AI-Powered Daily Planner for ADHD
Kono
Timeline
Tools
Role
Overview
Featured in
Mar-Jul 2024
Figma
Aftereffects
Premiere
Adobe firefly
Kono is an AI planner app designed for adults with ADHD who struggle with planning and starting their daily tasks. Users can interact with the AI to create executable plans and develop habits of executing tasks promptly without procrastination.
AI-Powered Daily Planner for ADHD
Product design, User research, User testing, Prototyping, AI generation
Team
2 Product designers
There is a growing number of adults being diagnosed with ADHD worldwide, and my surroundings are no exception. Seeing people around me with ADHD feeling low self-esteem and frustration, my teammate and I decided to find a way to help them as designers. That’s how this project started.
People with adult ADHD suffer from frustration when they fail to manipulate their tasks
The challenge
The goal
How can we assist managing tasks effectively for people with adult ADHD?
ADHD patients struggle with planning, prioritizing tasks, and finding motivation when executing tasks.
Enhance productivity for ADHD patients and prevent continuous failure in daily task managing.
Visualize priorities intuitively
AI assistant gives highly-personalized
advice and revision
Users can choose their favorite AI persona at onboarding. AI reviews the feasibility of plans and suggests modifications.
It interacts with the user to provide highly-personalized advice and motivational, fun remarks.
The schedule can be added via voice interaction to reduce the burden of adding manually.
Breaking down tasks
AI in Kono breaks down tasks into manageable subtasks tailored to the user, making it easier to start tasks without feeling overwhelmed. With continuous use, the AI learns and develops its logic to fit more keenly with each user.
Also, the timer acts as a pace maker to help start and complete each steps.
The solution
Geometric task blocks provide intuitive visual clues with motion and shape for users to understand task priority more accurately. Important tasks are displayed bigger, and imminent tasks spins. Also, card view is appropriate for recognizing what task needs to be done right now.
Product intro video
Design process
Discover
Define
Develop
Deliver
Desk research
Competitive analysis
In-depths interview
Project goal
Persona
User journey map
Affinity diagram
Wireframe
Feedback
UI design
Interaction design
Prototype
User testing
Desk research
The number of adult ADHD patients is increasing worldwide. Currently, approximately 366 million adults worldwide suffer from ADHD, roughly the population of the United States.
Initial diagnosis of adult ADHD is increasing among adults significantly. About 6.8% of adults suffer from ADHD, increased from 4.4% in 2003 according to a recent meta-analysis of several studies. We recognized that neglecting the difficulties of people with ADHD could result in a great loss of human resources in society.
=
Adult ADHD Population Worldwide
Age at Initial ADHD Diagnosis Over Time
366M
2010
23-29 yo
18-22 yo
30-49 yo
50+ yo
1%
2020
2015
It turns out that it's not simply a matter of their willpower, but an inherent characteristic of ADHD. Although adults with ADHD strongly want to complete their tasks, they face challenges in planning, prioritizing tasks, and finding motivation. Not knowing how to break down task, they have an exaggerated perception of task difficulty and frequent task failures, causing other mental health issues like depression.After hearing their difficulties, my desire to solve their problems became stronger.
In-depths interview
4 adults diagnosed with ADHD, June 24-28th
“If the plan is not followed, I feel uncomfortable and frustrated. That makes me give up easily.”
“I need positive motivation to start my task.”
“I get lost when I try to breakdown my task. I’m not sure how detailed it should be.”
“I struggle to prioritize tasks properly, often getting distracted by trivial matters.”
College student(24)
Designer(26)
College student(25)
College student(25)
Understanding the context
What characteristics of ADHD hinders productivity?
We needed more background information about the cognitive behavior of ADHD to further comprehend their difficulties. After collecting information about the traits adult ADHD have by user interviews, journals, and books, we were able to understand and empathize with their context more deeply.
Difficulty prioritizing tasks or acting strategically.
Seek out activities or situations that provide high stimulation.
Difficult to stay focused when they are bored due to high sensitivity of boredom.
Tendency to underestimate the time needed for tasks.
Difficulty starting tasks, mitigated by breaking them down into smaller steps.
