Ella Zhou
Contact
Cosmo
Desktop Customization Tool
2023 - present
B2C desktop app / End-To-End prototyping
A desktop customization tool Cosmo, enabling users to personalize their desktops, driving 100+ early sign-ups and increasing post-launch engagement to 40+ daily active users. Secured $6000 seed investment from Cornell.
company
Cosmo Inc.
Cosmo gives users freedom to personalize their computer workspaces for aesthetics and productivity, while providing content creators with opportunities to monetize their work on a unified platform.
Team
2 Developers, 2 Marketers, Ella
Design Cosmo desktop app, defining product features, and implementing end-to-end prototype.
Problem
Mac users want more efficient control and flexibility in managing and personalizing their desktops, but the current system often falls short. The desktop, intended as the central hub, struggles to provide effective navigation, clear information display, and meaningful personalization. Existing third-party apps are fragmented, requiring multiple tools, which makes desktop customization inconvenient and inaccessible.
Goal
Create a desktop customization app:
enables flexible and creative personalization
improves information display
simplifies navigation
Goal 1 — Flexible & Intuitive Personalization
1.
Central Panel - Assets Library
The assets library lets users centrally store their resources—including uploaded wallpapers in various formats and wallpapers or widgets purchased from the marketplace—enabling easy access, efficient management, and greater flexibility for personalized desktop customization.
2.
Marketplace
Adding a marketplace strengthens personalization by giving users easy access to diverse, community-created wallpapers and widgets, expanding customization options beyond the built-ins.
3.
Widgets Design
Design user-centered, interactive widgets that are responsive, diverse, and easy to customize with flexible, varied styles for users.
- Central Panel
Central Panel | Assets Details
- Marketplace
- Widgets
Widgets | Clock
Cosmo
Sunset
Forest
Galaxy
Tide
Widgets | Calendar
Widgets | Todo List
Widgets | Sticky Notes
Widgets | System Monitor
Control Panel
Most Mac users keep many overlapping windows open, often hiding widgets and wallpapers. To enhance usability, it’s essential to improve how information is displayed and accessed on the desktop. Control panel could be a first step, as it remains accessible from the Mac’s top menu bar even when windows overlap.
Update app
Open desktop app
Customize wallpaper rotation
Change current wallpaper
Quit
Change current wallpaper
Other Desktop Customization Control Panel
Cosmo’s Control Panel
Shortcuts for the wallpaper
Basic control
Update app
Open desktop app
Quit
Basic control
Hide widgets
Hides desktop icons
Hide floating pages/windows
Better information display
Enhancement
New Addition
Retain
Shortcuts for the wallpaper
© 2025 Ella Zhou
Ella Zhou
Project
Resume
Contact
Cosmo
Desktop Customization Tool
B2C desktop app / End-To-End prototyping
2023 - present
A desktop customization tool Cosmo, enabling users to personalize their desktops, driving 100+ early sign-ups and increasing post-launch engagement to 40+ daily active users. Secured $6000 seed investment from Cornell.
company
Cosmo Inc.
Cosmo gives users freedom to personalize their computer workspaces for aesthetics and productivity, while providing content creators with opportunities to monetize their work on a unified platform.
Team
2 Developers, 2 Marketers, Ella
Design Cosmo desktop app, defining product features, and implementing end-to-end prototype.
Research Findings
1. Survey
Conducted a survey with 30 Mac users to understand users’ behaviors on Mac, along with their awareness and motivation for personalization
2. Interviews
Conducted interviews with 10 Mac customization lovers, creating activity notes to understand their preferences, behaviors, and challenges with Mac personalization and navigation.
3. Competitive Analysis
Conducted a competitive analysis of 3 typical products in the market to compare desktop customization tools, their target users, strengths, and limitations.
1. Survey Findings
76%
84%
93%
1. Users seek more dynamic desktop
76% expressed interest in wallpapers with richer formats and widgets offering greater flexibility and personalization options.
2. Users seek efficient multitasking environment
84% reported cluttered desktops and difficulty quickly accessing desired pages or windows.
3. Personalization is limited by low awareness and access.
93% of users were unaware of certain personalization methods. For example, setting a video as a Mac lock-screen wallpaper.
2. User Interviews & Affinity Diagram
3. Competitive Analysis & Findings
- Supporting a range of wallpaper formats is a key factor in customization tools.
