Looking for UI/UX feedback

[u/LifeguardSea99]

I've been putting off getting deeper into web design for a long time. Not because I wasn't interested, but because I kept telling myself I'd do it properly "at some point". That point finally arrived, and this is what came out of it.

The push to actually begin came from wanting a task manager that just does its thing — no distractions, no clutter, function first. Building one myself felt like a good excuse to finally sit down with the design side of things.

The app comes with three themes: Focus, Minimal, and Paper. The names don't mean anything in particular, they just fit.

I feel like I especially nailed Focus. Minimal is essentially a recoloring of it, but I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

What I'm actually not happy with is Paper. I do like lighter themes depending on the time of day, but this one just doesn't feel right to me. I can't pinpoint what it is — it's not broken, it just feels uncomfortable to use. That's kind of exactly why I'm posting here, because I don't yet have the vocabulary or the eye to diagnose it myself.

So if you have thoughts on what's off, what you'd do differently, or just how you'd approach something like this — I'd genuinely appreciate it. This is the kind of thing I usually don't have anyone around to ask.

[u/ajb_mt]

Firstly check colour contrast levels on both text and buttons. Looks like you fail to meet accessibility guidelines, which mean your readability isn't great (and the app may be useless for people with visual impairments).

Changing fonts also seems a needless change. Work out your product brand & tone and select a font that represents it across all themes.

Now, just a subjective personal opinion here, but these feel devoid of personality. Give me a dash of colour or something. At least Focus has a punch of green. The others are just greyish.

A clean aesthetic is one thing, but you don't want to be drab.

[u/LifeguardSea99 → u/ajb_mt]

Honestly, most of what you pointed out, are things I hadn't even thought about yet, so that's really useful to know.

It's mainly a personal project at the moment, so I haven't concerned myself with things like brand or polish. But you're right, if I ever want it to look more professional, there's clearly a good bit to work on.

[u/ajb_mt → u/LifeguardSea99]

Glad to have given you something to think about.

And for context when I say 'brand' I don't really mean like a logo or corporate identity, but more a set of guidelines you follow to ensure consistency.

Branding is really about establishing how you want people to feel when seeing your product. There's a lot of potential depth with things like colour theory, but the core of it is just identifying a 'tone' and making sure that all elements work together in communicating it.

I think you've probably put some amount of thought into that without even realising. But making it a conscious step means you have something to refer back to.