Trouble concentrating or working in one place for 30 minutes.
Often lose important tasks despite recognizing their significance.
Struggle to regulate time spent watching TV or YouTube.
Often make plans but struggle to follow through.
Key research findings & painpoints
Struggle to initiate and complete tasks despite knowing the necessity
Difficulty in prioritizing tasks
Unable to make feasible plans
Problem statement
People with adult ADHD have difficulty organizing and motivating themselves when planning and carrying out tasks.
Developing solution (Affinity diagram)
Possible solution
Help breaking down tasks tailored to the user
Personalized planning with AI
01
02
Assist prioritizing tasks and processing them in order
Keeping them entertained and stimulated by visual effects
03
Reduce the burden of starting tasks and enhance motivation
Fun AI dialogs and timers for subtasks and induces task execution
Service goal
Motivate and persist goal planning and execution by providing personalized assistance and stimulation.
Competitive analysis
Tiimo
Opal
TickTick
RoutineFlow
Habitica
Neurolist
Addie
Medium
None
None
Medium
None
High
Medium
Pros
Cons
AI usage
-Visually pleasing.
-Links to Google calendar.
-Variety of widget options.
-Very simple interface.
-Able to sort tasks using Eisenhauer Matrix.
-Uses gamification.
-Able to categorize habit, to-do list, and day plan.
-Can adjust app lock level.
-Can collect opals for motivation.
-Able to conduct task in order and follow process.
-Can recognize next task.
-AI personalization
-Automatically divides task into smaller steps.
-Can view one task per one screen which is ADHD friendly.
-Too small font size.
-Complex interface.
-Lacks function to specify tasks such as setting time, category etc..
-Unfamiliar UI like +/- buttons can confuse users.
-Simplified function.
-Cannot divide tasks into smaller subtasks.
-Using AI function lacks accessibility because it needs subscription.
-Interface lacks specialty.
-Needs broader function such as community etc..
-Some neat functions are not highlighted well.
Personalized
General
Compulsory
Voluntary
Tiimo
Habitica
Neurolist
Kono
RoutineFlow
TickTick
Opal
Addie
Bio
Minwoo is a college student who has been diagnosed with adult ADHD for two years. He has hard time even starting tasks he is not interested in. He participates well when conducting tasks as a team, but he lacks the will to do the tasks on his own.
Painpoints
Doesn’t know how to start the plan.
Not motivated to the tasks he’s not interested in.
Loses willpower to do the plan without instant compensation.
Needs
Positive motivation to start the task.
Succeed in plan and feel sense of accomplishment.
Persona
Minwoo, 22 year old
“As a user, I want to get motivation to start and execute the plan“
Bio
Lucy is an office worker who has been diagnosed with adult ADHD for two years. She has difficulty planning and sticking to things she has to do. She gets very disappointed in herself due to repeated failures in her plans.
Painpoints
Forgets and puts off the things that need to be done.
Difficult to set priority of the tasks.
Fails to conduct tasks due to disorganized planning.
Needs
Systematically create an feasible plan.
Get help to breakdown a task.
“As a user, I want to make
systemtic plan“
Lucy, 25 year old
Experience map
Action
Painpoints
Opportunities
Before doing tasks
Planning
Conducting
After completion
After failing to complete
Organize tasks considering due date and priority
Very simple interface.
Able to sort tasks using Eisenhauer Matrix.
Follow plan B that was set beforehand
List up to-dos
Set estimated time to finish the task and order.
Doesn’t know what to start because to-dos spring up in mind like crazy.
Hard to recognize priority of the tasks
Difficult to divide tasks into smaller subtasks.
Doesn’t feel like doing tasks.
Wants to put off the duties again.
Feels frustrated
Shows easy tasks to motivate users to get started.
Locking the phone forces the performance of work to some extent.
Tells users the damage that will occur if they do not do this now.
A timer runs during the work time, letting users know in real time how long they have to do it.
Gets motivated that the users can do better next time.
A retrospective function is provided so that the users can take time to reflect on theirselves.
Provides easy-to-view statistics on tasks completed this week.
AI praises users.
