Case 04 · NFC shared chore system · in progress
ChoreTap
Tap a sticker where the chore happens and everyone in the house sees it. A shared-household system that pairs NFC tags with a companion app so nobody has to be the nag.
01 Overview
Chores fail for social reasons.
Roommates rarely fight about the schedule. They fight about invisible work, unclear status, and the one person who ends up acting as manager. Most chore apps add another step at the exact moment people are least willing to take it.
ChoreTap moves the check-off to where the work happens. A small NFC sticker on the trash bin, dishwasher, or cleaning caddy logs the chore with one tap, credits the person who did it, and updates the whole household instantly.
This case study is in progress. Research is underway, and sections will fill in as interviews and testing wrap up.
02 Problem framing
Four ways shared chores break down.
- Invisible work. Nobody sees who took out the trash, so effort goes unrecognized and resentment builds quietly.
- Unclear status. “Did you already run the dishwasher?” turns into repeated texts.
- Too much friction. Opening an app, finding the task, and ticking a box is the first step people skip, so the log goes stale.
- Nagging as a role. One roommate becomes the manager, and the relationship pays for it.
“The tap should take one second and happen at the moment and place the chore is done.”
03 Research plan
Questions before screens.
I wrote research questions across three areas before designing anything: how roommates split chores today, how visibility affects motivation and shame, and whether people can find and tap the right spot on the first try.
Methods
- Interviews with 5–8 people who live with roommates
- Short survey on chore habits and conflict
- 1–2 week diary study
- Audit of existing chore apps
- Paper-and-sticker usability tests
Stakeholders
- Roommates and the household organizer
- Guests using the no-app fallback
- Landlords who care about adhesive on surfaces
- NFC hardware and platform constraints
Reading
- The Second Shift, Arlie Hochschild
- Fair Play, Eve Rodsky
- The Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman
- NN/g on diary studies and heuristics
04 Concept
Where the tags go.
- Trash bin lid. Logs “trash out” and rotates the task to the next person.
- Dishwasher door. Tap for loaded, long-press for emptied.
- Washer or hamper. Starts a load and pings you when the cycle ends.
- Bathroom caddy. Logs a clean and advances the rotation.
- Fridge door. A guest tag that opens Wi-Fi, trash day, and house rules without an app.
MVP scope: set up a home for 2 to 5 roommates, a starter kit of 5 to 6 named stickers, tap-to-log with a shared feed, automatic rotation, gentle reminders, a web fallback for guests, and undo for accidental taps. Payments, penalties, and leaderboards are deliberately out. The fair-share view is framed neutrally, not as a scoreboard.
05 Visual exploration
Soft, friendly, and a little playful.
Chores are a sore subject, so the interface needed to lower the temperature. I collected references from other designers for warm color, rounded cards, and friendly type, then defined my own direction from what they had in common.
Reference board. All images are work by other designers, collected for inspiration only.
06 Prototype
A working prototype on the web.
To test the flow on real phones, I built an installable web prototype. Each sticker opens a lightweight page, so a guest or new roommate can tap without installing anything.
Open the live prototype Works best on a phone
07 Next steps
What I’m testing now.
- Interview 5 to 8 roommates about how chores are split today.
- Build a paper prototype with real stickers in a mock kitchen.
- Test tap-target placement and how people recover from accidental taps.
- Check whether tapping continues after the novelty fades, and whether visibility motivates or shames.
