a new app designed specifically to alleviate common symptoms associated with adhd.
Timeline
3 Months
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Optimal Workshop
project overview
ADHD diagnoses are on the rise. People are coming to realize that their struggles are due to a real disability. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder due to physically different growth of a person’s brain. Matter was created to act as a companion app for people with ADHD to help manage their lives with impaired abilities.
the Problem
People with ADHD often struggle to complete “easy” and “menial” tasks like putting clean dishes away. It’s easy to write these behaviors as someone being lazy or avoidant, but these symptoms are due to anatomical differences in their brain matter.
Solution
Matter tackles the following:
Reduce overwhelm when creating tasks, events, or “To-dos”.
Create a singular location to find anything from notes to upcoming events to medication information.
design process
User research was conducted through an Optimal Workshop survey which asked targeted questions about behaviors, habits, and preferences in relation to maintaining tasks and visualizing responsibilities. Based on the results from this research, two personas and coinciding empathy maps were created. These findings helped guide functionality and an overall streamlined experience to reduce users’ overwhelm.
“It makes things a bit less overwhelming because...I’m just managing what I’m doing today and tomorrow.”
“I wish there was a way to sync them all”
“Being able to cross off items in that list gives me a boost to have the confidence to keep going”
“I tend to write tasks everywhere, in places I will later forget where I wrote them. ”
Personas
Rachel
A university student seeking her bachelor’s degree in computer science. She lives in an apartment with 3 other people. Her coursework is very demanding with lots of tasks and assignments and has trouble managing the execution of all those tasks. She tends to forget things often and experiences overwhelm easily. She is medically diagnosed with ADHD and is treating it with prescribed medication.
Oscar
A professional in his industry where he works in an office. Most of his work is project-based and contains many parts to it. He is able to prioritize tasks and goals through systems he’s built for himself to be successful. Though he isn’t medically diagnosed, he exhibits many symptoms of ADHD which affects his day-to-day life. He has worked extremely hard to create organization systems to help him take control of his life.
Local Variables & Components for a Custom Experience
Every part of the app is created to have responsive color variables in order to provide a custom experience for each user. This is done because each person with ADHD is different. Some people might respond better to certain colors or might be partial to a light mode UI over and dark mode UI.
Additionally, reusable components were designed in order to create a clear understanding of certain functions for users. These familiar components are essential in avoiding overwhelm when going through task creation flows.
Built-In Medication Reminders
Sometimes the hardest thing for someone with ADHD is making the call to refill your prescription (or remembering to make the call). Matter minimizes the mental effort by sending those requests at the push of a button.
Live Event Functionality
Another unique aspect to Matter is that it offers widget-like functionality utilizing iOS’s Live Event framework. Based on previous research, one of the biggest struggles with maintaining tasks or events is as simple as forgetting them because they aren’t easily viewable. This functionality would allow users to create a custom widget that is persistent on their home screen so that whenever they check the time or a notification, the most important tasks or events is clearly presented.
Smart Watch Experience
Matter utilizes notifications to provide reminders as motivation to users to help them switch gears when events are transitioning or when it’s time to take a medication. There are also integrations for the watch face to help visually connect the user to the mobile app.
Final thoughts
This project was born out of my own personal need. It was extremely satisfying for me to design something that I would use myself. Leading up to the creation of Matter, I was struggling trying to find a good way to keep myself organized. I had tried every app I could find including professional project management software, but couldn’t find anything that checked all of my boxes. So I made it myself.
I threw myself into the meticulous design of each component, color and spacing token, brand system, and flows. I did this based on a robust survey with 39 individual responses which helped me craft a unique experience. I was able to conduct testing with users on flows, components, general design, and app features. This allowed me to create a more well-rounded experience for all users.
The next steps for Matter includes a desktop and web-based version so that users can have access without limitation. An interactive prototype of the mobile app is available.