Case Study
Designing Focus Laser
A focus timer for iPhone built around one idea: once a session starts, the app should step back and let you work. This is how that idea shaped every screen.
Role
Product design, UI design and iOS development
Platform
iPhone, portrait and landscape
Built with
Swift and Xcode
Status
In development, coming soon to the App Store
The Challenge
A focus app shouldn’t be one more distraction
Most timer apps fill the screen with buttons, stats and color that keep pulling your eyes back to the phone. That works against the reason you opened the app in the first place.
The goal for Focus Laser was a timer that is quick to start, easy to read at a glance, and almost invisible while you work, whether the phone is in your hand, flat on a desk or propped up beside your keyboard.
Design Principles
Three rules for every screen
01
Get out of the way
When a session is running, the timer is the only thing that matters. Everything else waits quietly in the background.
02
Readable at a glance
Time remaining should be clear from across a desk, so a quick look tells you everything without picking up the phone.
03
Fit how people work
Sessions, breaks and the way the phone sits on your desk should adapt to you, not the other way around.
Design Decisions
Key decisions
A distraction-free focus screen
The moment a session starts, the interface changes character. Controls, labels and secondary information dim back, leaving the timer as the brightest thing on the screen.
- Less visual noise. Dimmed controls stop competing for attention, so your eyes go back to your work, not the phone.
- Still within reach. Controls are dimmed, not hidden, so pausing or ending a session never means hunting for a button.
- A clear sense of mode. The shift in brightness makes it obvious at a glance whether you’re focusing or between sessions.
Portrait or landscape
People don’t hold a phone the same way while they work. Focus Laser works in both orientations, and the layout adapts to make the most of each.
- Portrait for one-handed use: set up a session and start it with your thumb.
- Landscape for the desk: prop the phone on a stand beside your monitor and it becomes a large, glanceable focus clock.
- One consistent experience. The timer and controls keep the same hierarchy in either orientation, so nothing has to be relearned.
Features
What’s in the app
Customizable timers
Set your own focus session and break lengths to match the way you work.
Distraction-free mode
The focus screen dims everything but the timer while a session is active.
Progress tracking
Daily and weekly stats show how your focus time adds up.
Any orientation
Use it in portrait in your hand or in landscape on a desk stand.
The Experience
A session, start to finish
1
Set it up
Pick a focus length in a couple of taps. Controls are fully lit and easy to reach.
2
Lock in
Start the session and the interface dims back, leaving just the timer in view.
3
Take a break
When time is up, the screen comes back to life so you know it’s time to recharge.
4
See your progress
Review daily and weekly stats and keep the momentum going.
Visual Identity
Built for a native feel
The name sets the tone: a single, precise beam of attention. The app icon and interface carry that idea through with a focused, uncluttered look, while familiar iOS patterns keep the app feeling at home on iPhone from the first tap.
Coming soon to the App Store
Focus Laser is in development for iPhone. Have a project that needs the same attention to detail?
