PROJECT SUMMARY | UNSCATTER MOBILE APP
PROJECT SUMMARY | UNSCATTER MOBILE APP
Unscatter is a mobile task-management concept designed to support adults with ADHD in navigating everyday tasks, routines and responsibilities.
The project was developed as part of a UX / Product Design programme in a four-person team. Rather than starting with a predefined product idea, we were challenged to identify a real, existing social problem and a group whose needs were not being adequately addressed by current solutions.
In 2024, mental wellbeing emerged as a defining global trend, with neurodivergence gaining widespread societal awareness. Globally, an estimated 366 million adults (6.8% prevalence) live with ADHD. Adults diagnosed later in life face massive daily challenges that are often dismissed as trivial by neurotypical society—such as doing chores, maintaining basic hygiene, or starting simple daily tasks. Unfortunately, most traditional productivity tools are not designed for the unique cognitive needs of people with ADHD; instead, they often act as a secondary stressor, locking users in an exhausting loop of anxiety, procrastination, and self-guilt.
Unscatter is a mobile task-management concept designed to support adults with ADHD in navigating everyday tasks, routines and responsibilities.
The project was developed as part of a UX / Product Design programme in a four-person team. Rather than starting with a predefined product idea, we were challenged to identify a real, existing social problem and a group whose needs were not being adequately addressed by current solutions.
In 2024, mental wellbeing emerged as a defining global trend, with neurodivergence gaining widespread societal awareness. Globally, an estimated 366 million adults (6.8% prevalence) live with ADHD. Adults diagnosed later in life face massive daily challenges that are often dismissed as trivial by neurotypical society—such as doing chores, maintaining basic hygiene, or starting simple daily tasks. Unfortunately, most traditional productivity tools are not designed for the unique cognitive needs of people with ADHD; instead, they often act as a secondary stressor, locking users in an exhausting loop of anxiety, procrastination, and self-guilt.
Unscatter is a mobile task-management concept designed to support adults with ADHD in navigating everyday tasks, routines and responsibilities.
The project was developed as part of a UX / Product Design programme in a four-person team. Rather than starting with a predefined product idea, we were challenged to identify a real, existing social problem and a group whose needs were not being adequately addressed by current solutions.
In 2024, mental wellbeing emerged as a defining global trend, with neurodivergence gaining widespread societal awareness. Globally, an estimated 366 million adults (6.8% prevalence) live with ADHD. Adults diagnosed later in life face massive daily challenges that are often dismissed as trivial by neurotypical society—such as doing chores, maintaining basic hygiene, or starting simple daily tasks. Unfortunately, most traditional productivity tools are not designed for the unique cognitive needs of people with ADHD; instead, they often act as a secondary stressor, locking users in an exhausting loop of anxiety, procrastination, and self-guilt.
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PRODUCT
mobile task-management app for adults with ADHD
ROLE
UX / Product Designer
UNIVERSITY
SWPS, field: UX / Product Design
Final grade: 5
YEAR
©2024
CHALLENGE AND RESEARCH
The Challenge
Our initial research showed that many everyday activities that appear simple from the outside can become disproportionately difficult for people with ADHD. Executive dysfunction, difficulties with short-term memory, maintaining focus, estimating time, starting and finishing tasks, and managing energy can turn routine activities into significant mental challenges.
We also found that existing productivity and task-management tools often rely on complex structures, large amounts of information and rigid workflows — potentially creating more overwhelm rather than reducing it.
This led us to a fundamental design question:
How might we help adults with ADHD organise, remember and complete everyday tasks while reducing cognitive load rather than increasing it?
Research
We began with secondary research, reviewing existing scientific research, reports and social trends related to ADHD, neurodivergence and mental wellbeing. This allowed us to understand the broader context and identify the main areas of difficulty worth investigating further.
We then conducted primary qualitative research with people with ADHD. Through semi-structured interviews, we explored their everyday routines, behaviours, frustrations, coping strategies and relationships with existing organisational tools.
The research revealed several recurring themes. Among our 11 respondents, 9 reported difficulties with short-term or episodic memory, while 8 described challenges maintaining focus and difficulties with household chores. Participants also described executive dysfunction, procrastination, sensory overload, emotional regulation, distractions and difficulties with task management.
Importantly, the research shifted our perspective from simply asking "What should an ADHD productivity app do?" to understanding a deeper behavioural problem:
The challenge is often not knowing what needs to be done — but being able to start, sustain and complete it.
