How we design

Our apps are built for busy minds. About 1 in 16 US adults has a current ADHD diagnosis, and about 1 in 31 children has been identified as autistic. So everything we make follows one set of rules: easy on the mind.

The 9 checks every screen passes

1. One main action per screen. If a screen needs explaining, simplify it.
2. Plain words and short lines. No jargon. Sentence case (no all capitals), no italics or underline, left-aligned text.
3. Fewer choices up front; extras go behind "Change" or "More".
4. Big tap targets (44 pt or more), readable contrast (4.5:1 or more), calm colors. Every swipe or drag has a button; text follows the iPhone's text size setting; meaning is never shown by color alone.
5. Nothing to remember. Show progress, counts and the next step on the screen where they are needed.
6. No interruptions. Notifications off by default and never during a task; no surprise pop-ups.
7. Same every time. Controls stay in the same place; no surprise moves or redesigns; changes are announced.
8. Easy to undo, no time pressure. Undo and Back always available; a second confirm before anything hard to undo; no auto-dismiss timers.
9. Calm senses. Respect Reduce Motion; sound off until turned on; no autoplay without a control; a low-stimulation Calm theme in every app.

Why we do it this way

• Nothing to remember: children with ADHD scored well below peers on holding information in mind (26 studies). [Martinussen et al., 2005]
• No interruptions: students with phone alerts on for a week reported more inattention than with alerts off (221 people). [Kushlev et al., 2016]
• Plain layouts: autistic adults looked at more irrelevant parts of busy web pages than their peers. [Eraslan et al., 2020]
• Sentence case: text in all capitals took about 4.6% longer to read. [Perea et al., 2017]
• No "special" fonts: a font made for dyslexia read no better than standard fonts. [Rello and Baeza-Yates, 2013]
• Sizes and contrast: we follow the W3C's WCAG 2.2, its guide for people with cognitive and learning disabilities, and Apple's accessibility guidelines. [W3C; Apple]

How we test

Every app is tested on real devices by our team and an independent tester before it reaches you. We watch people use it, not only ask what they think, because what people prefer isn't always what works best for them.

Sources

• CDC MMWR: ADHD in adults, 2023 (Staley et al., Oct 2024)
• CDC MMWR: Autism prevalence, 2022 (Shaw et al., Apr 2025)
• Martinussen et al. 2005, J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
• Kushlev et al. 2016, ACM CHI
• Eraslan et al. 2020, Universal Access in the Information Society
• Perea et al. 2017, Acta Psychologica
• Rello and Baeza-Yates 2013, ASSETS
• W3C: What's new in WCAG 2.2
• W3C: Making Content Usable (COGA), 2021
• Apple Human Interface Guidelines: Accessibility

Ideas for making our apps easier? Write to us at support@directivelabs.app.