Designing a gamified focus experience that rewards productivity.
Catch the Ghost is a productivity app that combines focus timers, historical discovery, and game mechanics to make focus sessions more rewarding. Unlike traditional timers, it lets users uncover historical figures, collect rewards, build streaks, and progress through a larger ecosystem of content.
Most focus timer apps are straightforward — start a timer, wait for it to end, repeat. Reviewing competing products, I noticed that nearly all of them relied entirely on self-discipline. There was little excitement or anticipation attached to the focus experience itself.
"How might we make focus feel rewarding enough that users want to come back repeatedly — while keeping it simple enough to start without friction?"
The foundation of Catch the Ghost is the process of catching a Ghost — a historical figure that users gradually reveal through focused work sessions. Each Ghost contains:
To fully catch a Ghost, users must reveal all of its apparitions through multiple focus sessions. This created a powerful reward system where every focus session contributed to a larger goal.
The apparition uncovers, pixel by pixel, as you stay with the task.
At the end, the full figure and a quote — the emotional payoff.
Through user feedback, stakeholder discussions, and internal reviews, four problems kept surfacing between people and a rewarding focus session. We worked on redesigning each one.
The first version followed a more traditional flow. Users would download the app, open a Starter Pack, select a Ghost, navigate to the timer screen, select a tag, and only then start a focus session.
This approach created several usability issues:
Beyond the shorter path, I introduced clearer selection feedback, reorganized the Ghost page, reduced navigation complexity, and improved the discoverability of core actions, making the flow feel intentional rather than incidental.
The original Starter Pack model gave users only a small set of Ghosts to choose from, this limited variety and reduced the excitement around discovery. To address this, we introduce mood-based discovery. This is a randomized way of selecting ghosts based on a user's mood.
Select a mood, receive a Ghost aligned with that feeling. Surprise without decision fatigue.
Self-declared interests narrow recommendations and improve relevance.
Together, these systems created a more personalised experience while keeping discovery exciting.
A fixed 30-minute timer didn't serve users with different tasks, energy levels, or schedules. One size never fits all.
A fixed 30-minute timer, no flexibility.
A flexible timer, from 25 to 120 minutes.
The original business model required users to pay upfront before experiencing the value of the product — creating a significant barrier to adoption.
We moved the paywall to after the aha moment, shifting monetisation from access-based to convenience-based and letting users experience value before making purchasing decisions.
Pay before you have any reason to.
Feel the value, then decide.
The product evolved toward a free-tier and subscription model. At the same time, the Store was redesigned to support optional progression — users could purchase Ghost Packs, unlock specific historical figures faster, and expand their collections.
A single reward was not enough to encourage long-term engagement. To reinforce positive behaviour, I helped design multiple gamification systems that worked together — each addressing a different motivational pattern.
Real stakes — abandoning a session risks losing progress toward rewards users worked hard to earn, increasing commitment to completion.
Reward consistency, not intensity. Rather than focusing on individual sessions, the system promotes habit formation by rewarding daily return.
A social layer — users compare focus achievements with others, introducing friendly competition and increased motivation.
A long-term progression system — follow paths toward Legendary Ghosts, the most famous historical figures in the product.
Not all focus sessions are the same. To support different contexts, the product included three focus modes — and in the process expanded from pure productivity into wellbeing.
For lighter tasks: email, administrative work, quick tasks.
For sustained concentration: writing, coding, studying.
For users who want to disconnect from their devices and build healthier nighttime routines.
Productivity products are motivation products.
Working on Catch the Ghost taught me that productivity products are ultimately motivation products. The most impactful design decisions were not about timers or settings — they were about reducing friction, creating meaningful rewards, and building systems that encouraged users to return.
Through multiple iterations, stakeholder collaboration, testing, and product evolution, I helped transform a traditional focus timer into an experience centred on discovery, progression, and habit formation.
"Simple and effective UI."
"The timer and the catching apparitions concept is unique and well done."
"The only app I've found that FORCES you to lock in."
If you have a new idea, a product to improve, or an interesting problem to solve, I'd love to hear about it.