From Research to Insights
We synthesised the research findings to identify recurring behavioural patterns, pain points and unmet needs.
We explored:
executive dysfunction and task initiation
short-term and episodic memory
attention and distraction
time perception and estimation
procrastination
difficulty starting and finishing mundane tasks
household chores and self-care
maintaining routines and habits
motivation and energy fluctuations
sensory overload
emotional regulation
the role of social support and accountability
We then translated these findings into user needs, customer jobs and design opportunities.
The core jobs we identified included remembering important things, planning tasks and routines, maintaining habits, managing recurring responsibilities, staying focused while completing tasks, and improving time management and organisation.
PRODUCT DEFINITION
Personas & Journey Mapping
To move from research findings to a more human and actionable understanding of the problem, we developed personas representing different behavioural patterns within our target group.
We mapped their customer journeys, identifying moments of friction before, during and after completing everyday tasks — from remembering that something needs to be done, through task initiation and execution, to completion.
This helped us identify that the product should not simply function as another task list. It needed to support the entire process of remembering → planning → starting → focusing → completing.
Competitive & Inspiration Research
We analysed existing task-management, habit-building and ADHD-focused products to understand how the market currently approaches these challenges.
Our competitive analysis compared products such as Numo, Me+, RoutineFlow, Structured, Reminders, GoblinTools and Fabulous across areas including task management, task decomposition, reminders, routines, performing modes, movement-based interactions, body doubling, unscheduled tasks and AI-powered functionality.
We also looked beyond direct competitors for behavioural inspiration, exploring mechanisms such as movement-based interactions, gamification, Pomodoro and body doubling.
Product Definition
Based on our research, we defined a product concept built around one principle:
Reduce the number of decisions the user needs to make.
Instead of creating another complex productivity system, Unscatter was designed as a lightweight task companion that helps users focus on one thing at a time.
Our proposed solution combined:
quick task creation
simplified task management
smart reminders
location-based notifications
task splitting into smaller subtasks
estimated task duration
routines
focus / performing mode
random task selection
movement-based interactions
minimal gamification
body doubling and social support
AI-assisted suggestions and automations
The concept was deliberately designed to be quick to use, flexible and visually uncluttered, with smart suggestions reducing unnecessary decisions and cognitive overload.
UX & Product Design
We translated the product strategy into the core information architecture, user flows and interaction model.
A key interaction was Performing Mode — instead of presenting the user with an overwhelming list of responsibilities, the app guides them through one task at a time.
Users can either follow a predefined order or shake their phone to receive a random task, introducing a small element of surprise and reducing the friction of deciding where to start.
Tasks can be broken down into manageable subtasks, with suggested durations and the option to turn groups of tasks into routines. The product also supports location-based reminders and body-doubling sessions with another person.
The result was a mobile product concept that combines organisation, contextual reminders, focus support and motivation rather than treating task management as a simple checklist.
CHALLENGE AND RESEARCH
The Challenge
Our initial research showed that many everyday activities that appear simple from the outside can become disproportionately difficult for people with ADHD. Executive dysfunction, difficulties with short-term memory, maintaining focus, estimating time, starting and finishing tasks, and managing energy can turn routine activities into significant mental challenges.
We also found that existing productivity and task-management tools often rely on complex structures, large amounts of information and rigid workflows — potentially creating more overwhelm rather than reducing it.
This led us to a fundamental design question:
How might we help adults with ADHD organise, remember and complete everyday tasks while reducing cognitive load rather than increasing it?
Research
We began with secondary research, reviewing existing scientific research, reports and social trends related to ADHD, neurodivergence and mental wellbeing. This allowed us to understand the broader context and identify the main areas of difficulty worth investigating further.
We then conducted primary qualitative research with people with ADHD. Through semi-structured interviews, we explored their everyday routines, behaviours, frustrations, coping strategies and relationships with existing organisational tools.
The research revealed several recurring themes. Among our 11 respondents, 9 reported difficulties with short-term or episodic memory, while 8 described challenges maintaining focus and difficulties with household chores. Participants also described executive dysfunction, procrastination, sensory overload, emotional regulation, distractions and difficulties with task management.
Importantly, the research shifted our perspective from simply asking "What should an ADHD productivity app do?" to understanding a deeper behavioural problem:
The challenge is often not knowing what needs to be done — but being able to start, sustain and complete it.
