The process of Todoist the famous time management software

Editor's note: In UI design, there is a famous "choice paradox", probably refers to the function too much so that users do not know where to start, now time management software Todoist also encountered this problem, but after the revision of the problem is perfectly resolved, the process is not easy, but after reading the "Less is more" can have a more accurate understanding.

"Less is more" is a minimalist design theory is a very important principle, maybe every designer has seen a lot of related things, this principle is very important, but in practical applications, still have some unexpected problems. We need to learn from it, and finally acquire the skills.

Todoist released his new version in late January, adding some new features. Initially, we wanted the app to be more modern and have a great user experience, and we wanted to do it in the expected time, but it wasn't as easy as we thought ...

　　Jump out of the old theory

In the previous version we had two patterns, one was "done today" and the other was "deferred". Postponing means that you may be tomorrow, or the day after, or you may have an uncertain time later to complete the task. When you need more control over your schedule, you may need a calendar, or just enter a specific date, which is easy to implement in both the Web page and the desktop client, but the experience on mobile clients is not that good. Entering a date is not a convenient thing to do, especially when you are out of the keyboard and mouse and can only operate with your thumb.

　　Add a new theory

Since the old system is so limited, we hope that the new version will give users more choices, we make the operation more obvious, make the mobile client interaction more flexible and simpler. Also note that other platforms, now, users have more choices.

Because we want to do mobile phone client-related design, in order to get a better user experience, in the development process we follow the "mobile first" principle, all for the sake of cell phone users. Generally speaking, the mobile client should leave a large screen space as far as possible, which can make the input method more accurate.

Based on the above thinking, we started our app and conceived what it should be and how users would use it. We have studied other similar solutions, but feel that these solutions are in the ointment, so it needs to be further refined, even though there are some solutions that are already very good.

Our biggest wish is to make a smart schedule. You enter a scheduled task, and the schedule gives you the most appropriate time to schedule the task. For example: When you want to reschedule next week's plan, the system will be based on your current task to calculate, in the next week your spare time to arrange the task to be carried out, this will be a great app! for users, all of this is not through their own thinking, in the beautiful interface, Powerful algorithm for the common blessing, give users a best schedule. For the team, this will be a superb interface, but also have a super good product of the program!

The early stages of development: We made a ring menu, the options for intelligent scheduling in the calendar are also very complex, and now it seems really superfluous touch feedback.

Early in development, we put everything we thought into the interface, and the first model looked as good as it could be. We even want to add more features to make this app more "powerful". We added a group of select dates: Today, tomorrow, next week, someday ... A traditional view of the calendar, and "suggested date" things like that, but everything that we think can make this app look magical adds up to a brain. We experimented with various layouts, and a single screen could contain 6 to 9 options. Soon we found it impossible. So we started thinking about how we could cut the steps and get more options with less action. The idea that we've tried to show all of the features in the same screen before is problematic, because many of the features in this screen are redundant and can bring a lot of extra action. Therefore, we constantly modify, test, modify, test, repair, test, repair, measurement, repair, test ...

　　The problems that need to be solved

The first problem we found was that the system would intelligently select a date and deprive the user of a say. For example, when a user creates a new scheduled task and chooses "next week", the schedule is scheduled for a free day next week, regardless of whether the day is a holiday. Maybe the user wants to schedule a different date than the app, so we need to add a feedback to see if the user wants to schedule the day.

Another problem follows: We don't have enough data to really intelligently schedule users. Without the support of this database, users will need a lot of operations in the process, which is contrary to our original intention, and if you track the user's data and analyze the data, the program will face a great challenge!

At the same time, the app's interface is full of choices, and even a simple option requires a lot of manipulation, and we have a "choice paradox". This is a term coined by Barry Schwartz, presumably meaning that a task offers too many options to choose from, which is a daunting task in itself.

Todoist's founder, Amir Salihefendic, recalled the experience heartily: "We originally wanted to make a product that would save time and effort for users, but it was all a piece of paper, and when we started doing it, the nightmare started, We don't have enough data to make smart applications smart enough. ”

With the invaluable assistance of user experience designer Khoi Vinh, we are beginning to realize that we are deviating from our original purpose-to simplify things, and we make it more and more complicated.

And finally, the paradox of choice that we're talking about.

When developing an app, there are times when your imagination is limited, which means that what is likely to be done is not the same as the original idea, and we fall into the trap of our own setup. When we realize this, all we need to do is start over and rethink the whole system.

We like the simple user interface, so our new interface design must not be too complicated. Here, we use one of the design principles of Sheena Lyengar: Cut. We redo the "settings" and delete the "suggested date".

Although the Android and iOS two versions of the app function is the same, but the UI will be based on the different platform to make the appropriate adjustments. This version of layout already looks like it, but it is still possible to make adjustments before it is released.

The new layout is very concise, the final "set" we use the 3x2 way, select the good will go into a full size calendar, it is easy to see what time points have to do. Although there may be a better solution, after the test is complete, we find that the "better scenario" experience is not better and requires a steeper learning curve. So sometimes it's best to keep it simple.

It takes a lot of effort to develop an app, and we end up with a series of easy to understand decisions. All of these efforts are aimed at giving the user a better experience, and hopefully can actually help the user schedule and eventually get things done.