You spend twenty minutes hunting for the to-do list, only to find it overflowing with tasks you finished last week and deadlines you'd completely forgotten. By the time you actually start, your brain is already drained.

For adults with ADHD, standard apps don't help—they assume brains run in straight lines, punishing inconsistency and rewarding rigidity. I designed Neviimind to flip the script: a mobile companion built to stop the shame spiral, assume disruption, and make bouncing back effortless.

Role
Interaction Designer & Researcher
Timeline
Jan 2025 – May 2026
Recognition
SCAD Entelechy 2026 Finalist

Why typical apps fail here

ADHD clinicians,user interviews and literature review confirmed the root problem: standard tools treat missed tasks as a failure of willpower, rather than a failure of energy.

Skipping the to-do list setup

Filling out date fields and priority tags triggers shutdown when you're overwhelmed. "Fix It" was built to bypass all data entry and handle immediate triage instead.

Cutting down choices

Usability testing showed that exhausted users freeze when given options. I replaced multi-step planning with raw voice/text dumping and guilt-free resets.

Calming the screen down

Most apps add stress with red badges, high-contrast borders, and busy layouts. The interface was intentionally stripped back with muted tones and zero visual noise.

“The regulation-first approach is a principle I have not encountered in any tool I've previously reviewed or recommended to neurodivergent students.”

Shannon Schebell

BCBA · SCAD Office of Neurodiversity

“It's a form of bottom-up regulation — you can't ask the brain to organize a spreadsheet if the body hasn't had water in 24 hours.”

Paula Baker

LPC (trauma-informed therapist)

Designing around time blindness and task paralysis
Guilt-free prioritizing
Separating non-negotiable tasks from optional stretch goals eliminates choice paralysis and protects against shutdown.

Felt deadlines
Swapping calendar dates for relative time ("due in 2 days") bypasses the now vs. not now blind spot.

Contextual nudges
Replacing fixed-time alerts with location-based triggers ensures reminders appear when follow-through is possible.
Regulation before productivity
State before action
Asking "How's your energy right now?" before assigning work keeps low-focus moments from spiraling into avoidance.

Zero penalty gamification
Removing streaks and guilt mechanics prevents a single off-day from causing total app abandonment.

Validated impact
Testers consistently described the flow as "forgiving" and "not intimidating," transforming rigid demands into gentle momentum.
A body double in your pocket
Zero-tax capture
Brain Dump accepts raw voice memos, unedited text, or scattered fragments without forcing formatting or tagging upfront.

Decoupling entry from organizing
Offloading sorting to the background prevents the drop-off that happens when users are forced to file a thought while still having it.

Prioritizing momentum over precision
Protecting working memory matters more than a perfect tag; users can fine-tune structure later when they actually have the bandwidth.
Smart Watch Companion
Biometric detection
Flags resting heart-rate spikes to intercept stress spirals early.

Quiet intervention
Uses subtle haptics instead of noisy screen notifications that add to sensory overload.

Phone-free triage
Triggers an instant wrist voice-dump so users can offload spiraling thoughts without opening an app.

Testimonials

Here’s what participants said

“I don't have to do the mental math anymore. I can see the date and how many days I have left, both at once.”
Participant 6
Age 27
Self-Diagnosed ADHD
“If it tells me the whole thing takes two hours, I won't start. I like that it breaks it down into sub-tasks. If it says fifteen minutes, I'll start — and I usually keep going.”
Participant 2
Age 20
ADHD Diagnosis
“It feels so forgiving—nothing is guilting me into doing anything. The gentle start is great, and it's the first time I understood I'm regulating rather than just procrastinating”
Participant 4
Age 34
ADHD + Anxiety Diagnosis

Early iterations looked like a planner. The final design behaves like a partner.

Check out my other work:

You spend twenty minutes hunting for the to-do list, only to find it overflowing with tasks you finished last week and deadlines you'd completely forgotten. By the time you actually start, your brain is already drained.

For adults with ADHD, standard apps don't help—they assume brains run in straight lines, punishing inconsistency and rewarding rigidity. I designed Neviimind to flip the script: a mobile companion built to stop the shame spiral, assume disruption, and make bouncing back effortless.

