NYU THESIS · WORK IN PROGRESS

Startly

Making the first step feel smaller.

Startly helps neurodivergent users turn an overwhelming task into a first doable action. As the solo Product Designer & Developer, I led the research, interaction and visual design, and built a testable prototype.

ROLE

Product Designer & Developer · Solo

TIMELINE

September 2026 – Ongoing

SCOPE

Research → Interaction → Visual design → Prototype

The current Startly experience: task support, focus, reflection and a growing collection.

THE PROBLEM

Overwhelming tasks can trap people in a cycle of procrastination and self-doubt.

This problem came from my personal experience and was reinforced through user interviews and research. I found that existing productivity tools often focus on planning and tracking tasks, rather than helping people overcome the difficulty of getting started. This gap inspired me to create Startly, a product designed to break that cycle by making the first step easier.

Overwhelming Tasks

Unclear Next Steps

Procrastination

Guilt & Self Doubt

01 / 04

Overwhelming Tasks

Big tasks can feel too hard to start.

RESEARCH

Support should reduce the effort of getting started.

I combined literature review with hands on competitor testing to understand why starting feels difficult and where existing tools still fall short. These research insights directly shaped Startly’s task flow, AI guidance, and reward system.

LITERATURE RESEARCH

Selected studies that directly shaped Startly.

Task initiation

Interventions to Reduce Academic Procrastination: A Systematic Review

International Journal of Educational Research, 2023

Help users take the first action, not just track unfinished tasks.

View source ↗

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COMPETITOR RESEARCH

Hands on testing revealed where existing tools support users well and where friction still remains.

What works

Emotional attachment and a gentle tone make routines feel supportive.

What’s missing

Too many features can make the experience feel crowded and distract from getting started.

Design opportunity

Keep emotional motivation, but reduce feature noise and make the first action clearer.

KEY RESEARCH INSIGHTS

Three opportunities to design for.

Make starting easier

Reduce task initiation friction.

Support sustained focus

Minimize distractions during work.

Encourage returning

Make progress visible after setbacks.

WIREFRAMES

From sketches to an interactive prototype.

I explored multiple layouts by hand, refined the strongest directions into digital wireframes, and connected them into an interactive prototype for testing.

Startly original hand-drawn explorations: Home, Tasks, Collection and Weekly Report

DESIGN SYSTEM

Keep the product calm, playful and consistent.

A light visual system gives Startly a gentle tone while keeping actions and hierarchy clear. Repeated colors, type roles and spacing rules connect the task, focus and reward experiences.

COLOR

TYPOGRAPHY

Page TitleOtomanopee One22 / 28

Section TitleOtomanopee One18 / 24

BodyQuicksand16 / 24

CaptionQuicksand14 / 20

SPACING

48121624

LIVE PREVIEW

Startly AI Breakdown: the original high-fidelity app screenshot

CHARACTER & ASSETS

Give encouragement a familiar face.

I developed Tuli from early sketches into an expressive character system, with illustrated assets that bring the same visual language across Startly.

Original Tuli hand-drawn silhouette and expression explorations

Original default, surprised and sad explorations

Original happy, bored and thinking explorations

SOLUTION 01 · TASK INITIATION

Turn an overwhelming task into a decision that feels manageable.

Startly makes the next action explicit and lets users adjust it before committing. The goal is to support the moment of starting, rather than add another layer of planning.

01 · Confirm or edit the next action

02 · Keep priorities and next actions visible

03 · Break a goal into subtasks or start a focus session

DESIGN DETAILS

Original AI confirmation card with task name, context and confirmation question — Showing the task and its context together makes it easier to confirm or edit the next action.

Enlarged original subtasks and Suggest Breakdown / Start in Focus actions — Keeping subtasks and focus actions in the same panel helps users move from planning to starting.

SOLUTION 02 · SUSTAINING FOCUS

A calmer place to stay with one task.

The focus experience gives the current task its own space. It extends the smaller-step approach into the period of doing the work, with a quieter interface and clear session feedback.

01 · Focus session

02 · Current task and session state

03 · Session feedback

04 · Return to the next action

DESIGN DETAILS

Original Active Focus illustration enlarged: Tuli using a laptop, the desk, window and nighttime room — A quiet room and a familiar character give users a calmer place to stay with one task.

Original purple circular focus timer with remaining time, progress ticks and the current task — The timer keeps remaining time and the current task together in one clear focal point.

SOLUTION 03 · MOTIVATION

Let progress accumulate without punishing setbacks.

The Jar Collection makes completed effort visible over time. Rewards support a return to the product without making a difficult day feel like the loss of everything that came before it.