01
Capture
A large, low-friction brain dump gives users room to unload thoughts without formatting them first.
Native iOS · AI-assisted product design
Bramble
Turning mental clutter into clear next steps.
Bramble is an AI-assisted mental clarity and productivity app designed for people who need help before the to-do list - when ideas, reminders, worries, and half-started tasks are all competing at once.
The problem
Productivity tools often start one step too late.
Most task managers assume the user already knows what the task is, how important it is, where it belongs, and when it should happen. That is exactly the work an overwhelmed user may be struggling to do.
Traditional flow
Add task → choose project → set priority → estimate time → schedule it
Bramble flow
Tell me what is in your head.
Product hypothesis
What if the user provided the mess - and the product provided the structure?
Bramble was designed around a simple principle: capture first, organize second. The experience accepts unstructured thought, interprets the context, and transforms it into something useful without asking the user to pre-organize themselves.
01CaptureThoughts, voice, notes, mood
02InterpretContext, themes, intent
03StructureTasks, time blocks, prompts
04ActFocus, complete, reflect
The core experience
From unstructured thought to a workable day.
The primary product loop is intentionally short: get it out, let Bramble make sense of it, then move directly into action.
02
Interpret
Bramble reflects back the context, then extracts actionable items with categories and estimated effort.
03
Structure
The output becomes a realistic schedule instead of another unsorted task list.
04
Act
Users can enter a focused session or mark the work complete without leaving the plan.
AI transformation
AI that transforms instead of chats.
I did not want Bramble to become another chatbot. The intelligence is embedded in the workflow: users provide natural language, then the system performs the organizational work.
“I need to get a workout in today, but I also have a lot of content work hanging over me…”
Workout · 45 min
Content planning · 90 min
Real estate updates · 60 min
Reflection prompts
Designing for cognitive load
Reduce decisions before asking for action.
The Dump experience uses multiple low-effort entry points so users can begin with the state they are already in, rather than adapting to a rigid system.
Mental-state check-in
Scattered, foggy, wired, and focused states give the system lightweight context without a long questionnaire.
Flexible capture
Type, speak, or scan. The interaction is designed around getting thoughts out quickly, not entering perfect data.
Optional quick tags
Stress, wants, reminders, and ideas add structure only when it helps - never as a prerequisite to continue.
From intention to action
Planning was not the finish line.
The Today experience keeps the next action visible and gives every scheduled item two clear choices: focus or done.
Reflection
Not every thought should become a task.
Bramble uses the same dump to generate contextual journal prompts, creating a space for reflection alongside execution.
This prevents the product from treating every concern as something to optimize. Some thoughts need action; others need attention.
Momentum & return behavior
Make starting feel smaller.
Play introduces short, low-friction focus tools that help users move from stuck to started. Patterns then turns repeated use into a clearer picture of behavior over time.
A longer-term feedback loop
Use → notice → understand → return.
Streaks, badges, weekly history, and Pro insights create a reason to return without making the core brain-dump experience dependent on gamification.
Product & business strategy
Monetization without breaking the core value.
The free experience demonstrates Bramble’s core promise. Pro expands the depth of the product through unlimited dumps, insights, scan, badges, and additional brain games.
The goal was to make the upgrade feel additive rather than holding the first useful moment hostage.
System thinking
A calm interface for a noisy mental state.
Dark tonal surfaces, restrained purple accents, rounded containers, contextual chips, and clear active states establish a consistent visual language across capture, planning, reflection, play, and monetization.
Visual language
Near-black surfaces, luminous purple, blue-violet gradients, soft borders, and minimal chrome.
Flexible navigation
Users can customize the tab bar and expose deeper areas such as Patterns without overloading the default experience.
How I built with AI
AI supported the process. Product judgment still drove it.
I used AI across research, product strategy, design exploration, implementation, debugging, and QA - not as a one-click replacement for design work, but as a way to extend how far I could take the product myself.
ChatGPT
Ideation, product strategy, competitive thinking, feature prioritization, information architecture, UX flows, microcopy, edge cases, and critique.
Figma
Product design, interaction patterns, visual direction, component thinking, and interface refinement.
Codex
Translated product requirements into implementation, iterated on native iOS features, debugged issues, and refined behavior.
VS Code
Worked directly with the codebase, reviewed changes, managed implementation details, and validated fixes.
Xcode + Simulator
Tested interaction states, navigation, visual fidelity, edge cases, and production readiness in the actual iOS environment.
Research + ideation→UX + product decisions→Design→AI-assisted build→QA + iteration
Current state
From concept to functioning native product.
Bramble now has a defined product proposition, end-to-end core loop, monetization model, reusable interaction patterns, and a functioning iOS build.
- Defined the product strategy and primary mental-clarity workflow
- Designed the brain dump → AI structure → Today → reflection loop
- Built Focus, Play, Patterns, achievements, and Pro experiences
- Used an AI-assisted workflow to move beyond handoff into implementation and QA
- Established a scalable visual and interaction system for native iOS