Role
Interaction Designer & Researcher
Timeline
Jan 2025 – May 2026
Recognition
SCAD Entelechy 2026 Finalist

Why typical apps fail here

ADHD clinicians,user interviews and literature review confirmed the root problem: standard tools treat missed tasks as a failure of willpower, rather than a failure of energy.

Skipping the to-do list setup

Filling out date fields and priority tags triggers shutdown when you're overwhelmed. "Fix It" was built to bypass all data entry and handle immediate triage instead.

Cutting down choices

Usability testing showed that exhausted users freeze when given options. I replaced multi-step planning with raw voice/text dumping and guilt-free resets.

Calming the screen down

Most apps add stress with red badges, high-contrast borders, and busy layouts. The interface was intentionally stripped back with muted tones and zero visual noise.

“The regulation-first approach is a principle I have not encountered in any tool I've previously reviewed or recommended to neurodivergent students.”

Shannon Schebell

BCBA · SCAD Office of Neurodiversity

“It's a form of bottom-up regulation — you can't ask the brain to organize a spreadsheet if the body hasn't had water in 24 hours.”

Paula Baker

LPC (trauma-informed therapist)

Designing around time blindness and task paralysis
Guilt-free prioritizing
Separating non-negotiable tasks from optional stretch goals eliminates choice paralysis and protects against shutdown.

Felt deadlines
Swapping calendar dates for relative time ("due in 2 days") bypasses the now vs. not now blind spot.

Contextual nudges
Replacing fixed-time alerts with location-based triggers ensures reminders appear when follow-through is possible.
Regulation before productivity
State before action
Asking "How's your energy right now?" before assigning work keeps low-focus moments from spiraling into avoidance.

Zero penalty gamification
Removing streaks and guilt mechanics prevents a single off-day from causing total app abandonment.

Validated impact
Testers consistently described the flow as "forgiving" and "not intimidating," transforming rigid demands into gentle momentum.
A body double in your pocket
Zero-tax capture
Brain Dump accepts raw voice memos, unedited text, or scattered fragments without forcing formatting or tagging upfront.

Decoupling entry from organizing
Offloading sorting to the background prevents the drop-off that happens when users are forced to file a thought while still having it.

Prioritizing momentum over precision
Protecting working memory matters more than a perfect tag; users can fine-tune structure later when they actually have the bandwidth.
Intervening before the spiral:
Smart Watch Companion
Biometric detection
Flags resting heart-rate spikes to intercept stress spirals early.

Quiet intervention
Uses subtle haptics instead of noisy screen notifications that add to sensory overload.

Phone-free triage
Triggers an instant wrist voice-dump so users can offload spiraling thoughts without opening an app.

Testimonials

Here’s what participants said

“I don't have to do the mental math anymore. I can see the date and how many days I have left, both at once.”
Participant 6
Age 27
Self-Diagnosed ADHD
“If it tells me the whole thing takes two hours, I won't start. I like that it breaks it down into sub-tasks. If it says fifteen minutes, I'll start — and I usually keep going.”
Participant 2
Age 20
ADHD Diagnosis
“It feels so forgiving—nothing is guilting me into doing anything. The gentle start is great, and it's the first time I understood I'm regulating rather than just procrastinating”
Participant 4
Age 34
ADHD + Anxiety Diagnosis

Early iterations looked like a planner. The final design behaves like a partner.

Check out my other work:

You spend twenty minutes hunting for the to-do list, only to find it overflowing with tasks you finished last week and deadlines you'd completely forgotten. By the time you actually start, your brain is already drained.

For adults with ADHD, standard apps don't help—they assume brains run in straight lines, punishing inconsistency and rewarding rigidity. I designed Neviimind to flip the script: a mobile companion built to stop the shame spiral, assume disruption, and make bouncing back effortless.

Role
Interaction Designer & Researcher
Timeline
Jan 2025 – May 2026
Recognition
SCAD Entelechy 2026 Finalist

Why typical apps fail here

ADHD clinicians, user interviews and literature review confirmed the root problem: standard tools treat missed tasks as a failure of willpower, rather than a failure of regulation.

Skipping the to-do list setup

Filling out date fields and priority tags triggers shutdown when you're overwhelmed. "Fix It" was built to bypass all data entry and handle immediate triage instead.