- Existing third-party customization tools are fragmented.
- A centralized panel offers intuitive and simple way for users to customize their setup.
- Balancing technical demands and usability barriers is important.
4. Research Insights & Opportunities
Based on the survey, interviews, and competitive analysis, we derived key insights and opportunities.
Problems
Mac customization lovers seek more efficient and flexible desktop control, while existing third-party apps are fragmented and often lack usability and adaptability.
Goal
Create a unified Mac desktop customization app:
Enables flexible and intuitive personalization through supporting diverse wallpaper formats and offering flexible, resizable widgets.
Improves information display through control panel.
Goal 1 — Flexible & Intuitive Personalization
1.
Central Panel - Assets Library
The assets library lets users centrally store their resources—including uploaded wallpapers in various formats and wallpapers or widgets purchased from the marketplace—enabling easy access, efficient management, and greater flexibility for personalized desktop customization.
2.
Marketplace
Adding a marketplace strengthens personalization by giving users easy access to diverse, community-created wallpapers and widgets, expanding customization options beyond the built-ins.
3.
Widgets Design
Design user-centered, interactive widgets that are responsive, diverse, and easy to customize with flexible, varied styles for users.
1. Central Panel - Assets Library
UI Design
All
Central Panel | Filter
Filter helps users quickly locate assets based on status by letting them see at a glance which items they already have locally and which ones still need to be downloaded, reducing unnecessary scrolling and searching.
Central Panel | Navigation
Before
After
Reduce visual clutter
Asset Details
Asset Details | Interactions
initial
Right-click to open the details panel, left-click to set as wallpaper
Over 70% confused about how to open the details panel
After
Click to view details, and use the 'Set as Wallpaper' button to apply it.
100% success rate in opening the details panel and setting wallpapers.
2. Marketplace
UI Design
Central Panel | Filter
Parent-Child Category Auto-Selection
Choosing the parent category applies the selection to all nested categories. This reduces interaction cost and speeds up the filtering experience.
Instant Filter Application
Selecting a filter immediately updates the results, removing extra steps, providing instant feedback, and helping users refine results more efficiently.
Sticky Selected Tags
Chosen tags appear and stay at the top of the page, allowing users to remove any of them without reopening the filter panel, giving quick visibility and one-click control that reduces friction and speeds up adjustments.
3. Widgets
Clock
😊 Use the segmented buttons to personalize your clock widget!
Full
24h
HH:MM
Users can play with three properties to personalize the clock widget according to their habits and visual preferences.
Color themes
sunset
forest
Cosmo
galaxy
tide
Calendar
😊 Use the segmented buttons to personalize your calendar!
Today
Timeline
Calendar |Design
Two display modes
Provides two display modes to suit different user needs: the timeline mode shows events in a traditional calendar layout, helping users see when things occur throughout the day. The task mode lists tasks in a columnar view, making it easier to focus on individual tasks and their completion.
Time indicator line
Make the current time indicator line thicker to ensure it remains visually prominent and isn't overwhelmed by other elements, especially when it floats above tasks.
Countdown to the next event
Before
After
Improve Scanning Pattern
Placed between events, acting as a natural divider separating past/current from upcoming events as you scan chronologically
Improve Contextual Relevance
Positioned directly above the event it references, users can immediately identify which event the countdown references without ambiguity
When task not shown Yet
When No Following Task
If a future task exists but isn’t currently shown, a countdown appears in the bottom-left corner to remind the user. If there are no upcoming tasks, no countdown is displayed.
Todo List
System Monitor
Add the task progress since some users shared on Discord that when managing multiple tasks, they wanted a clearer way to visualize their overall progress for a more satisfying experience.
Sticky Notes
IOS sticky notes
5 steps to style the font
- select the words
- right click the words
- choose “font”
- choose “highlight”
- choose highlight color
vs
Cosmo Sticky Notes
2 steps to style the font
- select the words
- click highlight icon
Goal 2 — Improve Information Display
Most Mac users keep many overlapping windows open, often hiding widgets and wallpapers. To enhance usability, it’s essential to improve how information is displayed and accessed on the desktop. Control panel could be a first step, as it remains accessible from the Mac’s top menu bar even when windows overlap.
© 2025 Ella Zhou