Personal Task App

Problem

There's a lot that each of us must do, should do, or want to do on a regular basis for our own wellness—we must take medications on prescribed schedules, we should brush our teeth twice a day, we should change the sheets once a week, we want to practice a new language 15 minutes a day... Add on all of the once-and-done chores that we have to remember; regular care for loved ones and pets; and all of the recurring maintenance for our cars, our homes, and our appliances, and even the simplest of tasks can start to feel overwhelming.

But there has to be a way to manage everything...right?

Discovery

I've played with a handful of different task list and habit tracking apps, but I haven't found one that quite works for me. Often, the functionality isn't robust enough for all of the tasks I'd like to manage with their varied frequencies and requirements. When the functionality is reasonably robust, the design is too opinionated for my preferences.

So, I continue to get by sharing the burden between Apple's Calendar and Reminders apps. Their design, of course, is harmonious with the other productivity and leisure apps I'm used to using on a daily basis, yet the experience doesn't quite inspire me to get things done.

In fact, I don't think anything has quite done that for me since Read Across America, organized in my elementary school.

My school had a time-based approach to Read Across America: for every 5–20 minutes you read, you colored in a state with the corresponding value on the U.S. map. When you completed the map, you got a prize.

The thing is, I don't remember any of the prizes. But I do vividly recall the satisfaction of completing the map.

How might I apply the same concept as an adult to make completing a day's worth of responsibilities feel attainable and rewarding, not overwhelming and dreadful?

Design

My intention is for the design to fall seamlessly into place with the rest of Apple's iOS apps—giving me a great opportunity to explore and apply Apple's Human Interface Guidelines—with a user experience that simplifies how to manage the abundance of tasks that can overcome us.

Tasks can be scheduled just once or recur every number of days, weeks, or months. They support increments (like drinking a glass of water five times per day), durations (like reading a total of three hours per week), or a combination (like exercising for 30 minutes six times per week).

A dashboard is generated each day with a widget for each relevant task. This allows for more nuanced prioritization than the flat task lists we normally see. Not only can tasks be rearranged, but they can also be resized and color coded, all of which can be used to convey relative chronology, importance, effort, or complexity in whatever way works best for the user.

Importantly, the tasks don't disappear into the ether when they're completed. Much like our Read Across America map, all that was accomplished for the day is laid bare with bold blocks on the day's dashboard.

There's plenty yet to plan and even more to build, so this is far from the final evolution of this pet project. Until then, I'll pine for a better way to organize my tasks.