My Story with My APP

For the first thing, this is the url to my prototype. https://bakuha.axshare.com

This app was insired from the common problem with our working efficiency.

There are times when people get distracted and lack of plans or find it difficult to do tasks as planned. In the needfinding section, I observed some people working and interviewed about what they need.

And then the idea of designing a more effective app that helps managing time occurred to me. But there are a bunch of existing apps that deals with problems like this, so I must first go through those apps and find what I can do to improve one thing or two.

At the same time, I also dug into the needs of the people more detailedly.

For those who have trouble getting rid of internet addiction:

1. They need to reduce the time spent on smart phones and web pages.

2. They need to receive the messages from other people and reply to them on time.

3. They need a control on the apps they use, for not all those apps should be gotten rid of.

4. They should relax in the right time.

5. They would like to be informed the length of time that they have spent on smart phones and web pages.

6. They should get back to be efficient after resuming their work.

For those who want a better timetable:

1. They would like to know the time in a day when they are on the peak of their enery.

2. They want a timetable tailored to their own circadian clock.

3. When is the right time to go to sleep.

4. They need a reminder.

5. They need a balance between the timetable of the company and their own circadian clock.

For those who study all by themselves:

1. They need a better sense of time.

2. They need to find out ways to minimize the loss when they feel difficult focusing.

3. They need good suggestions of how to relax.

4. They need to know the proper length of work before each rest to avoid being stressed out.

5. They need to know the right order of different types of work according to the comsumption of energy.

In the observation process I focused on some people who at times find themselves in poor working-efficiency. There is one student who is preparing for an important exam, there is one graduate student who cannot help surfing the internet without enough time controlling, and there is a white-collar worker who is longing for a better daily timetable. The engagement in the internet is a main source of problem.

So I decided that the thing that can be improved with my app is that, ‘They should know themselves better when managing the working time.’

As a premature prototype, I first roughly figured out the three main parts of the app, which are schedule, tasks and the system of reminders.

As the work went on, I asked my friends to test every time I made updates to it, and I also followed the pace of the course, which provided various ways to find people to test.

Finally I got to the final work, although it is still far from perfect, I learned a lot from designing. The more you know about designing, the less you think that it is as easy as it seems.