Tangled
Productivity isn't one size fits all.
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
ProtoPie
Flow Mapping
Skills
Team
3 Person Team
Timeframe
5 Weeks
Productivity Software
Role
UI/UX Designer
Collaborator
Industry
Productivity Tools Expect Users to Adapt
Productivity tools offer increasingly sophisticated ways to organize work, but many still rely on predefined workflows and repeated manual setup. Switching methods can mean reorganizing the same information again, placing the burden of adaptation on the user.
Your workflow isn’t static. Why are your tools?
What If the Tool Adapted Instead?
Adaptivity
Interface elements respond to context such as time and weather.
Modularity
Users can switch between organizational schemes.
Integration
Focus methods and task information remain within one workspace.
Together, these principles shifted the goal from designing another way to organize tasks to designing a system that could change with the person using it.
Mapping an Adaptive System
Before designing individual screens, we mapped how tasks, schedules, focus tools, and organizational modes would connect within a single system. This established what could remain constant and what could change as users moved between different ways of working.
Structure Within Chaos
Tangled’s visual language pairs geometric structure with continuous, irregular forms, reflecting the tension between organized systems and the unpredictability of everyday work.
From Prototype to Implementation
While I developed the interface and interactive prototypes, my teammate translated the designs into React Native, giving us an opportunity to consider how Tangled’s interactions could move beyond prototype behavior into a functional application.
Final Experience
The final concept brings tasks, schedules, habits, focus tools, and personal routines into one flexible environment designed to change with the user rather than prescribe a single way of working.
Tangled pushed me beyond designing individual screens and toward thinking about interfaces as responsive systems. It also introduced me to advanced prototyping as a way to communicate behaviors that static screens could not capture.
Looking Forward
A next iteration would test when adaptation feels useful versus disruptive. Giving users control over what changes, when it changes, and why would be critical to making personalization feel predictable rather than arbitrary.