Don't
Get
the
Wrong
Idea

Tasks are easy, but todo lists are not

In practice, digital task tools often overload users with decisions, categories, and competing signals for attention, all of which work completely at odds with how the human brain works. Too many visible tasks compete for focus (cognitive load). Too many options slow people down (Hick’s Law). Too much structure asks users to manage the system instead of their work (Miller’s Law).

We see this play out in a few common failures:

• Users spend more time organizing than doing
• Important tasks get buried under less relevant ones
• People disengage when the system becomes too complex to maintain

Underlying all of this is a simple truth: human working memory is limited, and attention fragments easily when everything is presented at once. When a tool ignores those limits, it forces the user to compensate — and that’s where overwhelm sets in.

How things can look when task apps are designed in ways that overwhelm rather than help.

What about large teams and projects?

Many todo list apps are designed with large, complex projects and robust interconnected teams of people in mind. Especially when it comes to corporate and enterprise contexts, this makes a lot of sense. But the fact that these teams are made up of individual people, who each have to accomplish their own set of tasks, is often ignored. Sprawling todo list apps can perhaps help supervisors get a birds-eye view of their team's goals, but they can also create a lot of noise and confusion, even when the majority of the time each person simply needs to keep working through their own list.

At the end of the day, it's still up to the individual to get things done, and they need a tool that helps them do that first and foremost.

A human-centered, task-focused approach

So instead of asking people to work harder at being organized, MindHive approaches the problem with the assumption that unnecessary complexity is the real problem.

• Start with simplicity; add control only when it’s actually needed
• Hide anything that doesn’t apply to the current moment
• Reduce decisions wherever possible
• Let the system do the remembering and resurfacing

The result is a task environment that adapts to how people actually think, instead of demanding that people adapt to the tool.

Throwing complexity at the problem

In order to get a better sense of how different approaches might task management, I evaluated a number of todo list apps by looking at the following characteristics:

• How apps support cognitive offloading
• How much friction is required to add and/or organize tasks
• Whether users can clearly see what they should do right now
• Whether the app guides behavior or expects the user to manage everything
• Where overwhelm and over-structure creep in

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Todoist

Todoist aims to be the highly structured, cross-platform task system that helps people organize complex personal and professional workflows. While Todoist excels at power and precision, its structure can feel heavy-handed — especially for users who already feel overwhelmed.

“Too much information and too many sections… [no way to] hide task details… and overall… it often feels like extra effort to manage tasks…” *

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Asana

Asana is built as a project management platform focused on visibility, accountability, and team coordination at scale. Its strength is collaboration — but for individual users or small teams, the interface can feel like too much overhead for simple task execution.

"Asana works well for team projects, keeps things organized, but can feel a bit much at times. Good for bigger projects, but maybe overkill for simpler stuff" *

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TeuxDeux

TeuxDeux aims to be a beautifully simple, calming to-do list that mirrors how people sketch lists on paper. The simplicity feels refreshing — but once your task list grows or becomes multidimensional, the limitations show quickly.

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Trello

Trello emphasizes flexibility and visual thinking, giving users a blank-canvas board to organize tasks however they like. Trello’s openness is refreshing, but without structure, systems quickly become chaotic — especially for users juggling multiple contexts.

“The new interface is not only visually cluttered and counterintuitive, but it also disrupts the basic functionality that users relied on. The way information is now displayed on each card is messy, confusing, and makes it nearly impossible to track tasks efficiently.” *

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Each of these tools works to address one piece of the puzzle — structure, visualization, simplicity, collaboration — but none find the right balance for the average user. Most either overwhelm users with features or leave them without enough guidance. MindHive worked to solve the whole problem, not just part of it.

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Removing interruptions

To get this feeling right, we focused on removing interruptions, hiding irrelevant information, and shrinking cognitive load wherever possible. Research around working memory, attention, and the cost of context-switching shaped almost every decision: the fewer decisions a user has to make, the more likely they are to stay focused and actually finish their tasks.

Some example UX decisions include:

Hide everything except "Today"

Users can collapse everything except their Today list, reducing visual noise and helping them avoid task paralysis. This deliberate narrowing of focus aligns with how people naturally handle complexity: by sequencing, not juggling.

Type anywhere to add a task

Any keystroke sends the cursor to the task entry box. This creates near-zero friction for capturing tasks and prevents users from breaking flow to find the right UI element.

Hash-tags for higher-level organization

Filterable hash-tags allow users to create higher-level categories and contexts for their tasks, without having to create a new list for each one. This helps keep things organized and easy to find later.

Automatic task resurfacing

Tasks move from Later → Soon → Today as deadlines approach, so users don't need to remember or manually reorganize. The system does that cognitive offloading for them.

Keyboard shortcuts for everything

Users who work fast or prefer keyboard-driven interactions can navigate the entire app without touching the mouse, dramatically reducing micro-delays and input switches.

Encouraging "micro-rewards"

When a task is completed, small celebratory messages like "Nice!", "Work it!", or "Done!" appear. These details seem tiny, but they reinforce progress and keep momentum going. As cheesy and unnecessary as this might seem, these messages were by far one of the most commented upon and appreciated details by reviewers and testers.

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All together, these UX choices work toward a simple idea: Remove what doesn't matter, elevate what does, and help people work the way their brain already wants to work.

Most productivity tools take themselves very seriously — dense dashboards, corporate color palettes, and language that sounds like a project manager whispering over your shoulder. MindHive intentionally pushes in the opposite direction. We wanted it to feel human. Playful. Encouraging. Even a little irreverent.

Why? Because when a to-do list feels heavy or formal, users bring their existing stress to it. When it feels light and relatable, the emotional friction drops, and people are far more willing to engage.

To support this, the visual design leans into warmth, clarity, and small moments of personality rather than sterile “professional” polish. MindHive uses:

A cheeky, conversational voice

Copy throughout the site and product (“The simplest to-do list app in the Milky Way galaxy.” / “This s*#% is free.”) immediately signals that this isn’t another productivity guilt machine. It’s a tool that helps you breathe.

Playful, character-driven illustration

Animated illustration from the MindHive site

Illustrations add a sense of fun and approachability. These aren’t empty decorative assets — they help reframe the emotional experience of task management from “ugh” to “okay, let’s do this.”

Color as clarity, not decoration

Project colors help orient users instantly, but the palette stays friendly, not fluorescent or stressful. Bright accents guide attention; nothing screams for it.

Typography that feels clean and encouraging

We avoided overly serious, tech-product typography. The type system emphasizes readability and warmth — something you feel good looking at all day.

Distracting from the drudgery

The interface is clean, simple, and functional, but it isn’t shy about having personality. It nods to the idea that getting things done doesn’t have to feel like work.

The end result is a UI that feels supportive without being soft, fun without being frivolous, and clear without being clinical — a visual expression of MindHive’s biggest goal: make task management feel like something you want to do, not something you have to power through.