A simple solution to save the ideas you don’t want to forget, but don’t need a reminder for.
How might we capture an idea that’s come to you in the middle of the night?
For this project, my role was ideation, research, wireframing, user flows, visual design, prototyping, UAT, front-end development
Why another note taking app?
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Night time, is the right time
The inspiration for Eureka comes from those brilliant and fleeting ideas that come to you in the middle of the night.
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Dead simple
With no shortage of note-saving apps, the goal for Eureka is simplicity. A place to save things you don’t want to forget, but don’t need to be reminded of.
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Dream big
With Archive functionality for Ideas, Dreams, and Tasks Eureka is a depository perfect for creative brains firing at a moment’s notice.
PROBLEM
How might we save a thought that’s come to you in the middle of the night?
I find my best ideas come when I least expect them, more often than not in the middle of the night which causes them to flee as quickly as they came. A notebook and Notion addict, I knew it wasn’t for lack of trying that I still found myself struggling to recall that great story starter, in my case I needed to match the urgency of a Eureka moment.
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A creative’s playground
With no shortage of notes app, Eureka aims to be a safety net and launching ground specifically for ideas.
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The Witching Hour
The hours between midnight and 3 a.m. are when the brain is firing most creatively, Eureka is built for night mode to cause as little disturbance to sleep as possible.
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A safety net
Just a list. Simplicity is key, Eureka doesn’t let you get lost in layers and overbearing functionality.
GOALS
The only real goals in putting Eureka together is an exercise in design and bridging the gap between UX design and front-end development. Dipping a toe into the pond so to speak by using the low-code solution Bravo Studio in tandem with Figma for prototyping.
Our technical goals for the project are as follows:
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Something new
With no shortage of notes app, Eureka aims to be a safety net and launching ground specifically for ideas.
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Design first
With no shortage of notes app, Eureka aims to be a safety net and launching ground specifically for ideas.
✅️
Archive
The hours between midnight and 3 a.m. are when the brain is firing most creatively, Eureka is built for night mode to cause as little disturbance to sleep as possible.
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Customization
Just a list. Simplicity is key, Eureka doesn’t let you get lost in layers and overbearing functionality.
RESEARCH
What solutions already exist and how is Eureka different?
To start with my research I looked at the solutions already available, specifically the name brand Evernote, and the up-and-coming Notion (the latter being a personal favorite). Both these apps are great in their own right, but they’re similar in the depth and vast amount of information the put in front of user. Effective yes, simple no.
Robust system, allows organization of any and everything
Syncs with Google Calendar and other products
Powerful, but not specific
Amazing, but almost too powerful
Requires cloud access
I’m lost in the layers
Night time is the right time.
In the planning stages one design aspect we took into heavy consideration was the color and brightness. Most phones today ship with a “Night Mode,” shifting the colors from blue light to warm yellows and oranges. But is this helpful? According to a recent study in Current Biology: no.
SKETCHING V1
Simplicity was our key, I knew from the start I wanted just a few oversized buttons and a default dark mode. Subtley and catering to the needs of a user looking for as few actions as possible I started with 3 buttons for categories, IDEAS, DREAMS, AND TASKS, that each allowed the user to access an individual category and text box for submission to the post API through Air Table.
EUREKA V1 FLOW
Simplicity was our key, I knew from the start I wanted just a few oversized buttons and a default dark mode. Subtley and catering to the needs of a user looking for as few actions as possible I started with 3 buttons for categories, IDEAS, DREAMS, AND TASKS, that each allowed the user to access an individual category and text box for submission to the post API through Air Table.
SKETCHING V2
After reviewing the user flow for V1, it became clear to me that we could simplify the user’s journey even more by moving the text submission container from the child category to the dashboard, thereby eliminating one interaction.
LOW TO HIGH FIDELITY
Next I worked in Figma to flesh out the start of our high fidelity wireframe.
How might we
Deliver a solution that maintains simplicity, but still heralds usefulness?
SOLUTION
After user testing and planning we were able to release the Eureka V1 with note saving and deleting functionality. Future plans include: adding custom category sorting, tagging system, and archive search function, but for now we have solved for the first hurdle.
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Simplicity is key
Moving the text box input to the dashboard allows Eureka to be a two-step process: write and save.
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No drop-down selectors
We successfully avoided the urge to add elements like drop downs that could overcomplicate the flow.
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Necessary?
Maybe, maybe not. But in a world of ‘do-it-all’ apps we appreciate a specific application with a specific use case.
WHAT’S IN THE FUTURE
How might we improve V2, V3, and beyond?
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Categories
Add taggable category functionality to easily sort archive without over burdening user interaction.
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Multi-submit
Direct submit to a category from the post screen, without needing to interact with further selectors.
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Customization
Allow users to add their own custom tags or categories to organize, sort, and search Archive.