Project 01 / 04University project
et.cetera
A household organisation project built on the belief that outer clarity reflects inner balance.
Result: One shared list per home, from joining a household to splitting the bill
- Role
- Concept, brand, product design
- Type
- University project
- Timeline
- 2024
- Platform
- iOS and Android
01The problem
Household clutter is rarely a storage problem. It is a decision problem, repeated every day by several people who never share the same list.
02Research
- Mapped how shared homes run their shopping today: a notes app each, a group chat, a list on the fridge
- The same item got bought twice, or not at all, because nobody knew what the others had already done
- Money was the awkward part: who paid, and who still owes whom, lived in someone's head
03Why build it
- Why it mattered
- Every shared home pays this cost daily: things bought twice, things forgotten, money nobody tracks. Small each time and constant, which is why nobody fixes it.
- The bet
- If a home keeps one list that everyone sees and edits, the double buying and the awkward money talk go away together.
- How I'd know it worked
- Someone new can join a household and add their first item without anyone explaining the app.
04How I built it
Framed et.cetera as a lifestyle philosophy first and an app second
WhyNobody wants another app. They want a calmer home. Leading with the idea gives the product a reason to exist beyond one feature, and tells every later choice what to protect.
Designed collaborative shopping lists so a home shares one source of truth
WhyThe research pointed to one root cause: everyone kept their own list. One shared list fixes the double buying, the forgotten items and the who paid question at the same time.
Kept the aesthetic minimal and practical, so the tool never adds to the noise
WhyThe app promises less mental load at home. A busy interface would add exactly what it claims to remove, so restraint was part of the product, not a style.
Built the brand around a warm coral and a confident wordmark
WhyCoral feels domestic and warm rather than like a finance tool, which matters when the app also handles money between flatmates.
05Why this way
The household is the unit, not the person
The problem is several people with different lists. One shared list per home removes the question of which one is right.
Set asidePersonal lists that sync with each other, which keeps the same problem, only faster
Joining a home is a request, not an invite link
Anyone can find the household and ask to join, and the people already in it say yes. Nobody ends up on a list they did not agree to.
Expense splitting lives inside the list
The money follows the shopping. Splitting in a separate app means copying every purchase twice.
Set asideSending people to an existing splitting app
One typeface, one accent colour
A tool meant to reduce noise cannot add its own. Montserrat and coral carry the whole brand.
06What I tested
Tested
Walked classmates through the onboarding and the join flow in a clickable prototype
What changed
The first screen now says what the app is for in one line, before asking for an account
Tested
Asked who in a shared home would create the household
What changed
Creating and joining became two clear paths from the start, instead of one form for both
07The look
Logo
Wordmark 
Symbol
Colours · tap one to copy it
Typeface · write your name in it
Create a household
08The screens
09The result
A complete product concept: brand, onboarding, shared lists and expense splitting. What I took from it: when a product is used by a group, every screen has to make sense to whoever happens to be holding the phone.