RESEARCH / CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT / UI/UX DESIGNSoft tech for a noisy world.
Pause is a low-stimulation screen time companion that helps you take mindful breaks — one gentle pause at a time.
THE PROBLEMWe don’t notice when we’ve gone too far
Our screens were built to keep us hooked. But who’s helping us let go?
Hours slip away in a blur of scrolling, switching, and swiping. Even when we’re aware of our habits, change often feels hard. Most screen time apps are either easy to bypass or only track our behaviour.
Pause was created to do something different: to introduce small, compassionate moments of pause. Moments that remind us to stop, feel, and breathe before the next tap.
THE CONCEPT & RESEARCHWhat if your phone reminded you to pause, not scroll?
Meet Pause — a mindful space between you and your screen.
Pause began as a Master of Design research project exploring how digital product design can encourage healthier digital habits for university students. It explores how design can help users slow down, not speed up.
Drawing from ethnographic insights and studies on design friction and low-stimulation interfaces, the project found that calm, minimal visuals can reduce overstimulation and promote mindful behaviour. It uses visual quietness, reflection, and intentional friction to create space for awareness — not guilt.
The app’s calm tones and unhurried flow invite users to reconnect with their attention and notice what they’re about to do.
Pause transforms these findings into a tool that feels gentle, humane, and deeply intentional.
THE IRONYA digital tool that helps you disconnect
Yes — it’s an app that helps you use your phone less.
The irony is deliberate. Pause meets you where you already are (on your screen) and offers a moment of stillness before you continue. It doesn’t demand disconnection. It simply gives you permission to stop for a second and remember that you’re in control.
KEY FEATURESThe Pause Experience
Pause is more than an app — it’s a mindful experience woven into your daily digital rhythm. Its features work gently and quietly, nudging you toward awareness instead of control, reflection instead of reaction.
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Start right away — no account, no pressure.
Pause lets you explore everything before asking for commitment. When you’re ready to see your progress, you can create an account to save your insights. -
Setting up Pause feels more like a story than a form.
Each screen introduces one choice at a time, helping you personalise your experience without the overwhelm. -
Take control of your scrolls.
Choose which apps to lock and how long you can use them each day. Scroll Sessions act like time capsules, where you have brief windows for intentional use. Once your sessions are done, you’re encouraged to rest your mind before returning to the feed. -
Before you unlock your apps again, Pause invites you to complete a small real-world challenge called a Pause Quest.
They come in four categories:Fitness Quests — move your body
Cognitive Quests — stretch your mind
Social Quests — connect with others
Mindfulness Quests — slow down and breathe
The more you scroll, the more challenging the quests become — helping you notice your habits and shift them naturally.
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Meet your digital companion: your Pause Pet.
Each Pause Quest you accomplish, your Pause Pet gets an equivalent treat. It grows happier every time you step away from your screen, collecting little “memories” in its gallery. The more pauses you take, the more adventures your pet experiences; like a quiet celebration of your mindful moments. -
Other features of the app include:
Dashboard of updates and statistic breakdowns while using the app (found in the Home screen);
Modification of preferences after initial setup (found in the Settings screen);
Dashboard of updates related to the user’s Pause Pet (found in the Pet screen); and
User’s account overview and options involving account management (found in the Profile screen)
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When you’re ready to move on, you can gracefully close your journey.
Your data is deleted, and your Pause Pet is lovingly “adopted” into the story world; a gentle reminder that the goal was never the app itself, but the awareness it helped you build.
DESIGN PROTOTYPEHow does Pause work?
Designed using Figma, here is a preview of the app prototype in action.
Or better yet, why not test the app prototype yourself?
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For this testing, your name will be ‘Ginny’ and will be typed into the textbox for you.
Choose ‘Frankie’ the dog as your Pause Pet.
Tick ‘Instagram’, ‘Snapchat’, and ‘TikTok’ as your locked apps.
Input ‘3’ for your scroll sessions.
Input ‘5’ for the number of minutes.
Tap on ‘Fitness’ as your Pause Quest activity.
When you reach the setup completion screen (screen that says ‘Hooray!’), please drag the bottom of the screen to reveal phone’s home screen.
When you reach the phone’s home screen, tap ‘TikTok’.
At the end of the ‘TikTok Scroll Session’, tap ‘Home’ to go back to the Pause app.