The Design

Before Michelle joined the project I focused on the information architecture. I tried to make an experience that Michelle would like a lot. Starting simple, I gave it a morning routine, a splash of Tetris, a bunch of quotes that she liked, and a clean font.

My initial design

It looked good enough and now I knew enough to kept moving forward with the UX and hardware.

Thinking it was a good idea to keep moving and there was a chance Michelle had some tweaks, I settled for a rough design.

By Christmas Eve the hardware was in a good spot. Yay!

But I barely started the software..

Crunch Time

By Christmas dinner it became clear I delayed long enough, so I gave it to her unfinished with a Tetris opener.

[insert the christmas card] - Tetris!

"Wow, you've put a lot of thought into this!"

I was showing her all of the UI designs, CAD drawings, fabrication timelapses, and inspirations for it. To my surprise she didn't mind at all that it was unfinished!

The Redesign

Then the coolest thing happened. She took to her laptop and in one day completely redesigned the UI.

"If this is something I'm going to use everyday, then it's got to look good," she said.
"Good point," I replied.

Michelle's Design

Not too shabby ;)

Her contributions are pretty awesome and unexpected. Michelle and I have been working together on projects for some time now, and she really got into this one!