StewDone

PROJECT DETAILS

Role: UX/UI Design

Tools: Figma, Google Docs, Discord

Jim GO

PROJECT DETAILS

Duration: 5 Week, September 2023

Type: Mobile App

See Prototype

Overview

Individual conceptual project
Help users track productivity
Aiming to give a feeling of progression, satisfaction, and community
Create an environment of accountability for your daily tasks

Background

Procrastination has always been an issue during my tasks while in university, where productivity becomes lower due to distractions. I came across many friends who also procrastinate and lack motivation to commit to tasks.

So how can we stay more productive?

Target Audience

Procrastinators
People who have trouble staying focused
People who want to track and start habits

What is the problem?

Procrastination is becoming more evident in current times, especially on mobile devices
Doing daily tasks isn’t attractive or motivating
People find it hard to manage many tasks

Solution

Help people track and maintain productivity of their tasks

EMPATHIZE

User Research

To understand why individuals lose focus and productivity, I conducted several user interviews to gather what leads to procrastination.

Research Goals

Why do people lose motivation?
What methods work and what methods don’t for productivity?
What are some distractions you face?

These were the main things I discovered:

People procrastinate when bored or stressed
Their phones were the main distraction. Social media and notifications
People often have trouble managing time for certain tasks
Having accountability while working in a group boosts motivation

Competitive analysis:

Opportunities

To-do list tracker (Habit Tracker) with gamification (Forest)
Build upon the strengths of visual progression and habit tracking
Add a sense of accountability to the user’s tasks

DEFINE

Design Goals

Minimize the amount of phone usage
Help users track and manage tasks
Make productivity more engaging

Affinity Map

User Journey Map

Based on the user journey map, the conclusion is that getting into the flow of productivity is much harder than losing it.

IDEATE

With the main distraction in daily life being the mobile phone, this product fits the application of an app. Being on the same device of distraction allows more opportunities to perhaps lock and track phone usage.

From my competitive analysis, I enjoyed the concept of the app ‘Forest’ with its unique gamified mechanic of creating trees based on the time the user spends being productive. There was an opportunity here.

Create a similar visual representation of productivity
Add a to-do list
Add unique features like accountability

A Stew?

While brainstorming ways to visualise this productivity, I came up with the name ‘StewDone’ and literally used the concept of a stew.

Tasks are named "Ingredients"
Quick tasks = unnamed tasks with a category (e.g. Sports)
Tasks are done by a timer, timing the length
A to-do list of tasks can be made
Completing a task adds it to the daily stew
The stew will build and change depending on the user’s ingredients

Adds an exciting visual of what the user has done
The user gains coins based on the length of the ingredient

Ability to create a group stew where friends can add to the stew together.

Adds accountability
Adds fun, competitiveness, and challenge

See weekly, monthly and yearly stews as well as view friend’s stew.

Early Concepts

Maintaining Habits

Inspired by ‘Make Time’ by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky, I came up with the feature of the user having to create a ‘Today’s Special Ingredient’ as a mandatory task they prioritise that must be done.

Builds and adds commitment to the user selecting their "Special Ingredient"
It helps remind the user what is important
Builds habits
Group Stew will create a new separate special

Unique Settings:

Task Timer

Deep focus mode: The user will not receive notifications and alerts
Pause amount: The user can only pause and use other apps within the selected input amount of time

Group Stew

Stew Special: Each person must complete their special ingredient
Minimum Time: Each person must add a minimum amount of time to the stew
“Who spoiled the stew?”: Stew is ruined if someone doesn’t meet setting requirements