Wando

From one to zen

Living in the busiest and most complex time humankind has so far experienced, to-do-lists have become some sort of lifesavers. People love and need to-do lists. So do we.

We use them everyday, be it for business or private matters. They help us organize any given life situation / project and make us save much valuable time.

Yet, we haven't been too happy with available solutions that had currently been out on the market place. What we missed was an app that was custom fit to our needs and style, that looked and worked just the way we wanted it.

And because there was no such app, we decided to design and build one, and we called it Wando.

Wando Project Thumbnail — Collaborative Joy

The biggest challenge when working on Wando was integrating a private project idea into our business / studio. Meaning: how much time and energy were we willing or even able to spend on it while having valuable client's project on our work desks, too?

Also, how do we find the perfect balance between a clean, minimalist design without missing out on important functions? Because in the end, we wanted to create an app as lean as possible without missing any possible nicety there is.

Strategy

Brand narrative
Brand positioning
Tone of voice
Visual language

Research

Prototyping
Usability testing
User interviews
Persona creation
User journey mapping

Design & Production

UI design
Motion design
Design system
Dev documentation
Design sprints & workshops

Platforms

Android
iOS
Web

Color

#FAFAFA

100

#F5F5F5

200

#EEEEEE

300

#E0E0E0

400

#BDBDBD

500

#9E9E9E

600

#757575

700

#616161

800

#444444

900

#222222

Black

#000000

White

#FFFFFF

Creating an app that was as minimalist and calm as possible, we put focus on the content / tasks by only working with a light and dark version.

By reducing the color-design to a bare minimum, Wando avoids being overloaded and puts focus on the purpose and heart of the app: the task. We wanted the design to remain in the background, discreetly guiding people through gentle and specific color accents for actions.

Typography

A font that is just as calm and smooth as we wanted Wando to be, we found Inter to be the perfect fit. It is perfectly readable and easy to scan — especially on smaller scopes.

Even more, we refrained from using a branded font as we did not want to force any label on people. It is the content of the people that gives life to Wando, like color on a blank canvas, and not a given brand or font.

Iconography

Angular and bold icons, characterized by simple forms that support the UX. Again, we aspired to guarantee a maximum readability and scan-ability to make a quick process and recognition possible.

Icons that support a task / list to safe people's time and energy. Because that is exactly what Wando does.

Giving character to a screen and, moreover, explaining a screen's topic easily and wordlessly, we integrated striking illustrations to Wando's design.

Illustrations that highlight and support the zen feeling that Wando gives, motivating people without being intrusive. Just like everything else, the central thoughtful and calm theme of Wando gets supported by these illustrations.

Motion

We understand Wando as blank paper, happily waiting to be filled by people. Adding moving elements to the app brings life to the app without claiming all the attention for itself. Rather than that, our moving elements visually celebrate little achievements, e.g. completing a given task.

Subtle, modest movements that highlight what is happening — not more, not less.

All in all, Wando helps people spend the day anchored in calmness and structure.

Following the mission to wind up the chaos in people's heads, we created and designed a product with a very powerful red thread.

I appreciate structure and I love a to-do list. One that syncs across devices is even better. Wando does that, and does it beautifully. The lean and minimal UI offers a very calming environment to create tasks without feeling overwhelmed by over-engineered options. It's incredibly quick, simple, and intuitive. And that is all I'm looking for."