Building in public — LOAH is in active development. Launching May 2026. This is an honest account of the work done, not a finished case study.
LOAH — Building the productivity tool that ADHD people actually needed
Two years of research, one co-founder who lives with ADHD, and a product built from the inside out. This is the story of how LOAH came to exist — and why it isn't like anything else in the market.
The collaboration
Risenine Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Led the human-centered research and sensory design phase. Built the visual identity that makes LOAH intuitive for ADHD users.
SolveMPire Pvt. Ltd.
Architected the 10-page system, Google Drive integration, and real-time data persistence layer. Turned research into code.
Where it started — the founder's own problem
Pavan Kumar Duggirala
Co-founder, LOAH · Has lived with ADHD for over 9 years · Educator & content creator
Pavan had tried everything. Every productivity app available had something right about it — and something critically wrong. The to-do app was too rigid. The journal app had no task layer. The habit tracker didn't connect to anything else. The focus timer was isolated. He wasn't failing to find good apps. He was failing to find one app that understood how an ADHD brain actually works — not how a neurotypical designer thinks it should work.
He didn't want to build a product. He wanted a tool that worked for him. When he couldn't find it, building became the only option.
He brought in SolveMPire to co-build — not just to design an interface, but to research the problem space properly before writing a single line of code or placing a single element on a screen.
The research — what we actually did
Most apps for ADHD are built by neurotypical product teams who read about ADHD. LOAH was built by going directly to the people living with it. Over two years, the research covered:
Community immersion
Joined Facebook communities for Journal It (a popular app among ADHD users) and other ADHD productivity groups. Observed what people actually complained about without leading the conversation.
Competitor teardown
Mapped every app ADHD users mentioned using. Documented what each did well, what it lacked, its business model, and why people stayed or left. The pattern of gap-stacking emerged quickly.
Lived experience
Hired an ADHD person as part of the team. Travelled with ADHD individuals. The prototype that exists today was built by an ADHD team member — not designed for ADHD people, designed by one.
Sensory & design research
Studied how ADHD people respond to colour, typography, layout density, animation, and interaction patterns. Found that ADHD design preferences are not uniform.
What the research actually showed
The patterns that came back from the community were specific, consistent, and directly shaped the product decisions:
Color preference split sharply — some users needed vibrant, stimulating palettes; others needed muted, low-noise surfaces. The solution: full color customization, not a single theme.
People wanted to capture ideas instantly without deciding what they are yet. The brain dump → convert flow (to task, note, routine, or project) came directly from this.
Drag and drop was not a nice-to-have — it was accessibility. Repeated drop-down interactions caused friction that broke focus. Everything that can be dragged, is.
Analytics requests were split: some wanted charts and energy graphs; others wanted grouped logs and simple summaries. Both are in the dashboard.
Journal and notes needed to be separate. Personal reflection and working notes are different cognitive modes. Merging them was a known frustration.
Habits needed elastic goal types, not just checkmarks. Fixed daily targets don't work for ADHD — the mini/plus/elite tier system came from this directly.
A calendar that pulls from tasks, habits, and routines in one view was universally requested. Context switching between apps was a major pain point.
The gap — what every existing app gets wrong
Why no existing app solved this
What's being built — the 10-page system
Dashboard
Energy graphs, focus scores, resilience track, recent activity. Day / week / month / year filter.
Brain Dump
Capture ideas instantly. Convert each into a task, note, log, project, habit, or routine — when ready.
Tasks
Overdue, due today, due tomorrow grouping. Priority, duration, project, subtasks. Drag and drop.
Projects
Priority-ordered project board with drag and drop. Link tasks directly into project context.
Habits
Elastic goals (Mini / Plus / Elite), checkmark / quantity / duration tracking, reminder scheduling, color per habit.
Routines
Sequenced steps with total time. Repeatable or run-once. Links to tasks and habits. Playable on demand.
Calendar
Jira-style view. Pulls tasks, habits, routines into one schedule. Create and assign from any view.
Notes
Rich text formatting, image support. Working notes — distinct from journal.
Journal
Personal reflection space. Mood, date, categories, image support. Completely separate from notes.
Archive + Trash
Every page has its own archive. Full import / export. Your data lives in your Google Drive.
The design palette
The color system was chosen for calm focus — not clinical sterility, not loud stimulation. Teal as the primary anchor, navy for grounding, mist and sage for low-noise surfaces, coral and amber for attention.
Privacy by design
LOAH stores all personal data — journals, tasks, notes, habits — in the user's own Google Drive. This was a deliberate founding decision. ADHD users are often sharing deeply personal information. That data belongs to the person, not the platform.
Where things stand
LOAH launches May 2026. The prototype exists. The research is complete. The system is being built. When it ships, this becomes a full case study with real user data, retention metrics, and outcomes.