Why everyone roasted Google's todo app

A few weeks ago, Google Design posted a sample app called Achieve on X, saying "Celebrating small wins is hardwired into 'Achieve,' our goal-tracking sample app."

Fig. 1

My recreation of the original Achieve todo screen. Oversized TODAY and day pills, five large task cards with Today under each, a purple gradient done card, and a huge add button beside a small icon tray.

Designers did not celebrate.

Fig. 2

Two phones showing Google Design on X. Left, the Achieve post about making a checked off task feel like a celebration. Right, replies from joshpuckett, Fons Mans, and Danny Postma mocking it, plus Google replying that maybe the prototype was not ready for creative review.

Two days later, Google replied to its own post.

"Maybe this prototype wasn't quite ready for creative review."

A lot of people could tell something was off.

Maybe you could tell as well?

Sometimes seeing that something is off comes naturally.

You've probably felt this with your own work.

A screen looks okay, but something bugs you.

You can't name it, so you can't fix it.

Or someone asks why you made a choice, and "it felt right" is all you've got.

So let me name what's going on with this Google Design app.

Two styles on one screen

The oversized day pills and the massive add button are making one style statement.

And everything else is making a different statement.

Fig. 3

Components from the original screen in three boxes. The header and a task card look like standard Google components. The icon tray sits in between. The oversized day pills and the huge add button look custom.

That's what competing styles means.

Every screen answers a few questions, whether you mean it to or not.

How big are the important things?

What gets the loudest color?

How much room does each thing get?

When every element gives the same answers, the screen feels like one thing.

When the elements give different answers, it feels off.

Achieve answers each of those questions in more than one way.

The day pills and the (+) are display size.

The header, the todo text, the checkmarks, and the icons are regular app size.

Two size systems on one screen, with nothing in between.

Loudness.

The loudest things on the screen are the day pills, the (+), and one todo with a purple gradient.

That todo is the one that's already done.

The finished task gets more attention than everything still left to do.

Fig. 4

The completed todo card with a pink to purple gradient, labeled completely different than all the rest.

Color.

Dark cards in slightly different shades that fade into the background while their text stays bright.

A light purple gradient on a single card.

A light blue button.

"Important things are huge" explains the pills and the button.

But that statement falls apart at the todos.

"Calm and restrained" explains the header and the cards.

It falls apart at the pills.

If no single rule covers the whole screen, the styles tend to compete.

The full critique

Here's the critique I'd send this designer.

Two ways to fix it

A huge button can work.

If you're gonna go for it, go for it.

So there are two good directions here.

Pick one.

Then make every piece follow it.

The safer version tidies up the day pills and makes the selected day obvious.

It tightens up the cards.

The done todo goes quiet with a simple strikethrough.

"Today" comes off every line, because the tab already says it.

The tab bar and the (+) settle down to normal sizes.

Fig. 5

The safer redesign. Smaller day pills with a filled TODAY tab, tighter task cards with no Today labels, a muted strikethrough on the done task, outlined nav icons, and a normal add button.

Pull the pieces apart and they all speak the same quiet language.

Fig. 6

Components from the safer redesign in three boxes. The header, tabs, and a task card, then the quiet done card, then the tab bar with a normal add button, all in one restrained style.

The bolder version goes all in on big.

Rounded display type for the tabs and the todos.

One line per todo.

No bottom nav.

And a big chunky add button that spans the whole screen.

Fig. 7

The bolder redesign. Rounded display type for the tabs and todos, one line per todo, no bottom navigation, and a full width chunky add button.

Pull these pieces apart and they're all big, round, and soft.

Fig. 8

Components from the bolder redesign in three boxes. The header, tabs, and a task card, then the done card, then the full width add button, all in one big, rounded style.

In the bold version, the add button got even bigger.

This time, the tabs and the todos are big too.

One is calm.

One is loud.

Both hang together.

Neither is right or wrong.

I built the whole redesign as an interactive specimen.

Use your arrow keys to step through every change, one at a time, in both directions.

Try this on your own work

Open a screen you're working on right now.

Write one sentence that describes its style.

Then go element by element.

Type, spacing, color, buttons, icons, navigation.

Does each one follow your sentence?

Circle the ones that break it.

Then change the element, or change the sentence.

Style is the most subjective part of design.

You can like big and loud.

You can like quiet and dense.

Both can be great.

What you can check is whether every piece of the screen agrees.

And once you can name what's off, you have something specific to fix and something specific to say when someone asks why.

Pick the direction you want to own.

Then design every detail to back it up.

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