Make use of what is there

Remembering all the things you need to do in everyday life can be hard. Especially when you have a mental disability. I am experimenting with a small app and widget to give some structure on certain points in the day to my daughter. But it is based on this earlier experiment

For now I won’t discuss the app, but mainly the structure I use to fill the app. An app like this needs data from caretakers, they need to add events and reminders. Before you know you as a designer are creating a comprehensive website or app to manage this. With synchronisation, right systems and what not. I’m always very interested in minimising development, especially when still discovering what approaches of the problem might work.

In this project I decided to only use tools that are already available on the Apple ecosystem. To fill the App, you can create events in the standard calendar application. To add reminders you use Apple’s reminders app.

To share these with other caregivers, you just share the calendar with them using the system apple designed. Syncing and rights are handled by Apple. By taking this approach I have created more flexibility for myself to experiment. But I think it could be used more broadly within experiments, but maybe even in production. So that you don’t have to do the heavy lifting.

Some ideas:

• Use Apple Notes to structure stuff
• Use Albums in Photos to store images, or let users influence images within your App
• Use HealthKit to store data