Enjoy the reward and feel the sense of accomplishment.
View statistics.
Feels worried of failure
An notification reminds user when planning time comes.
The apps are locked on a set time.
AI automatically estimates and sets duration and breakdown tasks.
The more AI is used, the more accurate functions tailored to the user are provided.
Visual identity
Components
Using Adobe firefly (AI) in design
Using AI to design character and its persona
The AI characters were designed using Adobe firefly. I went through trial and error to generate the best designs we wanted by editing the prompt and regenerating image at least 30 times. After the design has been chosen, I also asked Chat GPT to designate iconic persona and talking tone & manner to each ones.
Prompt
Prompt
“Pixel art style, white character in black background, naughty eyes, retro, cute, simplified scribble-like, character with legs and big feet
“Pixel art style, white character in black background, cute, simplified, retro, sitting cat, small eyes, pointy ears”
Cynical Lux
Strange Jackie
User testing & iteraions
85% of the users answered they were satisfied with the app
What
When
Who
Why
How
After the design phase, A/B test was conducted with the four target users through a simple prototype to evaluate the UI's usability and improve functionality.
Measure and compare average duration of the task completion
Click rate based on task shape and motion
June 24-July 2 2024
30 people (including 18 ADHD) per test
To test usability and intuitiveness of UI
A/B testing(using ‘Maze’) and interview
Hypothesis 1
Broadening the area of the shape representing important tasks based on
their significance will help quickly identify their priority.
Mission: Select the task that looks the most important.
Result: Screen A showed dispersed responses. Each tasks were chosen by 3-4 people, showing a similar ratio without a clear grouping.
On the other hand, screen B, 21 people (56%) recognized writing a resume as an important task. The average response time was shorter than A.
Therefore, the hypothesis has been proven accurate. The priority of screen B which displays important tasks larger, can be easily identified than screen A.
A(As-is)
Important tasks displayed bigger
Similar sized tasks
Avg. duration 17.6s
Avg. duration 15s
B(To-be)
16%
19%
19%
14%
4.7%
4.7%
5.4%
13%
2.7%
56%
Hypothesis 2
Adding a motion to the current task will help quickly identify its urgency.
Mission: Select the task that looks like it needs to be done right now.
Result: In case of screen A, the percentage of people who chose ‘morning yoga’ was 30%, with 9 people. The average time taken was 19.69 seconds. Also, 46% of the people chose ‘writing resume’. This indicates that without motion, imminent tasks cannot be identified intuitively and cause confusion.
However, with the motion, 74%, 19 people chose ‘morning yoga’. The average time taken was 6.72 seconds, which was chosen much faster than A.
Therefore, the hypothesis that screen B, with motion can be intuitively perceived as urgent was verified.
With motion
Avg. duration 19.6s
Avg. duration 6.7s
Without motion
A(As-is)
B(To-be)
74%
10%
16%
46%
26%
19%
Feedbacks
If the AI continuously engages and motivates me, it will feel like I'm being managed and playing as part of a team with the AI.
I think it would be convenient to use it to plan what to do in my free time such as weekends.
Bold blocks and colors are easy to catch my eye and easy to understand. I feel like it would be good for children to use too.
It would be nice to be able to visually distinguish between fixed and variable routines.
It would be nice if the order of the tasks can be seen at a glance.
Suggestions
If I had more time and resource, I would collaborate with engineers to develop MVP with conversational AI chat API. The MVP will be the entire process of adding, managing, and completing tasks, with interactive conversational AI checking details and provide motivational, fun remarks.
To measure the success metrics, I would do a diary study for 5 days involving more than 4 users. I would..
• Collect qualitative data such as how they feel about the talking AI for pace-making and motivating.
• Observe rather the users can easily establish their own task categorizing logic while usage. (color, shape, priority, time setting..etc)
Next steps
Learnings
Designing for accessibility was definitely not easy, but during the process, I learned that..
• Designers should never forget to empathize with the user and understand their innate difficulties and traits.
• Making continuous efforts to reflect the characteristics and needs of the target group is crucial.
• When conducting user testing, I should check whether there are any other factors that affect the results I want to measure.