A first-place winning project from the inaugural 2025 Design Jam hosted by the University of Pittsburgh.

Overview

Over a week, my team and I designed, prototyped, and pitched Time Forge. Time Forge is a gamified Pomodoro timer created with a medieval theme and pixel art. Study for a set amount of time, then take a break at the local tavern! At the tavern, you can take a break and relax or speak to the locals to learn more about the secrets of the town.

My role for this project was the UX Researcher. In this position, I created a Google Form with questions that gauged what users were looking for in an application that helped students remain productive during study/focus sessions. In this role, I also assisted the team’s UX Designer Ange with the low and high-fidelity prototypes of Time Forge.

Phase I: User Research

User Personas

For this design challenge, we were given three different personas to design our project around. We were given the option to design around one of the three, two of the three, or all of the personas. This project was designed around JG3 and Prof. Zev.

Students are struggling to lock in.

• A 2021 survey by Top Hat reported that over 80% of students use some form of productivity tool.

• 80-95% students procrastinate, according to the American Psychology Association.

How can we motivate students to work on their tasks in an accessible yet playful way?

Gauging User Interest/Needs

Using a Google Form, I created a survey to gauge interest and needs students would have wanted to see in a study/focus app. Below are some results from the survey.

Our Solution

Time Forge - A gamified Pomodoro timer with a medieval theme and pixel art. With Time Forge, you will be able to set your own study/work time and break times. During your breaks, you’re welcome to hangout in the tavern where you can relax and ease your mind or learn more about the secrets that lie within this town.

Pomofocus: A free time-blocking timer that allows users to set their focus and break times to allow users to stay focused on the tasks they’ve set for themselves.

Forest: Another time-blocking platform that encourages users to stay focused on their tasks. One key feature of this app is that it allows users to grow a tree as they’re working on their tasks but if users exit the app, their tree dies. This app comes at a one-time purchase of $3.99.

Spirit City: Lofi Sessions: A gamified focus tool where users can discover and collect Spirits. You can also customize a virtual avatar and environments.

Phase II: Design

Using Figma, we created low-fidelity wireframes to visualize a concept of the app’s layout.

Wireframes

Following the creation of our low-fidelity wireframe, the team began working on our high-fidelity prototype. Using pixel art images created by our Digital Artist Henry and images from PiiiXL and Itch.io, we were able to bring some of our artistic ideas for Time Forge to reality.

Storyboarding/Impact

We quickly created a storyboard to display the persona we were building around (JG3) would use TimeForge and how it would impact his academic performance.

Limitations & Key Takeaways

• Coming up with a coordinating schedule as full-time students presented challenges in maintaining a consistent workflow throughout the project.

• Conducting user research and iterating on design concepts within a one-week timeframe required quick decision-making and adaptability.

• While TimeForge was developed as a conceptual prototype, it demonstrated the potential to motivate students to remain engaged and focused on tasks through thoughtful UX design.

• The development of distinct personas allowed us to account for a diverse user base, guiding inclusive and user-centered design decisions