Sundri.es

Sundri.es is a simple mobile app that keeps track of the last time you did something. The app and this write up were made with Vivian Wang.

A few iterations on the product's core interface.

The last time you did something

Sundri.es started with an idea borne out of the frustration of forming new habits and getting things done. In a conversation between Vivian and I, we started to explore an idea for a product. We wanted to make something that required little overhead but could influence behavior, and avoided the bloatedness of many to-do apps. Early on, we gravitated towards the idea of keeping track of the last time you did something, which seemed to provide a clear utilitarian benefit for people trying to form new habits.

Game mechanic and metaphor

The initial idea we had was to use a very simple game mechanic to both objectively visualize time elapsed as well as subtly motivate you to complete the task (see above left). Tasks would inch across the screen as time elapsed, eventually even edging off the screen, inviting you to "check in" and reset them back to the left side of the screen.

Refining the concept

Working with the initial concept, we worked to address issues of information design and clarity of the metaphor. Color in the original concept was randomly generated and didn't communicate anything, so we played with having color represent either the interval of an item (daily, weekly, monthly) or the "health" of an item. We wanted to allow users to manually rank items in order of priority, but decided to also group them into intervals which would force daily tasks to the top of the screen.

We were charmed with the idea of tasks slipping across the screen over time but knew it needed work. We felt it would be difficult to communicate gracefully (without a tutorial), and ran into issues with readability and screen real estate. After a few variations we arrived at a "health bar" metaphor, which we felt would be familiar and instantly communicate the incentive to keep up with your tasks. While we were borrowing from a game paradigm, we were careful to keep the app simple and focused, so we refrained from carrying the concept into the realm of lives and leveling up. Our goal was to keep user behavior and incentives natural and elemental.

The finished product

The final app is very simple. The Add/Edit screens ask for the task name and an interval for the activity. The main page shows the list of tasks, grouped by interval, and sortable by drag and drop. Tasks are represented by colored bars that slowly turn red and diminish as the interval passes. When a task's bar nears depletion, a red sliver remains and flashes to remind you to finish the task and replenish the bar. Tapping a task shows a detailed page with basic statistics which help reveal trends in your behavior.