From Research to Insights
We synthesised the research findings to identify recurring behavioural patterns, pain points and unmet needs.
We explored:
executive dysfunction and task initiation
short-term and episodic memory
attention and distraction
time perception and estimation
procrastination
difficulty starting and finishing mundane tasks
household chores and self-care
maintaining routines and habits
motivation and energy fluctuations
sensory overload
emotional regulation
the role of social support and accountability
We then translated these findings into user needs, customer jobs and design opportunities.
The core jobs we identified included remembering important things, planning tasks and routines, maintaining habits, managing recurring responsibilities, staying focused while completing tasks, and improving time management and organisation.
PRODUCT DEFINITION
Personas & Journey Mapping
To move from research findings to a more human and actionable understanding of the problem, we developed personas representing different behavioural patterns within our target group.
We mapped their customer journeys, identifying moments of friction before, during and after completing everyday tasks — from remembering that something needs to be done, through task initiation and execution, to completion.
This helped us identify that the product should not simply function as another task list. It needed to support the entire process of remembering → planning → starting → focusing → completing.
Competitive & Inspiration Research
We analysed existing task-management, habit-building and ADHD-focused products to understand how the market currently approaches these challenges.
Our competitive analysis compared products such as Numo, Me+, RoutineFlow, Structured, Reminders, GoblinTools and Fabulous across areas including task management, task decomposition, reminders, routines, performing modes, movement-based interactions, body doubling, unscheduled tasks and AI-powered functionality.
We also looked beyond direct competitors for behavioural inspiration, exploring mechanisms such as movement-based interactions, gamification, Pomodoro and body doubling.
Product Definition
Based on our research, we defined a product concept built around one principle:
Reduce the number of decisions the user needs to make.
Instead of creating another complex productivity system, Unscatter was designed as a lightweight task companion that helps users focus on one thing at a time.
Our proposed solution combined:
quick task creation
simplified task management
smart reminders
location-based notifications
task splitting into smaller subtasks
estimated task duration
routines
focus / performing mode
random task selection
movement-based interactions
minimal gamification
body doubling and social support
AI-assisted suggestions and automations
The concept was deliberately designed to be quick to use, flexible and visually uncluttered, with smart suggestions reducing unnecessary decisions and cognitive overload.
UX & Product Design
We translated the product strategy into the core information architecture, user flows and interaction model.
A key interaction was Performing Mode — instead of presenting the user with an overwhelming list of responsibilities, the app guides them through one task at a time.
Users can either follow a predefined order or shake their phone to receive a random task, introducing a small element of surprise and reducing the friction of deciding where to start.
Tasks can be broken down into manageable subtasks, with suggested durations and the option to turn groups of tasks into routines. The product also supports location-based reminders and body-doubling sessions with another person.
The result was a mobile product concept that combines organisation, contextual reminders, focus support and motivation rather than treating task management as a simple checklist.
CHALLENGE AND RESEARCH
The Challenge
Our initial research showed that many everyday activities that appear simple from the outside can become disproportionately difficult for people with ADHD. Executive dysfunction, difficulties with short-term memory, maintaining focus, estimating time, starting and finishing tasks, and managing energy can turn routine activities into significant mental challenges.
We also found that existing productivity and task-management tools often rely on complex structures, large amounts of information and rigid workflows — potentially creating more overwhelm rather than reducing it.
This led us to a fundamental design question:
How might we help adults with ADHD organise, remember and complete everyday tasks while reducing cognitive load rather than increasing it?
Research
We began with secondary research, reviewing existing scientific research, reports and social trends related to ADHD, neurodivergence and mental wellbeing. This allowed us to understand the broader context and identify the main areas of difficulty worth investigating further.
We then conducted primary qualitative research with people with ADHD. Through semi-structured interviews, we explored their everyday routines, behaviours, frustrations, coping strategies and relationships with existing organisational tools.
The research revealed several recurring themes. Among our 11 respondents, 9 reported difficulties with short-term or episodic memory, while 8 described challenges maintaining focus and difficulties with household chores. Participants also described executive dysfunction, procrastination, sensory overload, emotional regulation, distractions and difficulties with task management.
Importantly, the research shifted our perspective from simply asking "What should an ADHD productivity app do?" to understanding a deeper behavioural problem:
The challenge is often not knowing what needs to be done — but being able to start, sustain and complete it.
