Designing a Simple Todo App
Keeping it simple, yet effective.
As a PM, I enjoy using different apps to learn and understand the emerging trends in user experience.
One category of apps that I explore a lot are the various todo apps. The app store, be it Apple or Google, is filled with a lot of todo apps trying to help you achieve success. Each one is different in one or other way.
My favorite todo apps are Clear and Google Keep.
As an exercise, I decided to explore the idea of designing my own todo app. I called it Taskky.
First things First
First things first, what are the key reasons to design Taskky:
- Keep it simple stupid (KISS)
I love Clear app’s UX but it is too simple that sometimes I find it hard to infer where am I in completing my day-to-day tasks. So, I wanted to explore more options here. However, the key principles are the same:
- Don’t complicate things.
- App should be intuitive and guide users in doing the tasks they want to do in the app.
2. Focus
App should help the users stay in focus, manage and complete their todos effectively.
3. Get Things Done
While having a clear focus will help users get there, the app’s model should help users ultimately get things done. That is all.
Design Guidelines
I am in love with Google’s Material Design. To keep things simple, I decided to follow Material Design to build Taskky app than trying to introduce new UX paradigms.
Taskky Model
The model is simple.
- Users get to manage todos for:
- Today
- Tomorrow
- Someday
2. Today is the main focus
- Tomorrow and Someday views are not on by default.
3. Todos are valid only for that day, that is Today
- If you do not complete todos for Today, they are automatically deleted.
- Just because you did not complete today, doesn’t mean it becomes a todo to complete tomorrow or someday.
- This helps set priorities than trying to complete leftovers.
Personally I have tried this model and has helped me get things done. So, I tried to bring this model alive with my design.
Note: I have not conducted a user experience study to understand how successful this model is. Your mileage may vary. More than happy to hear your thoughts on what you think about this model.
Taskky UX
Before looking into different screens, lets look at the basic screen components in the app.
The app also supports themes to customize your experience. For example, the screen below uses an amber theme.
Today Screen (using amber theme)
Tomorrow Screen (using deep orange theme)
Someday Screen (using deep purple theme)
Navigation Drawer
Options to:
- Personalize with themes
- Switch between Today, Tomorrow and Someday screens
- View completed tasks
Switch Screens
Add Todos
Tap on the + round button to add todo for today, tomorrow and someday respectively.
Complete Todo
Swipe your finger left to complete a todo.
Clear Todo
Swipe your finger right to clear a todo.
Add Notes
You can add specific notes to a todo item by tapping on the todo card item.
Tap on the area to type your notes.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed the design of Taskky app as much as I did designing it.
This is no where perfect but I feel with its unique approach of managing todos, Taskky can help you be productive.
Let me know what you think!
