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Smata: Study Smarter — collaborative study app hero
Role
Founding Designer
Timeline
November 2025 – present
Platform
iOS App
Status
Live Product
Team
Jack Devine (Co-founder), Joseph Marotta (Co-founder), Cameron Smith, Azra Ozgur (Illustrator), Matthew Smallhouse (Developer), Halit Ozgur (Developer)

Overview

Designing a study app to make productive habits feel social, motivating, and rewarding

Smata is a social study app designed to make studying feel more motivating, collaborative, and rewarding. Students can track study sessions, stay focused with lockdown tools, share their activity with friends, and engage with a community built around productive habits.

I joined an early-stage startup as a contract designer. An initial interface and brand direction had already been mocked up, but it did not reflect the friendly, playful personality the founders of Smata wanted to have.

Over the next nine months, I redesigned the product UI, visual system, and branding while collaborating closely with the founders, developers, and a character artist. Together, we brought Smata from an early concept into beta and ultimately to a fully launched application.

Smata app overview screenSmata app study session screen

Background and problem

Students are struggling to stay focused when trying to be productive. Why is that happening?

84%

of 45 studies found a negative relationship between smartphone use and university students' academic performance.

84.7%

of university students in a 2025 study reported spending more than 3 hours per day on social media.

55%

of students in one recent study were classified as having problematic levels of smartphone use.

The Problem

How can we help students stay focused, build healthier study habits, and make progress feel more motivating and social?

My Solution

Create a study tool that combines focus tools, study tracking, social accountability, progress sharing, and positive reinforcement to help students spend less time distracted and more time investing in their goals.

THE BRANDING

Finding Smata's Visual Identity

REDESIGNING AND REBRANDING

Smata began with an early set of product mockups and branding. However, the founders felt the direction was too dark, serious, and visually generic for the fun, collaborative, and playful experience they wanted to create. They wanted studying to feel more approachable. I asked them what words and vibes did they want their application to give: Friendly. Playful. Collaborative. Approachable. Colorful

However, I had to keep in mind, the product still needed enough structure and clarity to support practical study tools, social activity, statistics, and focus features without becoming visually overwhelming.

The Design Challenge

Create a product that makes studying feel fun and social while still maintaining a clean, interactive UI.

Smata visual identity evolution from early mockups to redesigned branding

SAY HI TO MARTY!

Smata was highly collaborative. I worked with the founders, developers, and character designer through weekly meetings where we constantly reviewed new features, design progress, technical challenges, and visual directions. Because branding decisions can be subjective, I often brought multiple versions of logos, typography, or visual treatments into these reviews. Giving the team tangible alternatives made it easier to identify what felt right and continue moving forward.

One example involved the mascot illustrations. The mascot itself was illustrated by our character designer. I collaborated closely with her by identifying where character artwork was needed, requesting specific expressions or poses, and integrating the illustrations into the larger brand and product system. Early versions of Marty used outlines that no longer matched the cleaner UI we were developing. When removing them became part of the new direction, the design team recommended having the original character artist revise the illustrations herself rather than modifying the artwork through AI tools.

This kept the character work consistent with the artist's original style while allowing it to fit naturally into the evolving interface.

Marty mascot illustrations and character graphics used across Smata
Marty in action
Smata push notifications featuring Marty encouraging users during study sessions

The Product Experience

Smata is more than a study timer.

Connecting focus, progress, and community

Smata's product direction centers on making productive behavior something students can share and feel encouraged to continue. The product combines individual study tools with social reinforcement rather than treating studying as an isolated activity.

THE Features

01 — Start and track a study session

The timer is one of Smata's core interactions.

Students can begin a study session, track their study time, and record the activity as part of their broader progress. Throughout the study flow, Marty is integrated into key screens to make the experience feel more encouraging, playful, and supportive rather than purely functional.

Start and track a study session screen 1
Start and track a study session screen 2

02 — Protect focus with Lockdown Mode

Choose distracting apps to block while you study and keep your attention on the work in front of you.

Lockdown Mode supports Smata's goal of encouraging healthier study habits instead of competing for more screen time.

