I’d rather see a self-directed e-mail turn automatically into a reminder, rather than being reminded to use a reminder feature. That way I could create reminders from any system knowing that the mail server would assign a reminder flag for me grouping all reminders together.

Being on the go the OS on the smartphone would read out the list and feed it back to me in a reminderly way. Somehow a red cord would be key part of the visuals and with a swipe I could cut the cord when I don’t want to be reminded any longer.

Through gamification this concept of cutting ropes which has been the sole reason of firing up certain apps in the thrilling days of yesteryear would make the use of reminders even more fun. Also, I could tie reminders together to longer reminders or knots, which are even more meaningful to me.

Being told by a robot to use a certain function, eat your green vegetables or tie your shoelaces, however, isn’t badass … On the other hand, if using self-directed e-mail would result in a phone call from your mom who tells you to use the reminder function would be badass again.