Rays. Tanning, without the guesswork.

The Problem

Tanners struggle to balance the tan they want with keeping their skin healthy. Existing apps lacked real-time UV data and personal safety guidance, so people didn’t know their limits. To get it right, they had to search online for the UV index, sun safety advice, the best times to be out and the right SPF.

What We Learned, and What We Set Out To Do

Research came back with three findings, and each one became an objective.

Two Versions

The first version covered everything, and testing said it was too much: cluttered, too colorful, with analytics that were hard to read and the timer, the reason people came, buried. Three questions shaped the second version: How do we make the tanning timer better? How do we simplify the experience? How do we show the numbers that matter right away?

Today, at a Glance

The app opens on what a tanner needs to decide: today’s UV index, the temperature outside and the prime tanning hours, with an hourly UV chart underneath. Each hour fills to its UV index and warms in color as it rises, so a glance says when to go out and when to cover up.

A Timer That Looks After You

The timer became the center of the app. A session takes three steps: set a duration, choose how to be reminded, including a nudge to flip, and start. Then the screen changes to a countdown with music one tap away.

The Website

The site introduces the app and carries the brand into the shop: what Rays does, the features that matter most, and CatchRays’ summer essentials one tap from the store. It was designed and built alongside the app, so the launch felt like one thing.

Decisions

• The timer first. Testing showed people opened the app to tan, not to read data, so the timer moved to the center and every screen keeps Start Tanning one tap away. The analytics got less room in exchange, which is what testers asked for.
• One chart instead of many. v1 had widgets for everything. The final app reduces it to a single hourly chart that fills and warms with the UV. Less to explore, and an answer at a glance.
• Warm, but calmer. v1 was too colorful. The final palette keeps the brand’s sun-warm oranges for what matters and lets everything else step back.
• Reminders do the remembering. Push notifications say when to flip and when to stop, so nobody has to watch the clock.

Usability Testing and Brand Impact

In usability testing with more than 20 people, the app helped 86% of them avoid sunburn, and 78% tanned successfully by following the guidance for their skin type. Separately, at launch: more than 2,000 people joined the waitlist before launch and 4,000+ signed up in the first year, and the CatchRays online store sold out of every product in its first month.