Just Live

Inspiration

The inspiration for this project came from personal experiences as university students and early-stage working professionals. We often feel sucked into the "grind culture", where we are constantly overwhelmed by all our tasks, rarely finding time to take breaks and catch up with others. After conducting user research among other UBC students and new grads, we knew that others felt the same. Many people agreed that they like to plan out their days, but rarely allocate break times for themselves. Thus, we built Just Live to help people reclaim their time in a way that feels sustainable, socially safe, and human. Rather than asking users to work harder or plan more, Just Live is designed to intentionally make space for rest, reflection, and connection. By automatically scheduling breaks, surfacing shared free time with friends, and encouraging weekly reflection, the app helps users step out of grind culture without falling behind. Just Live reframes productivity not as constant output, but as balance, making it easier to slow down, recharge, and stay connected in a world that’s always asking for more.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was designing for rest without making users feel guilty or unproductive. Many existing productivity tools unintentionally reinforce grind culture, so we had to be intentional about not introducing features like streaks, rankings, or pressure-based metrics. Another challenge was balancing automation with user control. While automatic break scheduling reduces effort, it was important that users still felt ownership over their time.

What we learned

Through this project, we learned that small design decisions can have a large emotional impact. Features that seem neutral, like notifications or progress indicators can either reinforce stress or create a sense of permission to rest. We also all improved our Figma skills!

What's next for Just Live

Next, we plan to extend Just Live beyond the app itself by introducing home screen widgets that make free time and upcoming breaks visible at a glance. By surfacing this information passively, widgets can reinforce boundaries without requiring users to actively open the app. We also want to refine the weekly insights and reflection experience by making it more actionable and personalized. This includes clearer summaries of how users spent their time, gentler prompts that encourage reflection without pressure, and stronger feedback loops that allow the AI to better understand individual habits and energy patterns.

Built With

• figma