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Ella Zhou

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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.

Goal

Create a desktop customization app:

enables flexible and creative personalization

improves information display

simplifies navigation

Goal 1 — Flexible & Intuitive Personalization

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.

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.

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

Ella Zhou

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Resume

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Desktop Customization Tool

B2C desktop app / End-To-End prototyping

2023 - present

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

Surveyed with 30 customization lovers to understand their customization behaviors on Mac.

2. Interviews

Interviewed 10 Mac customization lovers, creating affinity diagram to find key insights.

SURVEY

76%

84%

93%

76% Users seek more dynamic, flexible desktops.

84% Users seek more efficient information display.

93% Users are constrained by a fragmented and inefficient experience.

INTERVIEWS & AFFINITY DIAGRAMS

USER JOURNEY

Based on the survey and interviews, I mapped the user journey for how Mac customization lovers explore and manage their resources.

Full View

Zoom to Insight 1

Zoom to Insight 2

Problem

Mac customization lovers want a unified, easy-to-use way to explore and manage customization resources, but existing third-party apps are fragmented and inefficient.

Goal

Create a unified Mac desktop customization app that gives enthusiasts a seamless, flexible way to explore, manage, and personalize their resources.

Solution

01. Central Panel

“I have tons of customization resources, but it’s such a hassle without a central place to browse and manage them in an efficient way.”

Centralized Management of Current Resources

Resource Properties

Unified Personal Resource Import Flow

After Import

🤔

could help users to categorize and manage their resources more efficiently. How should users add and personalize tags for their resources in an efficient way?

Tags

Before

❌ One missed comma creates messy, inconsistent tags.

❌ Without suggestions, users wonder what tags exist—or if they’re tagging correctly at all.

❌ Users could accidentally create duplicates.

❌ Limited visual feedback

After

02. One-stop Marketplace (in progress)

“I search wallpapers, widgets, and desktop pets from multiple sources. There’s no one-stop platform...”

We need a one-stop marketplace.

🙋‍♀️

🤔

When resources are so diverse on a unified platform, how do we prevent exploration from becoming overwhelming?

Experience Better Search

Before

I initially drew inspiration from Wallpaper Engine’s filter design, aiming to help users search more efficiently.

What’s in our filter:

Main categories (e.g. Wallpapers/ Widgets)

Subcategories (e.g. Animated Wallpapers/ Clocks)

Price range slider

All tags within Cosmo system

User testing & insights

During user testing, we found that users spent more time than expected on the filter, indicating that it might not be efficient enough. Based on heatmaps and interviews, we identified several key findings.