comma
comma
A toolkit that introduces balance into project workflows through mindful breaks with simple gamifications and reflective interventions.
A toolkit that introduces balance into project workflows through mindful breaks with simple gamifications and reflective interventions.
Disciplines
Behavioral Design
UX Research
UI Development
UI Development
Team
Manasi Vinze
Manasi Vinze
Process
Discover
Discover
Define
Define
Develop
Develop
Duration
1 week / 2025
1 week / 2025
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
comma is a toolkit that supports your creative process through project-specific workflows. It encourages mindful pauses and playful breaks, helping you stay balanced, avoid overexertion, and complete projects with clarity.
comma is a toolkit that supports your creative process through project-specific workflows. It encourages mindful pauses and playful breaks, helping you stay balanced, avoid overexertion, and complete projects with clarity.
Hover & select the stage you want to see
Select the stage you want to see
Personal Persona
ProbleM FraMing
ProbleM FraMing
The project stems from my own experience of a pattern of creative and perfection driven burnout. I began as the first user, translating self-reflection into structured understanding before reaching outward.
Rooted in my experience of creative, perfection driven burnout, the project turned self-reflection into a framework for growth.
“My standards keep me going, but I keep pushing until every detail feels right, even if it leaves me worn out.”
F / 20 years
UI/UX
Notices every little detail
“My standards keep me going, but I keep pushing until every detail feels right, even if it leaves me worn out.”
F / 20 years
UI/UX
Notices every detail
“The subjectivity of our field keeps me in a loop, there’s always scope to be better, because, why not?”
“I need a push from others because my own pressure makes me doubt my work and leaves in a loop”
Quoting
“Comes from a deep rooted cycle where boundaries often feel blurry, most of them lead by subjectivity”
“I rely on others to stop me from overinvesting while I cycle between rushing and perfecting.”
Key takeaways from user interviews
Quoting
“The subjectivity of our field keeps me in a loop, there’s always scope to be better, because, why not?”
“I need a push from others because my own pressure makes me doubt my work and leaves in a loop”
“Comes from a deep-rooted cycle where boundaries often feel blurry, most of them lead by subjectivity”
“I rely on others to stop me from overinvesting while I cycle between rushing and perfecting.”
Key takeaways from user interviews
InsigHts
InsigHts
"Make pausing feel like strength instead of failure and weakness?"
How MigHt We
Perfectionists often see slowing down or taking a break as failure, making rest feel undeserved.
"Help users break invisible work loops before burnout?"
How MigHt We
Overworking becomes a way to cope with stress, creating a constant loop cycle of burnout.
"Make pausing feel like strength instead of failure and weakness?"
How MigHt We
Perfectionists often see slowing down or taking a break as failure, making rest feel undeserved.
"Help users break invisible work loops before burnout?"
How MigHt We
Overworking becomes a way to cope with stress, creating a constant cycle of burnout.
"Help users build and sustain healthy boundaries?"
How MigHt We
Boundaries are self-taught, leaving users without tools to balance perfectionism and rest.
Click for Figjam board
Project Focus
Project Focus
Students with high personal standards need support to recognize and break recurring pressure cycles that often lead to silent burnout fueled by perfectionism, control, and the need for validation.
Students with high personal standards need support to recognize and break recurring pressure cycles that often lead to silent burnout fueled by perfectionism, control, and the need for validation.
Students who struggle with self pressure.
Students who struggle with self pressure.
User Group
User Group
Help break out of overwhelming loops.
User Needs
Perfectionism loops driving burnout cycles.
InsigHts
Help break out of overwhelming loops.
User Needs
Perfectionism loops driving burnout cycles.
Insight
Click for Figjam board
Personal Persona
Goals for Solution
Goals for Solution
Design Brief
Design Brief
Design a digital tool that integrates into project workflows to interrupt perfectionist overwhelm with light, gamified interventions. It should use symbolic breaks, quick reflections, and future-facing intent setting to promote mental clarity and self-alignment encouraging balance between focus and pause.
A digital tool that integrates into workflows to ease perfectionist overwhelm through light, gamified breaks, quick reflections, and intent setting for balance and clarity.
Not to portray perfectionism as a negative trait.
Focusing on the overwhelming cycles and loops.
Not to portray perfectionism as a negative trait.
Not too complex, less cognitive load on user.
To help practice perfectionism, with efficiency.
Focusing on the overwhelming cycles and loops.
Not too complex, less cognitive load on user.
To help practice perfectionism, with efficiency.
solution?
solution?
Several directions were explored—from workflow aids to playful interventions—focusing on easing overthinking loops. Ideas were refined through quick iterations and trigger mapping to identify light, low-effort points of intervention.
Several directions were explored—from workflow aids to playful interventions—focusing on easing overthinking loops. Ideas were refined through quick iterations and trigger mapping to identify light, low-effort points of intervention.
Several directions were explored—from workflow aids to playful interventions—focusing on easing overthinking loops. Ideas were refined through quick iterations and trigger mapping to identify light, low-effort points of intervention.
