My initial app idea and MVP requirements for my capstone project will focus on self-help, specifically help with cleaning. I have experience working as a crisis counsellor, and as a professional cleaner/organiser in people’s homes and workplaces and I think I want to combine both of these things into an app. Not everyone knows how to clean/organise in such a way that it’s sustainable. People going through crisis, or mental health issues can also find cleaning to be challenging.
I want to design an app that is encouraging, non-judgemental and empowers the user to stop sitting in the mess playing their phone, and instead clean the mess with the help of the app on their phone. I also want to gamify it, and eventually offer different parts - like crisis cleaning (for when it’s really messy and you don’t know where to start), to developing cleaning routines, to decluttering specific areas (like clothing/wardrobes). I could also have challenges - do ‘this activity’ for ‘this reward’ kind of thing, and possibly even have different ‘levels’ based on the completion of tasks.
I’m thinking flexible - can be used by parents to help clean their kids bedrooms, teenagers to clean their rooms, people who were never shown how to clean and may find it difficult, or people who have just fallen behind with it and have trouble knowing what to do next.
I’m probably rambling a bit now, for the MVP I thought I could develop a ten minute random cleaning challenge app - maybe give the user the option of putting in the time they have available, and then a cleaning task that matches that time is randomized, based on an estimatedTime property. I want it to offer different cleaning challenges, and a user taps a button to generate a challenge. Maybe they could add their own challenges? To begin with I think I’d just have a supplied list of generic challenges (eg - do dishes, clear all the horizontal surfaces in your living area, etc). The user can then accept the challenge or not, and if they accept an on screen timer starts. The user taps some ‘done’ upon completion, is rewarded points - points can be exchanged for some kind of ‘in app’ collectible item? Or ability to upgrade / customise the UI.
Eventually I would like this to be a part of an app that also offers cleaning ‘programs’ (introducing small cleaning habits, encouraging ‘streaks’), and decluttering as well as a customisable cleaning planner. But for the MVP, I think the ‘challenge’ part could be fun, for us weird people who like cleaning, or want to like cleaning.
