Focus Up!
Concept + UI Design (2023)
Rather than pushing users to fill up their minds with many tasks like many traditional productivity apps, "Focus Up!" encourages users to pick just one task to focus on a day. Adopting the idea "quality over quantity", it ensures a healthy boost in productivity that takes away any stress of being overwhelmed.
The app's overall focus is on maintaining a feeling of accomplishment and encouragement daily, allowing users to keep track of positive, important things in their day to day.
The app's overall focus is on maintaining a feeling of accomplishment and encouragement daily, allowing users to keep track of positive, important things in their day to day.
Idea & Research
My goal was to design a productivity app that didn't have the same aspects of toxic productivity, that plague modern internet culture. Many productivity and task oriented apps seem to create an atmosphere that you have to achieve as many tasks as possible every day. This often leads to burnout and overwhelming pressure. Many users using these apps already feel overwhelmed and heavily tasked, and this stress may be further exasperated.
I sought to invent a concept that solves this problem, and thus provides a healthier, more positive sense of achievement and a clearer mind, as user focus on one task that is the most important.
User Beta Testing
An important part of the process was testing. During summer 2023, I developed and coded a working prototype version of the app, with functionality that could be tested by users for a month. The prototype was developed on Android Studio, meaning it was compatible with any Android device, ensuring I had a wide base of users testing the app. I assembled a diverse audience— testers from multiple countries, with an age range of 10 - 46 were selected. After these users used the app regularly over a month-long period, they were given an anonymous survey to record their feedback.
App Flow
Once I had finalised the development of the research, I began concepting what to include in the app. Beginning with flow diagrams and identifying which features and functions would be most important for users, I evaluated to maintain ONLY what was necessary— preventing any feature creeping, or unwanted bloat that would undermine the key principle of the app— simplicity.
Identity & Design
I focused on keeping a friendly and accessible theme throughout, with yellow as a primary colour representing the sun — a symbol of both productivity and positivity at the same time. My goal was to create a recognisable logo and colour scheme, as users should be able to tell exactly what app it is at a quick glance. All accompanying graphics were also minimal in nature, while still making the app’s message clear.
The logo combines the letter F with an upwards motion, signifying both the name “Focus Up” alongside the visual of a positively trending graph, the representation of improvement. This creates a unique and recognisable icon, easily read at any size.
The logo combines the letter F with an upwards motion, signifying both the name “Focus Up” alongside the visual of a positively trending graph, the representation of improvement. This creates a unique and recognisable icon, easily read at any size.
UI & Prototyping
The design language throughout the app maintained a friendly and easily understandable atmosphere, as it's meant to rival the cluttered and overwhelming nature of other feature-creep-heavy apps.
To keep the app engaging and satisfying to use, I included some micro-interactions, that allow users to feel tactically accomplished. Multiple parts of their dashboard dynamically changes. As the user reflects for more consecutive days, the inner circle fills up, encouraging users to “fill up their sun”, which signifies a positive change in their mindfulness.
Another important element was smooth animations to transition between the dashboard and the input fields. A goal was to let the user feel as if they are undistracted while deciding on their focus of the next day, letting them engage in a mindful action, rather than one distracted by anything else they may see on screen.
From a fully-fledged concept and testing, the project has come a long way. It is still, however, in progress, as the process of development is ongoing. I have an eventual plan to release the app on Android, marking it as a free productivity tool. However, as I am working entirely alone, the project naturally takes a long course, especially when it comes to coding and developing. To keep up with any updates, be sure to follow my instagram @byzlamets .