From Research to Insights
We synthesised the research findings to identify recurring behavioural patterns, pain points and unmet needs.
We explored:
executive dysfunction and task initiation
short-term and episodic memory
attention and distraction
time perception and estimation
procrastination
difficulty starting and finishing mundane tasks
household chores and self-care
maintaining routines and habits
motivation and energy fluctuations
sensory overload
emotional regulation
the role of social support and accountability
We then translated these findings into user needs, customer jobs and design opportunities.
The core jobs we identified included remembering important things, planning tasks and routines, maintaining habits, managing recurring responsibilities, staying focused while completing tasks, and improving time management and organisation.
PRODUCT DEFINITION
Personas & Journey Mapping
To move from research findings to a more human and actionable understanding of the problem, we developed personas representing different behavioural patterns within our target group.
We mapped their customer journeys, identifying moments of friction before, during and after completing everyday tasks — from remembering that something needs to be done, through task initiation and execution, to completion.
This helped us identify that the product should not simply function as another task list. It needed to support the entire process of remembering → planning → starting → focusing → completing.
Competitive & Inspiration Research
We analysed existing task-management, habit-building and ADHD-focused products to understand how the market currently approaches these challenges.
Our competitive analysis compared products such as Numo, Me+, RoutineFlow, Structured, Reminders, GoblinTools and Fabulous across areas including task management, task decomposition, reminders, routines, performing modes, movement-based interactions, body doubling, unscheduled tasks and AI-powered functionality.
We also looked beyond direct competitors for behavioural inspiration, exploring mechanisms such as movement-based interactions, gamification, Pomodoro and body doubling.
Product Definition
Based on our research, we defined a product concept built around one principle:
Reduce the number of decisions the user needs to make.
Instead of creating another complex productivity system, Unscatter was designed as a lightweight task companion that helps users focus on one thing at a time.
Our proposed solution combined:
quick task creation
simplified task management
smart reminders
location-based notifications
task splitting into smaller subtasks
estimated task duration
routines
focus / performing mode
random task selection
movement-based interactions
minimal gamification
body doubling and social support
AI-assisted suggestions and automations
The concept was deliberately designed to be quick to use, flexible and visually uncluttered, with smart suggestions reducing unnecessary decisions and cognitive overload.
UX & Product Design
We translated the product strategy into the core information architecture, user flows and interaction model.
A key interaction was Performing Mode — instead of presenting the user with an overwhelming list of responsibilities, the app guides them through one task at a time.
Users can either follow a predefined order or shake their phone to receive a random task, introducing a small element of surprise and reducing the friction of deciding where to start.
Tasks can be broken down into manageable subtasks, with suggested durations and the option to turn groups of tasks into routines. The product also supports location-based reminders and body-doubling sessions with another person.
The result was a mobile product concept that combines organisation, contextual reminders, focus support and motivation rather than treating task management as a simple checklist.
OUTCOME
The final outcome was Unscatter — a research-driven mobile product concept designed to help adults with ADHD manage everyday responsibilities with less friction and cognitive overload.
The product proposition can be summarised as:
One task at a time.
Rather than trying to make users more productive through stricter organisation, Unscatter aims to make everyday actions feel more achievable — supporting focus, motivation, structure and a sense of control.
Our design principles were ultimately built around three ideas:
Empathy instead of patronising.
Research instead of assumptions and stereotypes.
Agency instead of control.
Because the goal was not to design for people with ADHD based on assumptions, but to design with their experiences in mind.
MY ROLE
UX / Product Designer — Research, UX strategy, product definition, information architecture, interaction design, prototyping and user testing.
Working within a four-person team, I contributed across the end-to-end product design process — from identifying and researching the problem space to translating research insights into product opportunities, defining the experience and designing and testing the final prototype.
CHALLENGE AND RESEARCH
The Challenge
Our initial research showed that many everyday activities that appear simple from the outside can become disproportionately difficult for people with ADHD. Executive dysfunction, difficulties with short-term memory, maintaining focus, estimating time, starting and finishing tasks, and managing energy can turn routine activities into significant mental challenges.
We also found that existing productivity and task-management tools often rely on complex structures, large amounts of information and rigid workflows — potentially creating more overwhelm rather than reducing it.
