Pearl.
Lock in, Lock out, and Repeat
Pearl is a Pomodoro timer app designed to help users build mindful digital habits through gentle encouragement and positive reinforcement. Unlike traditional productivity apps that rely on guilt-based nudges, Pearl creates an engaging underwater-themed experience that makes focus feel enjoyable.
CONTEXT
Amid constant notifications, doomscrolling, and digital fatigue, people are craving healthier ways to use their screens. Apple's Screen Time and Google's Digital Wellbeing offer options, but they often feel passive, confusing, or too easy to ignore. What's missing is a more engaging, personalized approach to truly shift digital habits.
PROBLEM
Design a mobile app that helps users build mindful digital habits in fun and engaging ways. The app should focus on encouraging healthy screen usage without relying on guilt or restriction. You may incorporate gamification, journaling, social accountability, or mindfulness elements.
Despite available solutions, users often:
- Feel guilty when using screen-time limiters
- Ignore passive notifications or dashboards
- Lack emotional motivation to shift their habits
CHALLENGE
How might we design a mobile app that promotes mindful digital habits in fun and engaging ways, without guilt or restriction?
USER RESEARCH
Competitive Analysis
We evaluated popular productivity and digital wellbeing apps, such as Flora, Focus Keeper, and Screen Time, to understand their success and shortcomings in supporting healthy screen habits for college students.
Where these apps fall short ㄨ
- Guilt-based limits discouraged users
- Passive Data doesn't drive behavior change
- No control over what counts as "productive" or "distractive" elements/platforms
- Minimal emotional or visual engagement
How our app implements a solution ✓
- Uses gentle encouragement and positive reinforcement
- Delivers playful, visual feedback through animated elements or companions
- Let users define productivity on their own without having to accommodate to app's rigid rules
- Features a soothing underwater theme that makes focus feel enjoyable
ITERATIONS
Our aim was to create a streamlined, all-in-one solution that cut down on excessive screen time, staying true to our mission of reducing digital distractions. We focused on a clean, welcoming interface and, after several design iterations, developed these three polished concepts.
Adaptation 1
- Lacks clear structure or hierarchy, making it hard to understand what's being communicated.
- Overwhelming and visually dense.
- Lacking a cheerful and motivating element.
Adaptation 2
- Clean sections with detailed descriptions and information.
- Motivational tasks are present but it may not be optimal for uplifting the user and encouraging them to interact more with the app and keep up their streak.
Adaptation 3 ✓
- A playful, gamified companion to boost engagement and motivation.
- Short blurbs to explain stats clearly in each section.
- A clean homepage to reduce reliance on the nav bar and feel more open.
We chose Adaptation 3, simplifying the homepage by removing excess boxes and organizing everything into folders for a cleaner, more inviting look. This version highlights four core categories—Pomodoro, Productivity, Progress, and Treasure Chest. Within each, users can adjust settings like timer length or daily tasks, offering just enough customization to stay engaged without losing focus. This process helped us refine the preliminary information architecture that will guide our app’s design.
FINAL DESIGNS
Meet Pearl!
Pomodoro Timer
Core FeatureThe Pomodoro timer guides users through setting preferences, focusing during work and breaks, and finally viewing a summary of their progress and rewards.
Productivity
AnalyticsThe Productivity flow gives users a clear snapshot of their screen habits. They can tag apps as productive or distracting, then review visualizations of screen time, pickups, and Pomodoro sessions to better understand how their time is being used.
Treasure Chest and Progress
GamificationThe Treasure Chest feature promotes mindful breaks during Pomodoro sessions by suggesting creative daily tasks. Completing them earns shells, rewarding users with playful progress and surprises to unlock.
The Progress screen keeps users motivated by tracking daily Pomodoro streaks, celebrating usage milestones, and showing long-term consistency through a calendar heatmap.
REFLECTIONS
Our final Pearl prototype was evaluated at the Jumpstart Spring Designathon, earning perfect scores in user research, experience, interface, and creativity. The judges recognized the strength of our concept, execution, and focus on user needs earning us First Place!