Focus Island

Problem

College students struggle to stay focused and manage their time effectively.

Students face constant digital distractions, cognitive overload, and a lack of motivation, leading to procrastination, increased stress, and burnout.

solution

A gamified productivity app where students build their own island by logging focused work time, earning rewards while competing with friends.

We wanted to make productivity visual and rewarding and encourage consistency through positive reinforcement and light social accountability.

Back to the start

Generative Research

My team wanted to better understand:

1. What causes students to procrastinate?
2. What challenges, if any, do students face in their day-to-day lives that affect their productivity or time management?
   
3. How do students try to overcome procrastination or improve time management (what apps or tools are used)?

User Interviews

Our team (4 members) each interviewed 6 students to gain deeper insights into their struggles and experiences with focusing on tasks, time management, and procrastination. We wanted to understand the "Day in the Life" of each student and how their behaviors and habits influence their motivation and time management.
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Findings:

Theme 1: Social Accountability and Community

• Students work better when they are with their friends or peers because they feel supported and have someone to keep them accountable.

Theme 2: Task and Time Management Needs

• Students face internal and external challenges (long commutes, hype-focusing, burnout, too many commitments) that lead to worse time management and productivity.
• As a result, they often struggle to organize tasks, prioritize deadlines, and figure out where to start.

Theme 3: Lack of Motivation

• Students use time management tools that allow visual organization, interactive tasks, and focus-enhancing features (Pomodoro Timer, planner, calendar, reminder app), but still end up procrastinating or losing focus.
• Students mentioned wanting to feel rewarded for their efforts in accomplishing a task.

Competitive Analysis

Our team analyzed 3 habit tracking apps designed to help users build positive habits, maintain consistency, and achieve personal development goals. These apps often incorporate features like goal setting, progress tracking, reminders, and motivational elements to reinforce behavioral change.

Main findings

The College Student Persona

Alex

User Story

Alex is a 21 year old student at UC Berkeley majoring in Molecular Cell Biology. She is a first-generation college student balancing rigorous coursework, a part-time job, and family responsibilities.

Goals

• Succeed academically and make her family proud.
• Build healthy habits and a consistent study routine.
• Find ways to stay motivated and reduce burnout.

Needs

• Structure & Prioritization: A simple way to manage academic tasks and deadlines without feeling overwhelmed.
• Focus Support: Tools that help her minimize distractions during study sessions, especially from social media.
• Positive Reinforcement: A system that rewards consistency and makes studying feel less like a chore.

Pain Points

• Distractions & Burnout: Alex often loses focus due to digital distractions and ends up studying late at night, leading to exhaustion.
• Cognitive Overload: She has a hard time deciding where to start when juggling multiple assignments and exams.
• Lack of Motivation: With limited support systems, it’s difficult for Alex to stay motivated, especially when progress feels invisible.

Testing and Improvement

3 Main Improvements

Based on feedback from 8 students and our mentor, my teammates and I iterated the design across 3 weeks with 3 main improvements:

The Final Designs

Customizable Focus Tools to Fit Every Work Style

Flexible Timer Options
‍Users can start a Pomodoro timer with or without linking it to a task, giving them the freedom to either focus on a specific to-do or simply log general study time.
→ This supports both structured planners and spontaneous studiers who just want to get started without overthinking.

‍Task Difficulty Levels
‍Each task can be labeled as Easy, Medium, or Hard, with distinct color-coding for visual clarity. Rewards scale by difficulty.
→ This helps users align their workload with their current energy levels, reducing decision fatigue and procrastination.
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Personalized Focus Flow
‍By combining timer flexibility with difficulty-based task organization, users can filter, select, and approach tasks in a way that supports their mental state—whether easing into work with something simple or tackling a high-focus challenge.
→ This adaptive system lowers stress, builds momentum, and encourages sustained productivity.

Social Leaderboard and Island Visits

Leaderboard for Focus Time
‍Users can view a weekly leaderboard showing how long each friend has stayed focused using the app.
→ This taps into social comparison and friendly competition to keep users motivated and accountable.

‍Motivation Through Consistency
‍Seeing their rank helps users stay consistent—thanks to the commitment and consistency bias, they’re more likely to keep up productive habits to maintain their standing.

‍Visit Friends' Islands
‍Users can explore the decorated islands of their friends, adding a fun, visual layer of personal expression and social connection.
→ This strengthens the sense of community and progress by showcasing how time invested leads to meaningful, creative rewards.

Reflection

This project challenged me to think critically about how design can support behavior change, particularly in the context of time management and motivation. Through user interviews, concept testing, and iterative prototyping, I strengthened my UX research skills and learned how to translate user needs into thoughtful, flexible design solutions. One key lesson was the importance of designing for cognitive and emotional variability—not every user approaches productivity the same way. By incorporating features like task difficulty levels, flexible timer modes, and social motivators, I learned how to create systems that adapt to diverse study styles and psychological needs.I’m thankful to my team who made this project a great experience and my professor for her guidance throughout the process. This experience reinforced the value of rapid iteration, inclusive research, and designing with empathy, all of which I’ll carry forward into future projects.