This led us to a fundamental design question:
How might we help adults with ADHD organise, remember and complete everyday tasks while reducing cognitive load rather than increasing it?
Research
We began with secondary research, reviewing existing scientific research, reports and social trends related to ADHD, neurodivergence and mental wellbeing. This allowed us to understand the broader context and identify the main areas of difficulty worth investigating further.
We then conducted primary qualitative research with people with ADHD. Through semi-structured interviews, we explored their everyday routines, behaviours, frustrations, coping strategies and relationships with existing organisational tools.
The research revealed several recurring themes. Among our 11 respondents, 9 reported difficulties with short-term or episodic memory, while 8 described challenges maintaining focus and difficulties with household chores. Participants also described executive dysfunction, procrastination, sensory overload, emotional regulation, distractions and difficulties with task management.
Importantly, the research shifted our perspective from simply asking "What should an ADHD productivity app do?" to understanding a deeper behavioural problem:
The challenge is often not knowing what needs to be done — but being able to start, sustain and complete it.
From Research to Insights
We synthesised the research findings to identify recurring behavioural patterns, pain points and unmet needs.
We explored:
executive dysfunction and task initiation
short-term and episodic memory
attention and distraction
time perception and estimation
procrastination
difficulty starting and finishing mundane tasks
household chores and self-care
maintaining routines and habits
motivation and energy fluctuations
sensory overload
emotional regulation
the role of social support and accountability
We then translated these findings into user needs, customer jobs and design opportunities.
The core jobs we identified included remembering important things, planning tasks and routines, maintaining habits, managing recurring responsibilities, staying focused while completing tasks, and improving time management and organisation.
PRODUCT DEFINITION
Personas & Journey Mapping
To move from research findings to a more human and actionable understanding of the problem, we developed personas representing different behavioural patterns within our target group.
We mapped their customer journeys, identifying moments of friction before, during and after completing everyday tasks — from remembering that something needs to be done, through task initiation and execution, to completion.
This helped us identify that the product should not simply function as another task list. It needed to support the entire process of remembering → planning → starting → focusing → completing.
Competitive & Inspiration Research
We analysed existing task-management, habit-building and ADHD-focused products to understand how the market currently approaches these challenges.
Our competitive analysis compared products such as Numo, Me+, RoutineFlow, Structured, Reminders, GoblinTools and Fabulous across areas including task management, task decomposition, reminders, routines, performing modes, movement-based interactions, body doubling, unscheduled tasks and AI-powered functionality.
We also looked beyond direct competitors for behavioural inspiration, exploring mechanisms such as movement-based interactions, gamification, Pomodoro and body doubling.
Product Definition
Based on our research, we defined a product concept built around one principle:
Reduce the number of decisions the user needs to make.
Instead of creating another complex productivity system, Unscatter was designed as a lightweight task companion that helps users focus on one thing at a time.
Our proposed solution combined:
quick task creation
simplified task management
smart reminders
location-based notifications
task splitting into smaller subtasks
estimated task duration
routines
focus / performing mode
random task selection
movement-based interactions
minimal gamification
body doubling and social support
AI-assisted suggestions and automations
The concept was deliberately designed to be quick to use, flexible and visually uncluttered, with smart suggestions reducing unnecessary decisions and cognitive overload.
UX & Product Design
We translated the product strategy into the core information architecture, user flows and interaction model.
A key interaction was Performing Mode — instead of presenting the user with an overwhelming list of responsibilities, the app guides them through one task at a time.
Users can either follow a predefined order or shake their phone to receive a random task, introducing a small element of surprise and reducing the friction of deciding where to start.
Tasks can be broken down into manageable subtasks, with suggested durations and the option to turn groups of tasks into routines. The product also supports location-based reminders and body-doubling sessions with another person.
The result was a mobile product concept that combines organisation, contextual reminders, focus support and motivation rather than treating task management as a simple checklist.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
UX/Product Researcher & Designer (Co-created in a team of 4)
Context: Postgraduate Capstone Project in UX/Product Design
Timeline: Academic Year 2024
Deliverable: High-fidelity interactive prototype of a mobile application designed for neurodivergent adults
UX/Product Researcher & Designer
(Co-created in a team of 4)
Context: Postgraduate Capstone Project in UX/Product Design
Timeline: Academic Year 2024
Deliverable: High-fidelity interactive prototype of a mobile application designed for neurodivergent adults
