1. Context & Scope
Daily Organisation was a solo conceptual project exploring how to design a task management application for users who experience executive function difficulties, people who need systems that are forgiving, intuitive, and highly retrievable rather than rigidly structured.
The brief: design a mobile-first productivity app that works for users who forget they have a productivity app. 8-week concept sprint. Solo designer.
Core insight from user interviews: Most productivity apps punish forgetfulness. They accumulate overdue tasks, show red counters, and guilt the user. The result is app abandonment. The right model is one that celebrates re-entry, not penalises absence.
2. The Paradigm Shift
Standard productivity UX is built around the assumption of consistent daily engagement. The insight from 6 user interviews with adults managing ADHD and high cognitive loads was that these tools needed to be designed for the returning user, not the daily-active user.
"The goal was to shift from task management to memory scaffolding."
This meant replacing the traditional chronological task list, which surfaced overwhelming backlogs, with a contextual retrieval model. The app's home surface showed only what was immediately actionable given the user's current context (time of day, location, last opened project).
3. Systems Architecture
The Figma file structure mirrored the interaction logic. I established Figma Variables with three mode layers: Default, Focus Mode, and Re-Entry Mode. Each mode adjusted visual density, colour temperature, and content surfacing rules through a single toggle.
All component spacing was token-driven with a dedicated density variable, --density-compact / --density-default / --density-comfortable, that adjusted padding multipliers uniformly across every component in the system.
Retrieval Flow Architecture
The most critical interaction in the system was re-entry. When a user returned after more than 48 hours of inactivity, the app entered Re-Entry Mode: a calm, reduced-surface view showing only the three highest-priority incomplete items, with a single CTA: "Pick up where you left off."
4. Outcomes & Metrics
Usability tested with 5 participants over a 3-week prototype test cycle:
- Task retrieval time reduced by 60% compared to the benchmark app (Todoist) in simulated re-entry scenarios.
- 4 of 5 participants rated re-entry experience as "not overwhelming" vs. 1 of 5 for the control app.
- Re-Entry Mode was described as "forgiving" and "calm" unprompted by 3 participants.
"The system was empathetic at the architecture level, not just the surface level."