Redesign

[tyler-dane]

About the redesign

Focus Launcher's UX needs a makeover; it was created in 2017 and feels clunky and complicated. We're redesigning it from scratch to make sure that Focus Launcher is modern, but also stays true to its roots of mindfulness, focus, and intentionality.

We have some excellent Android developers here who are eager to turn our designs into reality.

The details

What's in it for me?

We're an open-source community that doesn't have any funding yet. So, we can't offer payment for your help.

But you can:

1. feature your designs for us in your portfolio
2. get a testimonial from me (upon request), which you can use in your website or job applications
3. use me as a reference for job applications

Where do I go to learn more about Siempo & Focus Launcher?

There are lots of links and context on our website's About page

This is our competitor analysis of other launcher apps

Our Discord has a lot of info, too (although it's a little more scattered)
If you still have questions about the project, feel free to ask them in Discord

Why are you re-designing the app now?

Focus Launcher was originally created by Siempo, a pioneer company in the digital wellness space. Siempo (the company) dissolved in 2020, which meant they had to remove the app from the app store. This community formed because we loved the app and didn't want it to disappear. So, we rebranded Siempo as Focus Launcher and got it back on the Play Store in summer 2021.

We then started upgrading the code and infrastructure (which was largely written in 2017). Since a large portion of the app needed to be re-written, it made sense to also re-design the UX, which had also become clunky and out-dated.

What did you learn from Siempo?

Lessons from Siempo, the company

Siempo's (the company) vision and products massively accelerated the humane technology movement. Unfortunately, it didn't find a way to sustain itself as a business. Siempo's Co-Founder explains his high-level learnings in these two excellent articles: Postmortem for Siempo & Vision for the Next Siempo

Lessons from Siempo, the app

• On-boarding is really important. Many users aren't familiar with how Android launcher's work. If it's too confusing or a lot of work to get setup, they'll give up. Siempo lost a lot of potential users because of how complicated their on-boarding process was
• Simpler is better. Downloading and getting setup with a launcher is tricky enough; don't make it more cumbersome to use it day-to-day. Examples of things in Focus Launcher that are currently overly complicated:
  • The settings menu has many layers and toggles. It's easy to get lost and confused in settings
  • There are three routes to the settings menu (dot icon, press & hold gesture, and when the reduce app usage curtain appears. That's two extra places that can confuse and overwhelm users.
  • Setting distracting apps requires lots of taps and thought, which leads to people not flagging as many distracting apps as they would if it were easy.
• Mindfulness features are huge differentiators. A lot of excellent Android launchers have popped up in recent years (Before Launcher and Niagara Launcher, for example). They are intuitive, well-designed, and functional. However, no other launcher to-date has matched Siempo's commitment to mindfulness and intention. Although Siempo's design has always been mediocre, its core philosophy and mindfulness features have always made it unique. (Examples of mindfulness features include: intention bar, notification batching, reducing distracting app usage). Users are eager to engage with products that take a strong stance.

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How to get started

1. Join our Discord server
2. Introduce yourself in #intros
3. Get caught-up
   • Read through the recent discussions in the#redesign channel
   • Review the current designs in Figma
4. See what stage of timeline (below) we're in and volunteer for the associated tasks you're interested in (here or in Discord)
5. Optional: Join our regular co-working sessions. (Schedule posted in Discord.) This is a great way to meet other contributors, get your questions answered, and get stuff done together!

Timeline

✅ Part I: Decide design requirements

Accommodates all existing Focus Launcher features:

• This re-design is not meant to introduce new features into Focus Launcher. Instead, we'll change the UI/UX for the existing functionality. New features will be designed and introduced after this initiative.

Features to include:

• On-boarding
• Dark mode
• Setting and viewing intentions
• Notification batching
• Custom background images
• Custom app icons
• Reducing app usage
• Flagging distracting apps

✅ Part II: Create Design Basics

Decide on the building blocks that'll be used to create the designs:

• Typography
• Color Palette
• Buttons
• Light and Dark mode changes

Part III: Design Screens/Features

See the redesign project board for current and outstanding tasks
Onboarding
Intention Screen
Home Screen
Settings Menu
Distracting Apps screens

Part IV: Implement final design into the code

Developers take the final design and turn it into sweet sweet code.