Circuit App is designed to address the core tension in creative work: maintaining deep focus, while preventing burnout. By smartly structuring periods of work and breaks, creative professionals can sustain their productivity and well-being.
Figma, Photoshop, AfterEffects
Conception, Design
Creative professionals continually face the paradox of maintaining creative flow and focus, while contending with the distractions of hyper-connectivity. This fact is compounded by a tendency to overwork to the point of mental and physical exhaustion.
With a matrix of circles, time is able to be visibly structured. In a glance, users can gauge how far along they are in the current timer/period. This allays anxiety associated with working or resting too long. This matrix configuration also allows the user to create a timing scheme for up to 8 hours, which is the current limit of Apple's Live Activities for iOS.
Semantically colored circles identify the current activity status (Each circle represents one minute).
Active Period
Rest Period
Period Complete
Active - In Progress
Rest - In Progress
Initial screen for a basic Pomodoro timer, consisting of 4 x 25 minute active and 5 x 1 minute rest periods.
In progress screen: while in progress, the current minute is animated and bottom text tells the user how much time until the next period.
Circuit completed: Once completed, the user is offered the option to reset the timer, or finish and view their progress.
Eliminate visual clutter to facilitate quick program selections and straightforward modifications. Prioritize legibility and accessibility of essential information for quick scanning.
Creating a bespoke program (Circuit) is simple: pick a title, define the active/rest durations and the repetition count—that's it. A total duration (active + rest, multiplied by repeats) is shown at the base of the input area, providing users with the total time commitment.
Glanceable Interface: The UI strips away complexity, revealing only contextually relevant information. Critical data like session time and breaks are instantly decipherable from a distance, eliminating the cognitive load of interpreting complex dashboards.
Smart Presets: In addition to user-created presets, Circuit app also comes pre-configured with default presets that can fit any number of activities—from studying to writing to coding, for easy, out-of-the-box operation.
Progress Tracking: To help track work patterns and progress, Circuit App provides users with a rolling tally of their progress as well as a calendar view.
Native Integration: By leveraging iOS 16+ LiveActivities, Circuit provides awareness through the Dynamic Island and Lock Screen. This allows users to stay informed about their work rhythm without the disruption of opening the app.
Access to usage history
Easily view current Circuit's specs and tap to edit them
Access to preset and custom Circuits
Quickly add a custom Circuit
Post recent activity to social media
View by date range
Show daily activity
In this iteration the rest periods are grouped together. Doing so presents the user with an alternative sectional representation, which augments the description via semantic color. From a development point of view, this may be a slightly more complex route to take as we're essentially treating time in 2 different ways: by minimal instance (minute dots) and by section (rest lines).
In this iteration the active and rest periods are treated the same. This allows us to treat all measurements of time the same. By bridging the dots we create cohesive areas that are easy to visually discern by color or density. Another issue for users is that this format may read too closely to text-placeholder graphics.
