Project: Momotaro.app → Self Initiated, iOS App, Branding, Design, UI/UX

2025

Here's the thing about meditation apps. They're all trying so hard. So desperately, achingly hard. Gamification! Social features! Streaks! Badges! Charts! It's like watching someone at a cocktail party who won't stop talking about their CrossFit routine. Meanwhile, all you wanted was to sit quietly for 20 minutes.

So I Decided to Build My Own (How Hard Could It Be?) I've spent years building brands, leading creative teams, crafting visual identities that stick in people's minds. Character design is my obsession the way a simple curve can convey personality, how color choices become emotional anchors. I thought Momotaro would be the perfect laboratory to mix it all together. Brand thinking. Character soul. Digital craft. All wrapped up in a focus timer that actually understood what focus means.

Character Designs

The character sketches came first—before any code. Then the themes. Six of them. Not fifty. Not customizable. Each one chosen for a very specific reason: they had to be calm enough. Colors that understood the assignment—sit there, look good, don't shout. The kind of palettes that whisper instead of scream.

The character sketches came first before any code. Then the themes. Each one chosen for a very specific reason: they had to be calm enough. The kind of palettes that whisper instead of scream.

Color Explorations

Now here I am flying solo into the unknown. No creative briefs. No stakeholder meetings. Just me, Claude Code, Xcode, and a vision of what a focus timer could be if it wasn't trying so hard.

The final design, simple, iconic, friendly — :)

Look at that timer. Iconic, friendly, no clutter. Just minutes and seconds doing their thing. Every completed session quietly building toward the next unlock. Like David Lynch says about meditation—keep your eye on the donut, not the hole. Focus on what's there, not what's missing.

My aim is for people to never think about the typography decisions or the color theory. They won't see the character design principles or the weeks spent getting the unlock animation just right. They'll just open the app and somehow—somehow—it'll feel right. When they focus, something beautiful happens.

For more verbose information, head to Momotaro.app

Look at that timer. Iconic, friendly, no clutter. Just minutes and seconds doing their thing. Every completed session quietly building toward the next unlock. Like David Lynch says about meditation "keep your eye on the donut, not the hole". Focus on what's there, not what's missing.

My aim is for people to never think about the typography decisions or the color theory. They won't see the character design principles or the weeks spent getting the unlock animation just right. They'll just open the app and somehow just somehow it'll feel right. When they focus, something beautiful happens.

For more verbose information, head to Momotaro.app

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© 2025 Orlando F. Ruiz. All Rights Reserved. BCN.

© 2025 Orlando F. Ruiz. All Rights Reserved. BCN.