During the pandemic 73% of students reported increased stress and isolation. Many features of existing productivity apps help students work more, but oftentimes, the social aspect and accountability is taken away from it. How might we help students with helping with their wellbeing and being more social?
Students drown in work and forget to live.
Post-COVID students face a triple threat:
⏳︎
Packed schedules with no time for breaks
⚡︎
Burnout from poor work-life balance
☹︎
Isolation from avoiding social activities
Existing apps optimize for work, not particularly wellness.
We researched popular apps used among students and analyzed 3 popular time management apps like Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, and TickTick and 2 productivity focused apps like Flow and Apple Fitness. Each of these apps leaned heavily into productivity and work over the social/hangout aspects of it.
What they did well:
What they were missing:
Smart Recommendations students will actually use.
⭐︎ Removes the burden of remembering self-care. The app acts as your wellness advocate.
Pomodoro built into your calendar, not a separate app
⭐︎ One app, one source of truth. Reduces context switching and makes time management feel seamless.
Social hangouts, simplified
⭐︎ Makes socializing as frictionless as possible. The easier it is, the more likely students will actually do it.
What we learned from testing
We tested paper prototypes with 3 university students, giving them realistic scenarios: "You have a busy week of midterms. Use Harmony to plan your schedule and include time for friends."
Results:
Key insights:
⚠ Pomodoro navigation was confusing – 2/3 participants got stuck when starting a task from a calendar event
⚠ Social metrics created anxiety – participants worried about comparing themselves to friends
What we changed:
→ Simplified pomodoro UI: Moved "Start Task" button to calendar event card (not buried in event details)
→ Made social comparison opt-in: Show your own progress by default, let users choose to see friends' activity
Smart Break Recommendations
Harmony automatically suggests meal and break times when you’ve been working too long. No manual scheduling for the breaks is required.
Solution
Integrated Focus/Pomodoro
Focus sessions are built directly into calendar events. Students can start working with one tap and automatic breaks are included.
Social Hangout Events with Groups
Preset friend groups to make scheduling social time as easy as scheduling work. Track social health and see how you met social goals compared to friends.
After the initial 8-week class project, I spent 2 additional weeks refining Harmony to address testing feedback and complete unfinished features.
What I added:
→ User persona: Created a detailed persona to keep the team aligned on who we're designing for
→ Information Architecture: Mapped the entire app structure to identify navigation pain points
→ Design System: Consolidated components and primitives to ensure visual consistency across all screens
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