Overview
Supporting adult in turning their mundane to-do lists into engaging productivity tools they love using.
Role
MDes Student
Storytelling
Vibe Designer
Time
10 weeks
Event
Figma x Contra Makeathon
| CONTEXT
The Adulting Learning Curve
"Adulting" isn't just about remembering tasks—it's about feeling capable while figuring them out.
Traditional to-do apps handle logistics perfectly but ignore the psychology of major life transitions. Post-grads need more than task management; they need encouragement, progress celebration, and tools designed for people still learning what being an adult even means.
| DESIGN VISION
Not Just Another To-Do App!
To-do apps have become essential for life transitions—graduation, first jobs, independent living.
Although existing tools offer clean interfaces and simple functionality, most productivity apps still feel cold & unsupportive for users learning adult responsibilities.
Sterile interactions, vanishing progress, and zero encouragement discourage users who already feel overwhelmed. Our redesign vision is to gamify task management to support the emotional journey of adulting.
| SECONDARY RESEARCH
To-Do Apps Don't Scale with Emotional Complexity.
A scan of TikTok and Reddit reviews reveals consistent and ongoing frustrations with productivity tools for young adults:
Aesthetic Desperation
Millions of TikTok views on "how to customize Apple Notes" - users need complex workarounds just to make productivity feel motivating.
Progress Invisibility
Completed tasks vanish without celebration. No visual acknowledgment of growth during already uncertain life periods.
One-Size-Fits-None
Generic interfaces ignore the emotional weight of "adult tasks" for people still learning what adulting means.
User Conversations
Conversations about post-grad life reveal the emotional gap in productivity tools:
…
The imposter syndrome of adulting runs deeper than simple task management.
Users crave recognition that acknowledges the emotional weight of learning independence, not just task completion.
| CUSTOMER INSIGHTS
Adulting Beginners
Use to-do apps as lifelines for managing adult responsibilities like finances, job applications, and social commitments.
Mental model shaped by Notion and Apple Notes - understand organization features but need tools tailored to those learning to adult and to provides emotional support.
Struggle with too many adult responsibilities hitting them all at once - juggling moving, work, and personal life.
| COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
What can we learn from existing solutions?
Apple Notes' simplicity is both strength and weakness.
Apple Notes' clean interface and zero learning curve make it the default choice for overwhelmed users.
Apple Notes treats "pay rent" the same as "buy milk" - no emotional intelligence for task weight.
Insights from Apple Notes
Habitica proves users want gamified productivity.
Habitica's XP system and rewards show there's demand for celebration and progress tracking in productivity tools.
Habitica's complexity overwhelms users who are already struggling with adult transitions.
Insights from Habitica
The accessibility gap
Apple Notes is simple but unsupportive. Habitica is engaging but complex. Users need accessible gamification - Habitica's emotional intelligence with Apple Notes' simplicity.
Essentially a middle ground combining the strengths of both Habitica and Apple Notes is what this emerging adult users need.
| DESIGN GOALS
From Research to Design Direction
Emotional Task Support
Build XP and reward systems that motivate without adding complexity barriers for users already struggling with adult transitions.
Accessible Gamification
Transform disappearing tasks into visible achievements that build confidence instead of leaving users with no sense of accomplishment.
Personalized Motivation
Create customizable backgrounds and supportive messaging that makes task management feel encouraging.
| EMPATHIZE
Storyboarding the adulting experience
Scenario Storyboard for Managing Overwhelming Task Loads
Scenario Storyboard for Keeping Track of Accomplishments
| Emotional Task Support
Making tasks feel less like a chore.
I wanted to move beyond a simple checklist. My first thought was to make tasks visually engaging—turning them into colorful, collectible pills you could customize. A level would track your progress.
Early Task Designs
But this created more problems than it solved. The customizations became distracting, and the level number felt meaningless. "Level 1" doesn't acknowledge the real accomplishment of managing your life.
Early Level Designs
The constraint of FigmaMake made this especially clear. I couldn't rely on placeholder text or edit copy later. Every reward message had to be intentional and pre-written. This pushed me to find a type of reward that was specific and empathetic by design, not just a generic number.
| Personalized Motivation
Designing pop-ups that actually support.
My initial approach was straightforward: after completing a task, a pop-up would appear with a positive message like "Great job!"
Early Pop-Up Designs
It felt off. The message was too generic, and the pop-up's style clashed with our pixel-art aesthetic. It was an interruption, not a celebration.
With FigmaMake, I couldn't build a dynamic system that pulled in specific task names. I had to design a smarter framework. I created distinct pop-ups for different contexts—one for the to-do list, another for the game page—each with pre-written messages that fit the moment.
The solution was to make the encouragement feel like a natural part of the journey, not a one-size-fits-all notification.
| Final Designs
A to-do game that makes adulting feel manageable by turning daily tasks into visible achievements and encouraging progress.
Task History & Organization
Welcoming entry makes sign-up feel supportive setting the tone from the start.
Immediate task input gets users to action quickly - no complex onboarding tutorials
Encouraging home base is a personalized, aesthetic/pleasing space that users want to return.
Progress tracking ensures completed tasks build into a permanent record, not a vanishing checklist.
Accessible Gamification
Task History & Organization
A clear path of progress, not a complex game.
Permanent task history ensures completed work doesn't vanish, creating a visible record of accomplishments.
Category filtering helps users see which areas of adulting they're mastering over time.
Emotional Task Support
Customizable Aesthetic Themes
Encouragement that fits the moment and feels like you.
Unlockable backgrounds transform personalization into a reward, addressing the "aesthetic desperation" from research.
Motivational messages integrated into each theme provide context-aware support that feels native to the experience.
Pixel-art style keeps the interface feeling warm and playful, not corporate or sterile.
Personalized Motivation
Progress & Gamification
(Screen 1: Figma Make had a bugging issue with the task complete icon)
Achievement System & Milestones
Adulting Titles replace meaningless "Level 5" with quirky, specific recognition like "Laundry Legend" that acknowledges real efforts.
Achievement gallery transforms abstract task completion into a tangible collection users can revisit when confidence is low.