Astrology App, 1:1 Live Guidance, & Marketplace

Sanctuary

Popular, but unpaid.

A personalized astrology app that helps users deepen self-reflection and access live 1:1 readings with a global network of 200+ expert advisors. Sanctuary did for astrology what Headspace did for meditation — transforming it from fringe curiosity into a digital wellness contender with a $1.5M seed round.

“Headspace,” but for Astrology—personalized, playful, and rooted in self-reflection.

Opportunity

Validated core revenue feature by live-testing directly with NYC Subway Riders.

Designed the intuitive interface and bold branding that turned Sanctuary from a top-ranked wellness app into a profitable product—using an NYC Subway WiFi opportunity to live-test our paid feature and refine it within a single-day sprint.

 
 
 
 

Lead Designer & Creative Director

  • Brand Guide
  • Design System
  • Custom Illustrations
  • Component Library
  • Brand Messaging/Copy
  • UX/UI Design
  • Usability Testing
  • Hiring/Managing
  • QA

Timeline: 1 Day

  • Design & Dev: 1 Day

Results

  • By 7mo: $1M annual revenue rate, with users purchasing on very first download
  • Secured $1.5M in VC Funding shortly after brand launch
  • 4,000% YOY growth of organic followers to ~1M in a year 😱
  • 4xs Apple’s App of the Day
  • Press features in The NY Times, WSJ, Vogue, Bloomberg, and more…

 
 

THE PROBLEM

Popular, but unpaid

Within 4 months of branding, Sanctuary built a highly rated iOS app and a devoted community of over 24K+ organic Instagram followers, but its business model was still untested. We needed to prove users would pay for live, 1:1 astrology readings — the key to our revenue model.

4.7 / 5.0 App Store Rating
2,588 Reviews

24K+ Organic Instagram Followers
Within 4mo of Rebrand

100–2,800+ Avg. Comments
Per Insta Post

 

 
 

UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITY

NYC Subway WiFi partnership revealed usability issues with core revenue feature.

We saw a one-week partnership with MTA Subway Wi-Fi as a chance to boost app downloads with our target audience on NYC’s busiest subway lines.

What we didn’t expect was how many riders would activate our new Live Reading feature mid-commute — offering a rare, real-world stress test for our MVP.

 
 
 

CHALLENGE

Lost Signal, Found Insights

Users were launching Live Readings while in transit and losing Wi-Fi between stations. This revealed that the app failed to set expectations:

15min Sessions w/WiFi
Live Reading Requirements

Birthdate Info Ready
Scrambling to Find Info While 15min is Ticking…

Question in Mind
No Idea What to Ask


This led to user confusion, refunds, and stressed astrologers.

 
 
 

Our quick-fix game plan: clearly explaining what a Live Reading entailed.

 

 

PRIORITY – FAST FIX

Ready for Your Live Reading? Screen

Our fastest win was also the simplest:
a single onboarding screen.

In under 15 minutes, we designed and shipped a message clarifying session length, Wi-Fi needs, and what users should have ready, dramatically reducing confusion, refund requests, and astrologer frustration.

 
 

FAST FOLLOW

Live Reading Onboarding

Astrologer feedback led to usability updates that helped users get more from their 15-minute readings. We shipped multiple high-impact improvements in a single day — changes that remain part of the product flow today, thanks to strong design foundations (and wildly talented engineers).

 
 
 
 

SCALE QUICKLY

Design System & Custom Illustrations

Unifying the brand across all touchpoints, I built visual systems that helped scale features quickly and played a key role in the app’s success — from press coverage and awards to multiple “App of the Day” features.

 
 

FINAL

Design Prototype

Implementing an onboarding experience of a Live Reading is still used within the app today.

 
 

Positive Feedback
& Feature Requests

Our subway partnership bumped up our downloads and positive reviews, gaining us another App of the Day and further press as publications began trying out our app and writing about their 1:1 Live Reading experience.

 
 
 
 

Post-Launch Results
& Metrics

In just 2 months of launching 1:1 Readings, users purchased a Live Reading within 3 weeks of joining. By 7 months, the feature hit a pace of $1M annual revenue, with users purchasing on their very first visit.

$1M Annual Revenue Rate
Hit within 7 months of launch

41 to 0 Days to Convert
Users purchased Reading upon sign-up

4xs App of the Day
Praised for its playful tone and design

📈 These results validated the business model and helped continue organic growth to 1.5M+ Instagram followers, attract new VC funding, earn features in The NYT, WSJ, Vogue, and more, and earn ‘App of the Day’ four times.

 
 

Key Learnings
& Next Steps:


Trust your team (not the WiFi).

Community first, conversion second.

 

  1. Tiny-but-mighty teams FTW: Only a united, trusting team would agree to (and pull off) the insanity of live testing a core feature in NYC’s busiest subway stations.

  2. Complications = Impactful Design: A surge in live 1:1 readings revealed weak spots fast — pushing us to rapidly improve the feature’s design and usability (this feature being the core of the business to this very day).

  3. Build Trusted Brand, Paid Follows: By creating a brand people were excited to be part of, we built trust and community that made paid conversions easy.

  4. Next | Price Experimentation & Advisor Marketplace: We explored a variety of promotions and pricing structures to see what worked best for our users and the business. Users also wanted to choose their reader, which would help to increase conversions.

 

Other Projects with this Company:
Onboarding User Flows · Comprehensive Brand Guide · App Styleguide · Interactive Birth Charts · Advisor Marketplace · Custom, Personalized Content/User · Infinite Amount of Flows & Features after 5+ years working together

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