Protect focus with Lockdown Mode screen 1
Protect focus with Lockdown Mode screen 2

03 — Turn study activity into something social

After finishing a session, users can turn their progress into a post by adding photos, captions, titles, and location details.

The feed puts more emphasis on the people and moments behind studying, making progress something friends can celebrate together.

Turn study activity into something social screen 1
Turn study activity into something social screen 2

04 — Make progress with a little competition

Compare your study activity with friends through Smata's leaderboard.

The leaderboard lets users compare study activity with friends, introducing a layer of friendly competition and accountability. Future versions are intended to extend this concept to broader communities such as campuses.

Make progress with a little competition screen 1
Make progress with a little competition screen 2

05 — Creating a foundation for location-based studying

Use the map to see where friends are studying and discover opportunities to study together in-person.

Location sharing is intended to remain optional, with privacy controls giving users more control over when and with whom their location is visible.

Creating a foundation for location-based studying screen 1
Creating a foundation for location-based studying screen 2

Visual Strategy

Iterations and improvements that helped strengthen Smata's social experience

01

Reducing friction at signup

We simplified the onboarding flow to reduce friction during signup and to identify whether a user was a student. This will help us connect them to their Campus Leaderboard.

What changed

We added a clearer way for users to sign up with student status. We also made the onboarding more visually appealing.

Why

The goal was to reduce friction to get as many users on for testing and feedback so we decreased the amount of steps for regular email signup. We also added more visual graphics of Marty enforce the branding more.

Before

Smata signup flow before redesign — Reap onboarding screen
Smata signup flow before redesign — alternate signup screen
Smata signup flow before redesign — Join a Campus screen

After

Smata signup flow after redesign — screen 1
Smata signup flow after redesign — screen 2
02

Shifting attention from location to people

We redesigned the feed card to prioritize user photos and the shared study moment instead of the map location

What changed

The photo became the dominant visual element within the feed card element. The map location information became a smaller visual component of the card.

Why

We felt that the documentation of the social aspect should be the primary focus of each post. Since Smata is centered around who students are studying with and the moments they share, we made photos more prominent and moved the map into a supporting role.

Before

Smata feed card before redesign
Smata feed experience before redesign

After

Smata feed card after redesign
Smata feed experience after redesign

Beta Insights

Beta testing validated the core experience and revealed what to improve next

Approximately 50 users tested Smata before launch

We invited approximately 50 users to test Smata before launch and share feedback on the experience. I reviewed feedback directly from testers as well as notes collected by the founders, then grouped recurring comments into several themes that could guide future product decisions.

Real user feedback

Eleanor Janotta

“I just studied w it for like an hour… I liked it.”

Core study experience

Maya Thompson

“I appreciate how you can choose what apps to block and start or stop whenever you want so you aren’t tied down to a specific time.”

Lockdown Mode

Jordan Lee

“The AI message at end is funny but could prob be slightly more useful.”

Marty & AI

Alex Morgan

“Character or avatar would be huge, let people customize Marty.”

Motivation & rewards

Emerging beta themes

  1. 1. Make study sessions more intentional
  2. 2. Strengthen social accountability
  3. 3. Reward continued progress
  4. 4. Improve discoverability of key actions
  5. 5. Give Marty a more meaningful role

The beta gave us our first look at how people behaved with Smata outside of the design process. Testers responded positively to the core study experience and Lockdown Mode, while also identifying opportunities around session structure, social accountability, interaction clarity, and long-term motivation. I synthesized these recurring patterns to help prioritize the next round of product improvements.

The Outcome

What I learned

Working on Smata taught me how to design with ambiguity and move quickly in a fast-paced startup environment. It also taught me how important it is to stay adaptable and collaborate with people who bring different roles, perspectives, and ways of working to the product. While speed and impact matter, user and beta testing are essential for understanding whether a product actually meets the needs of its audience. If a polished feature creates friction or lacks real value, then it's not successful or useful for the user. Smata reinforced the importance of listening closely, coordinating effectively, and using feedback to make more thoughtful product decisions.

App Store Connect analytics for Smata showing first-time downloads, conversion rate, impressions, and average retention

Try the product

See Smata on the App Store

Download the live app to explore the interactive, social study timer. Help us shape experience for future students!

Download on the App Store →

Available on iOS · Live on the App Store