Entering the project at the very beginning of the stage.
How to Help?
“Can I have something that will nudge me towards a health work flow and structure.”
Rubric like structure where user can grade themselves
as per their levels.
Toolkit / plugin / container / frame / extension tracking your work
Silently follows the progress being done and the users response as well.
“Can I have something that nudges me towards a healthier work flow and structure.”
How to Help?
Silently follows & tracks the work being done and user's response.
Rubric like structure where user can grade themselves.
Toolkit / plugin / extension / framework / container.
Entering the project at the very beginning of the stage.
Gamification forcing the user to break the overwhelming loop.
Distract the user from constant work & nudge them to take a break.
comma
comma
A software plugin that acts as a companion throughout your creative process, helping you break free from cycles of perfectionism and overwhelm. It supports you at every stage, from setting mindful goals to pausing during overload, and reflecting meaningfully along the way.
A software plugin that acts as a companion throughout your creative process, helping you break free from cycles of perfectionism and overwhelm.
Onboarding
Onboarding
Users begin by feeding comma all key project details, task timelines, team members and deadlines. Once set, the toolkit observes progress and the timelines, it presents a clear, concise overview of ongoing projects.
A space to view ongoing projects and add new ones with ease.
Users begin by defining the project details, timelines, and team roles.
comma then observes progress and presents a clear overview of all ongoing work.
Project Onboarding Step
Project Onboarding Step
Project Onboarding Step
comma Dashboard
comma Dashboard
The dashboard brings structure and clarity to ongoing projects, helping users stay grounded and informed. By combining progress tracking, activity insights, task management, and team updates in one space, it turns complex workflows into a clear visual overview. Each element, from timelines to checklists, keeps momentum balanced between productivity and mindful pacing.
The dashboard brings structure and clarity, combining progress, tasks, and team updates into one clear view. It balances productivity with mindful pacing.
Key Features
Key Features
Key Features
Personal Pal
Your pal that stays with you through the project, reflecting your work-health through a burnout scale. As your workload shifts, it will respond, encouraging balance, awareness, and mindful breaks.
Don't let your pal and yourself burnout in the process :)
Personal Pal
Your personal pal stays with you through every project, mirroring your work health on a burnout scale.
Don’t let your pal, or yourself, burn out in the process :)
CrashOut?
CrashOut?
CrashOut turns internal chaos into a visual, playable experience. As your pal clears falling blocks, the weight of cluttered thoughts and mounting pressure, you symbolically clear your own mental space. The act of playing becomes a release, transforming overwhelm into movement and control.
CrashOut turns inner chaos into a playable experience. As your pal clears falling blocks, you symbolically clear mental space, transforming pressure into focus and control.
Gameplay
Across five stages, the pace quickens and time shortens, mirroring how pressure builds as a project nears completion.
Each block in the game represents mental clutter; clearing them reflects the act of creating mental space & regaining focus.
When blocks crash down, it visualizes burnout, the mental collapse of balance under piled up self and work pressure.
How does CrashOut play out?
The pal’s struggle parallels the user’s own effort to stay mindful, balancing productivity and mental well-being.
Each block represents mental clutter; clearing them creates space and focus.
Five stages speed up & shrink in time, mirroring rising pressure near deadlines.
Gameplay
How does CrashOut play out?
The pal’s struggle reflects the user’s fight to stay mindful and balanced.
Falling blocks symbolize burnout, the collapse under mounting pressure.
CrashOut is completely coded!
CrashOut is completely coded!
CrashOut is completely coded!
post CrashOut
post CrashOut
Short, guided questions prompt users to pause and assess their current state, both mentally and within the project, encouraging mindful awareness without overwhelming detail. Alongside this, live project stats and task analysis panels provide clarity on what’s been done, what’s next, and how the team’s efforts align, turning reflection into an actionable moment of reset and redirection.
Short, guided questions help users pause and assess their mental and project state, fostering mindful awareness without overload. Paired with live stats and task insights, they turn reflection into clear, actionable redirection.
Pal's Health
At this stage, your pal's health reflects the impact of your recent CrashOut, showing how the game’s outcome mirrors your current mental state and focus levels in the ongoing project.
It serves as a gentle cue to assess where you stand before moving forward.
Pal's Health
At this stage, your pal’s health mirrors the effects of your recent CrashOut, a visual cue of your current mental state.
It gently reminds you to pause and reflect before moving forward.
Key Features
Key Features
Key Features
how does comma work?
Click to play CrashOut
simply put, comma is
your creative pause — a space to check in, reflect, and gently reset.
It tracks your projects, helps you pause before burnout strikes. Through play and reflection, it creates balance.
simply put, comma is
your creative pause — a space to check in, reflect, and reset.
It tracks your projects, mirrors your mental state, helps you pause before burnout strikes. Through play and gentle reflection, it creates balance.
Click here for
next project
Click here for
next project
Vision Health
Vision Health