Competitive Analysis
We evaluated several popular productivity and digital wellbeing apps to better understand where they succeed, and where they fall short, in supporting healthy screen habits for college students.
❌ Where other apps fall short
✅ What we wanted Pearl to prioritize
Guilt-based limits discourage users
Passive data doesn't drive behavior change
No control over what counts as "productive" or "distractive" elements/platforms
Minimal emotional or visual engagement
Features a soothing underwater theme that makes focus feel enjoyable
Let users define productivity on their own without having to accommodate to app's rigid rules
Delivers playful, visual feedback through animated companion
Uses gentle encouragement and positive reinforcement
Grand Prize @ SBCL Designathon 2025
Santa Cruz
Solution 💡
Pearl is your focus fish—a playful, Pomodoro-based productivity app that helps users “lock in, lock out, and repeat.”
Key features include:
A customizable Pomodoro timer featuring a friendly fish companion
A productivity vs. distraction breakdown based on user-defined app categories
Gamified streaks and consistency metrics (e.g. “days focused,” “sessions completed”)
A relaxing underwater aesthetic that makes reflection feel less clinical
Problem 🧩
Despite available solutions, users often:
which brings us to our question…
Feel guilty when using screen-time limiters
Ignore passive notifications or dashboards
Lack emotional motivation to shift their habits
Challenge
Design a mobile app that helps users build mindful digital habits in fun and engaging ways. The app should focus on encouraging healthy screen usage without relying on guilt or restriction. You may incorporate gamification, journaling, social accountability, or mindfulness elements.
Context
In a world flooded with endless notifications, doomscrolling, and digital burnout, many people are seeking healthier screen habits. While tools like Apple’s Screen Time or Google’s Digital Wellbeing exist, they often feel passive, confusing, or easy to dismiss. Users need something more engaging and personalized to truly change their digital habits.
Users didn’t need another reminder to stop scrolling — they needed a reason to feel good about staying focused. That’s where Pearl swam in.
How might we design a mobile app that promotes mindful digital habits in fun and engaging ways, without guilt or restriction?
Key Takeaways
Design with emotion, not just function.
Pearl reminded us that productivity tools can still be warm and delightful. By designing around emotion, we created an experience that felt motivating, without relying on guilt or restriction.
Let research lead the way.
From the beginning, our decisions were rooted in user interviews and testing. Every feature, from the underwater theme to the customizable categories, was built to directly respond to real user needs.
Build for flexibility, not perfection.
We learned that “productive” means something different for everyone. So instead of enforcing rigid limits, we focused on creating tools that could adapt to users’ own rhythms and goals.
Final Thoughts
Our final prototype for Pearl was evaluated by judges at the Jumpstart Spring Designathon and received perfect scores across all criteria, including user research, experience, interface, and creativity, highlighting the strength of our concept, execution, and attention to user needs.
The feedback brought tears to my eyes because they were so sweet and it validated all our hard work 🥹
Getting started was the trickiest part. We wanted the design to feel warm and inviting, but not so engaging that users lingered longer than they needed to. After all, the goal was to help them get off their phones, not stay on them.
So we landed on a clean, all-in-one homepage that surfaces the most important information up front. Users can dive deeper into insights if they choose — but more importantly, they can kick off their focus session right away and get back to what matters.
And after lots of caffeine, much needed snack breaks, and constant back and forth of ideas, my team and I would love to present to you, Pearl.
❌ The stacked view was dense and visually overwhelming for users.
❌ Each category lacked clear separation, leading to confusion in the user interface.
✅ A design mascot provides a motivational and emotionally uplifting element.
✅ Wave transitions and loading screens contribute to a smoother and more visually cohesive user experience.
We followed the current of user insight straight into the design reef.
User Research
We conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 college students (ages 18–21) to explore how they manage screen time, navigate digital distractions, and interact with wellness apps in a world of constant notifications and doomscrolling.
highlighted the importance of convenience — apps that work with their habits, not against them. They emphasized that the best tools should integrate seamlessly into fast-paced student life.
shared that customization and control were essential. Students want the ability to define what “productive” means to them, rather than being forced into a one-size-fits-all mold.
described feeling more engaged when wellness tools incorporated friendly visuals, gamification, or avatar-based feedback, rather than plain statistics or dashboards.
of participants expressed a strong preference for positive reinforcement over punitive strategies. They favored tools that make them feel motivated, not monitored.
of students reported that most existing screen-time tools rely on rigid limits or guilt-inducing alerts — often perceived as discouraging, anxiety-triggering, or too easy to dismiss.
83%
79%
67%
74%
88%
