Sometimes the smallest devices create the most interesting design challenges.
When I started developing for the Pebble smartwatch, I became fascinated by a simple question: what can happen in the few seconds someone looks at their wrist? Unlike smartphones, which encourage long interactions and endless scrolling, a smartwatch demands focus, simplicity, and intentionality. Every screen, button press, and piece of information must earn its place.
This led me to create a collection of Pebble apps and watchfaces that explore creativity, self-reflection, mindfulness, and humor. While each project serves a different purpose, they all share a common goal: turning an ordinary glance at a watch into a meaningful moment.
ImproHelper for Pebble
As someone who enjoys improvisational theatre and creative storytelling, I wanted to bring spontaneous inspiration to the Pebble platform. ImproHelper generates random scene ideas directly on the watch, allowing users to instantly receive a combination of characters, settings, and situations that can tbe used for improv exercises, storytelling, roleplaying, or creative brainstorming.
The challenge was creating a system that feels inspiring despite the limited screen size. Every prompt had to be concise yet open enough to spark imagination. The result is a lightweight creativity tool that transforms a smartwatch into a pocket-sized idea generator. Whether used during improv workshops, creative writing sessions, or simply for fun, ImproHelper demonstrates how even a small device can encourage creativity and play.
Tiny RPG Day
Tiny RPG Day explores self-reflection through the lens of roleplaying games. Instead of asking users to analyse their mood through charts and statistics, the app translates their current emotional state into a fictional RPG character.
Users answer a series of quick questions about their energy levels, focus, motivation, social battery, and overall mood. Based on these answers, the app creates a unique character profile and narrative description. Someone feeling energetic and confident might become a fearless adventurer, while someone feeling overwhelmed could be described as a weary traveller seeking rest.
The goal is not to diagnose or evaluate users, but to provide a playful and approachable way to think about how they are feeling. By framing emotions as stories and characters, Tiny RPG Day turns self-reflection into a creative and engaging experience.
StillTime Watchface
A mindful watchface that invites reflection, one glance at a time
Overview
StillTime is a minimal watchface for Pebble smartwatches designed around a simple idea: what if checking the time could also be a moment of pause? Instead of just displaying hours and minutes, StillTime pairs the time with rotating emotional vibes and gentle reflective prompts that change every hour.
The Challenge
Most watchfaces prioritize information density — steps, weather, notifications. But for users seeking calm in a hyperconnected world, this adds noise rather than value. I wanted to create something that felt more like a companion than a dashboard.
Design Approach
Emotional resonance over data. Each hour, StillTime displays a new vibe phrase like „soft but steady“ or „tired but trying“ — language that validates rather than demands. Below it, a reflective prompt like „what do you notice?“ invites a micro-moment of awareness.
Platform-aware aesthetics. Color Pebbles (Time, Time Steel, Time Round) get the full experience: six rotating color palettes, smooth slide-in animations, gradient backgrounds, and a decorative leaf icon. The original B&W Pebble receives a clean, minimal adaptation that respects its constraints.
Hourly variety. The color scheme rotates every hour, so the watchface feels fresh throughout the day without requiring user interaction.
Technical Highlights
- Built with Pebble SDK 3 in C
- Platform-specific rendering using conditional compilation
- Property animations with proper lifecycle management
- GPath vector graphics for decorative elements
- Bitmap compositing with transparency support
- Memory-efficient design for constrained hardware
Result
A watchface that transforms a habitual glance into a gentle invitation to pause. StillTime doesn’t compete for attention — it creates space for reflection in the gaps between moments.
Weird Fortune
A Watchface for the Delightfully Absurd
Because your wrist deserves better than just telling time.
The Problem With Watchfaces
Most watchfaces do exactly one thing: show you the time. Maybe the date. Perhaps a step count if they’re feeling fancy.
But here’s the thing—you glance at your watch dozens of times a day. That’s dozens of tiny moments. Dozens of micro-interactions. And all you get is… numbers?
I think your wrist deserves something weirder.
Enter Weird Fortune
Weird Fortune is a Pebble watchface that shows you the time and delivers a tiny, absurd fortune message every hour. Think fortune cookies, but written by someone who’s had too much coffee and not enough sleep.
Some examples:
- „today a pigeon respects you“
- „avoid dramatic sandwiches“
- „the vibes are oddly premium“
- „do not trust that banana“
Are they useful? Absolutely not. Are they delightful? Absolutely yes!
The Details (For Those Who Care)
I didn’t just slap text on a screen. Weird Fortune is designed to feel alive:
Blinking Colon
The classic digital watch effect. Simple, nostalgic, satisfying.
Typewriter Effect
When a new fortune appears, it types itself out letter by letter. Because drama.
Floating Particles
Tiny dots drift lazily across the background. Ambient. Meditative. Slightly hypnotic.
Animated Corners
Subtle L-shaped brackets pulse gently in each corner, giving the whole thing a „mystical portal“ energy without being obnoxious about it.
Color Themes
On color Pebbles, the watchface cycles through 8 carefully chosen palettes—from „Retro Magic“ (imperial purple + melon) to „Cyber Blue“ (black + electric blue). Each theme brings its own mood. The theme changes every hour, or whenever you return to the watchface.
Works Everywhere
Rectangular Pebbles. Round Pebbles. Color Pebbles. Black-and-white Pebbles.
Why „Weird“?
Because the world has enough serious things. Your watch doesn’t need to be one of them.
Weird Fortune is for people who:
- Appreciate a good non-sequitur
- Find joy in small, strange moments
- Want their technology to make them smile instead of stress them out
- Believe that „your aura needs snacks“ is genuinely good advice
The Philosophy
There’s a design principle: glanceable delight.
You should be able to look at your watch, get the time instantly, and walk away with a tiny spark of something—amusement, confusion, a slight head-tilt. The fortune shouldn’t demand attention. It should reward it.
That’s why the layout is minimal. The time is big and bold. The fortune sits below, patient, waiting for you to notice it. No clutter. No complications. Just time + tiny weird wisdom.
Technical Notes (For the Nerds)
- Built with Pebble SDK 3 in C
- ~650 lines of code
- 6 floating particles with wrap-around physics
- 50+ handcrafted fortune messages
- Typewriter animation at 50ms per character
- Corner brackets pulse on a 5-phase cycle
- Full support for
clock_is_24h_style() - Memory footprint under 6KB RAM
