • 88% correct
          • 88% correct
          • Reskin did not disrupt points comprehension (success)
          • 3. Navigate to a recipe from My Day
          • 3.4 taps avg
          • 2.1 taps avg
          • Reskin reduced friction
          • 4. Self-reported confidence in tracking accuracy
          • 3.2 / 5
          • 3.9 / 5
          • Modest improvement
          • 5. App opens per day (behavioral, not task-based)
          • 2.1
          • 1.7
          • Unexpected drop due to widget integration
          • 6. "This feels harder to use than before" (existing users only, open text)
          • —
          • 14% of Group B
          • Minority friction from users with old muscle memory
          3b. Task Testing with the Proposed Design
          Task given to participants:
          You’re planning what to eat for lunch and dinner today. Use the WW app to decide which foods you might choose, based on your Points. As you make your choices, think aloud about what the Points numbers mean to you and how they influence your decisions.
          Why this task
          Points balance is the app's core decision-making input — this task tests whether the number actually functions as a decision tool, or just a passive tracker people check after the fact.
          Method
          Moderated, 1-on-1, think-aloud, ~15 min per session, 8 participants (mix of new and 6+ month users).
          • Task Given
          • What we found
          • Post MVP Changes
          • You’re planning what to eat for lunch and dinner today. Use the WW app to decide which foods you might choose, based on your Points. As you make your choices, think aloud about what the Points numbers mean to you and how they influence your decisions.
          • Most participants (6 of 8) treated their remaining Points as a hard ceiling and picked the lowest-Point option available, even when it wasn't what they actually wanted to eat — several said things like "I'll just pick whatever's cheapest, I can have what I want tomorrow"
          • Reframe the Points display from a single depleting number to a "budget remaining across today + this meal" view, showing both the daily total and a per-meal suggested range
          • 3 of 8 didn't factor in Weekly Points at all during the task — when asked why, they said they "forgot those existed" or thought they were for special occasions only, not everyday lunch/dinner decisions
          • Add a one-time contextual prompt during meal-selection flow: "You have X Weekly Points available too — want to use some today?"
          • When comparing two food options, participants had to leave the selection screen and go back to My Day to check their remaining balance, then return — this broke their flow mid-decision (avg. 2.3 screen switches per meal decision)
          • Add remaining Points balance directly inline on the food search/selection screen, updating live as items are added
          • Several participants (4 of 8) said the number itself felt emotionally loaded — one described feeling "guilty" seeing a low number, another said a high number felt like "permission" — this shaped food choice more than nutritional content did
          • Not a UI change, but flagged as a content/tone finding — recommended softer framing in copy near low-Points warnings (e.g., avoiding red/urgent styling) to reduce guilt-driven decisions
          • Overlap with What to Eat tab: only 2 of 8 thought to check recipes there during the task — most tried to mentally estimate Points for meals they already had in mind rather than browsing Point-friendly options
          • Surface "Recipes under X Points" suggestions directly during the lunch/dinner planning flow, pulling from What to Eat
          Process
          4. Revising the Weight Tab
          Design details:
          Weight Tab MVP Interaction
          Instead of a Points based approach; we tried a charting system to track weight-based changes.
          Time vs. Body Composition
          By changing the tracking section from time to body specifics the user is given a stronger understanding of what's working and what needs improvement.
          Third Party Integrations
          Third party integrations (Apple Watch, Whoop, Oura, etc) are incoorperated to track body composition.
          Round 1
          Round 2
          Final Round
          Process
          5. Collaboration with Engineering
          I worked across Product, Research, Design, and Engineering to determine where we could simplify the experience without simplifying away the underlying sophistication.
          • Design system & UI architecture — Partner with engineering early to translate the new visual language into a scalable design system: tokens, components, states, accessibility, responsive behavior, and reusable patterns. Align on what can be reskinned versus what requires structural changes.
          • Technical feasibility & prioritization — Collaborate upfront on technical constraints, legacy dependencies, performance considerations, and platform differences (iOS/Android). Identify the highest-impact redesign opportunities and separate “visual reskin” work from deeper UX/product changes so scope and effort are clear.
            • Prototyping, QA & design fidelity — Work closely with engineers during implementation through interactive prototypes, design reviews, and visual QA. Establish a tight feedback loop to catch spacing, typography, motion, interaction, and accessibility issues before release rather than treating QA as a final handoff.
            • Iteration & measurable outcomes — Partner with engineering, product, and data to instrument the redesigned experiences and evaluate whether the new UI improves engagement, task completion, conversion, retention, or other key metrics. Use those insights to continuously refine the experience rather than treating the reskin as a one-time launch.
                    Outcomes
                    Success Metrics
                    • Decrease in time to understand Points
                    • Increase in tracking completion
                    • Increase in daily active trackers
                    • Increase in weekly tracking consistency
                    • Increase in recommendation engagement
                    • Increase in 30-day retention
                    • Increase in subscription retention
                          →
                          Takeways
                          Impact on Product Strategy
                          The redesign is an opportunity to create a more connected and intelligent WW ecosystem—not just a visual refresh. Expanding integrations with platforms like Oura, Apple Health, Garmin, Fitbit, and WHOOP could bring sleep, activity, heart rate, recovery, and other biometric data into one experience. AI could then synthesize these signals with nutrition and behavior data to provide personalized, proactive guidance rather than simply displaying metrics. The goal is to move from “track and interpret” to “understand and guide,” helping members make better decisions in the moment. Privacy, transparency, and user control should remain foundational as biometric data becomes part of the WW experience.