01
Let the first thought stay messy
The capture moment has one job: get out of the way. Pith begins with voice so a thought can arrive before it is edited, categorized, or lost.
All workCase study · 2026
Private voice → structured insight
Pith
A private place to think out loud before the thought disappears.
Pith is an on-device iOS experience that turns raw voice into structured insight—without sending a personal journal, a meeting, or a private conversation to the cloud.
On device
Voice, held locally. Ideas, made useful.
Airplane Mode
Record anywhere.
Role
Product design + development
Platform
Native iOS
Constraint
100% on-device
Device
iPhone 15 Pro+
01The opportunity
Most thinking tools ask people to become organized before they are allowed to be honest.
Voice notes are fast, intimate, and almost frictionless—but they often become an unsearchable pile of audio. Cloud transcription solves retrieval, but asks people to trade away context that may be deeply personal.
Pith reframes the problem: capture without performance, then return a useful shape. The product had to feel as private as a journal while being more helpful than a transcript.
02The design process
Designing an experience that earns the right to listen.
I treated Pith as a sequence of emotional states, not a collection of screens. Each decision moves someone from an unformed thought to a clearer next step—without adding anxiety or exposing their context.
02
Make privacy perceptible
Offline is more than a technical promise. Airplane Mode, on-device language, and calm confirmation states make that promise legible in the interface.
03
Turn recall into a conversation
A session should not become another note to search for later. Pith returns structure, then gives people a way to ask what they meant when the thought was fresh.
03Experience architecture
One tap in. A better way back.
The core interaction model became a simple loop: speak freely, receive a useful structure, then stay in the context long enough to find what matters.
01
→Capture
A quiet prompt makes room for the raw thought.
02
→Shape
On-device processing returns the signal, not just the transcript.
03
→Explore
Ask follow-up questions without re-explaining the session.
04
Revisit
A growing personal library makes past context usable.
04Modes, not menus
Three intent-led modes give the same recording action a different outcome.
Rather than asking people to configure an AI system, Pith begins with the situation they are already in. That makes the interface easier to understand and the output more useful from the first session.
01Core Vision
Journal
For a walk, a late-night thought, or a feeling that needs space before it needs a label. Pith finds the thread and returns a warm, structured summary with a Core Vision.
02Chapters + facts
Briefing
For meetings, lectures, and consultations where recall matters. Pith organizes a longer session into chapters, anchor facts, and takeaways that are easy to return to.
03Interest map
Conversation
For a shared discussion. Pith distinguishes voices and maps the exchange into a navigable record of interests, ideas, and decisions.
05Interface direction
Figma was used to design a system of moments, then carried into code with the same restraint.
The visual language stays close to the product promise: deep green for containment, warm paper for reflection, and high-contrast type that feels more like a personal notebook than a dashboard.
PithJournal
What's on your mind?
Say it before you decide what it means.
Hold to record
PithBriefing
Session recap
A clear thread through a complex hour.
01The central question
02Decisions to carry forward
03Details worth returning to
PithAsk Pith
In context
What did I keep circling back to in this session?
You returned to making space before making a decision.
Private, on-device context
06Designing for trust
“True clarity should not cost you your privacy.”
That sentence became a product test. If a state, interaction, or piece of language made the experience feel like surveillance, it did not belong in Pith. Privacy had to be designed into the rhythm of the product, not appended as a policy.
Record anywhere
Works in airplane mode.
No cloud uploads
Personal context stays local.
Ask in context
Explore a session without re-telling it.
07My contribution
A product case study that shows both the designer's eye and the developer's discipline.
Pith gave me room to work across the full product arc: define the experience, establish a visual language, design the interaction states, and carry that system through to a real iOS product.
Product design
Experience framing, interaction flows, and the visual system.
Systems thinking
A connected capture-to-recall journey rather than isolated screens.
Development
Design decisions translated into a coherent, native product experience.
The live product
Let your thoughts breathe.
Explore Pith, an offline voice-to-insight companion built for the thoughts you would rather keep to yourself.