Cutting down choices

Usability testing showed that exhausted users freeze when given options. I replaced multi-step planning with raw voice/text dumping and guilt-free resets.

Calming the screen down

Most apps add stress with red badges, high-contrast borders, and busy layouts. The interface was intentionally stripped back with muted tones and zero visual noise.

“The regulation-first approach is a principle I have not encountered in any tool I've previously reviewed or recommended to neurodivergent students.”

Shannon Schebell

BCBA · SCAD Office of Neurodiversity

“It's a form of bottom-up regulation — you can't ask the brain to organize a spreadsheet if the body hasn't had water in 24 hours.”

Paula Baker

LPC (trauma-informed therapist)

Designing around time blindness and task paralysis
Guilt-free prioritizing
Separating non-negotiable tasks from optional stretch goals eliminates choice paralysis and protects against shutdown.

Felt deadlines
Swapping calendar dates for relative time ("due in 2 days") bypasses the now vs. not now blind spot.

Contextual nudges
Replacing fixed-time alerts with location-based triggers ensures reminders appear when follow-through is possible.
Regulation before productivity
State before action
Asking "How's your energy right now?" before assigning work keeps low-focus moments from spiraling into avoidance.

Zero penalty gamification
Removing streaks and guilt mechanics prevents a single off-day from causing total app abandonment.

Validated impact
Testers consistently described the flow as "forgiving" and "not intimidating," transforming rigid demands into gentle momentum.
A body double in your pocket
Zero-tax capture
Brain Dump accepts raw voice memos, unedited text, or scattered fragments without forcing formatting or tagging upfront.

Decoupling entry from organizing
Offloading sorting to the background prevents the drop-off that happens when users are forced to file a thought while still having it.

Prioritizing momentum over precision
Protecting working memory matters more than a perfect tag; users can fine-tune structure later when they actually have the bandwidth.
Intervening before the spiral:
Smart Watch Companion
Biometric detection
Flags resting heart-rate spikes to intercept stress spirals early.

Quiet intervention
Uses subtle haptics instead of noisy screen notifications that add to sensory overload.

Phone-free triage
Triggers an instant wrist voice-dump so users can offload spiraling thoughts without opening an app.

Testimonials

Here’s what participants said

“I don't have to do the mental math anymore. I can see the date and how many days I have left, both at once.”
Participant 6
Age 27
Self-Diagnosed ADHD
“If it tells me the whole thing takes two hours, I won't start. I like that it breaks it down into sub-tasks. If it says fifteen minutes, I'll start — and I usually keep going.”
Participant 2
Age 20
ADHD Diagnosis
“It feels so forgiving—nothing is guilting me into doing anything. The gentle start is great, and it's the first time I understood I'm regulating rather than just procrastinating”
Participant 4
Age 34
ADHD + Anxiety Diagnosis

Role

Timeline

Recognition

“The regulation-first approach is a principle I have not encountered in any tool I've previously reviewed or recommended to neurodivergent students.”

“It's a form of bottom-up regulation — you can't ask the brain to organize a spreadsheet if the body hasn't had water in 24 hours.”

Designing around time blindness and task paralysis

Regulation before productivity

A body double in your pocket

Smart Watch Companion

Testimonials

Early iterations looked like a planner. The final design behaves like a partner.

Role

Timeline

Recognition

“The regulation-first approach is a principle I have not encountered in any tool I've previously reviewed or recommended to neurodivergent students.”

“It's a form of bottom-up regulation — you can't ask the brain to organize a spreadsheet if the body hasn't had water in 24 hours.”

Designing around time blindness and task paralysis

Regulation before productivity

A body double in your pocket

Intervening before the spiral:

Smart Watch Companion

Testimonials

Early iterations looked like a planner. The final design behaves like a partner.

Role

Timeline

Recognition

“The regulation-first approach is a principle I have not encountered in any tool I've previously reviewed or recommended to neurodivergent students.”

“It's a form of bottom-up regulation — you can't ask the brain to organize a spreadsheet if the body hasn't had water in 24 hours.”

Designing around time blindness and task paralysis

Regulation before productivity

A body double in your pocket

Intervening before the spiral:

Smart Watch Companion

Testimonials

Early iterations looked like a planner. The final design behaves like a partner.