Team project · 14 days, Oct 2026 · Research → clickable prototype

Pixel Hunters

Save from any app. Organize only if you want to. Find it without remembering where. A concept app for people who save things across Instagram, Pinterest, WhatsApp and their gallery, and can't find them when they need them.

Role: UX researcher & designer
Team: 7 designers in a UX case-study cohort, guided by a mentor
Methods: 5 interviews, affinity synthesis, competitor teardown, rapid prototyping, design critique
Status: Concept with a working, clickable prototype. Not yet usability-tested.

Saved card: 3 glaze tricks for beginners, video, 0:42, with an optional Organize button — Save in one tap

Search for recipe for dinner showing 6 close matches with matched words highlighted — Find it the way you remember

Dinner time moment: Cooking tonight? 2 recipes you haven't tried — Back at the right moment

TL;DR

Problem: People save constantly, but their saves are scattered across 5–7 apps. Organizing gets abandoned, and finding something later is "like finding needles in a haystack" (P2). Four of the five people we interviewed had given up looking for something they knew they'd saved.
Insight: People don't remember where they saved something. They remember what it was about, roughly when they saved it and what it looked like, and they only go looking when a task comes up.
Solution: Three pillars, in priority order: effortless saving, optional organizing and retrieval built on memory.
Key decision: Organizing is never required. Every save stays findable without it, because filing is the habit people abandon first.

Imagine you're starting a new design

Weeks ago, you saw the perfect onboarding screen while scrolling. You saved it, maybe. Now you need it.

♡ Save
You're scrolling on a Sunday. A great screen appears. Save. Keep scrolling.
MonTueWed…3 weeks
Work gets busy. You forget what you saved, and why.
IGPWA📷N▶
Monday, new project. "I saved something exactly like this…" But where?
15:00
Fifteen minutes across six apps later, you give up and start from scratch.

Four of the five people we interviewed told us a version of this story.

People who save things to use later can't find them when they need them, because their saves are spread across many apps and organizing them is a chore they abandon. How might we make saving effortless, organizing optional and finding possible from whatever people remember?

How we found it

We started from a familiar designer habit: screenshotting UI for inspiration, then scrolling through hundreds of images or searching online again when the reference is needed. It's a small, everyday frustration that quietly breaks design flow.

How the plan evolved

Our first guide only asked designers about screenshots. We broadened it to anything people keep for later (recipes, places, design references, things to buy, money tips) so we wouldn't assume the problem was specific to designers.

Research

Five semi-structured interviews run by team members, including a live task: "Find something you saved, right now, while I watch." We synthesised them into ten pain points, each with an evidence count. Participants are anonymised.

ID	Profile	What they mostly save	Where they save
P1	Instructional designer, 24	Finance tips, products, quotes, news	Screenshots (2,162 of them), WhatsApp, Pinterest, Keep, browser tabs
P2	Creative / social content user	Travel reels, poetry, audio (~20 reels a day)	Instagram, screenshots, gallery, WhatsApp
P3	Fashion buyer, 27	Photography, pottery, drawing, DIY	Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, screenshots
P4	UX designer	UI inspiration, recipes, useful posts	Instagram, WhatsApp, screenshots, Notion, Sheets
P5	UX & graphic designer	Design reels and inspiration	Instagram, Pinterest, screenshots, WhatsApp

A · The typical journey today

DiscoverCasually browsing
Recognise value"This could be useful."
Save fastSave, screenshot, WhatsApp
Keep scrollingNo organising
Time passesThe reason fades
Need emerges"I saved something about this…"
Guess the appInstagram? Pinterest? Gallery?
Give upFind something similar, or start over

B · What we heard

Saving is easy, finding is hard5
Saves are scattered across Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, the gallery, WhatsApp, Notion and Keep5
They only look when a task comes up: cooking, a trip, a design piece5
Screenshots used as a quick save4
They give up and find something new4
They have to remember which app it was in3
They tried organizing but didn't keep it up3
Saves went missing without warning2

They save a possibility

"This might be useful someday." The future use is vague, so there's no obvious place to file it.

They remember content, not the container

"There was a pottery technique…", but not "Instagram or Pinterest?"

If I can't recall the app, there's no help.P5

Finding is the real pain

Every participant found saving easy. Every one of them struggled to get a save back.

It was not easy, like finding needles in a haystack.P2

Failure costs motivation

P3 searches for 10–15 minutes, then often no longer feels like doing the hobby.

Forget it, I'll make something else.P3

Organising starts, then stops

Notion hit its limit. Instagram collections go unused.

If I like something, I can just save it and continue scrolling.P3

Saved doesn't mean safe

Posts and accounts get removed. A save can vanish without warning. Screenshots and WhatsApp self-chats feel safer, so people save twice.

C · Why existing tools fall short

We tore down mymind, Pinterest and Google Photos for patterns worth adopting (visual memory, suggested boards, time-based browsing), alongside the tools participants already use as workarounds.

Tool	Strength	Gap we saw
In-app Save (Instagram, Pinterest)	One tap	Locked in one app; search barely works
Screenshots / gallery	Fastest habit	No context, no link back, lost in thousands of photos
Notion / Keep	Flexible	Needs manual filing; people stop
mymind	Good visual memory and smart search	Paid subscription; you still have to go looking when you need something

Our angle

Match the fastest habit, one tap, and add the one thing those tools don't offer: bringing saves back when they're useful.

Who we designed for

People who save content to act on later. In our sample they were mostly designers, so we designed first for work-driven creatives (P4, P5), and checked every decision against the hobby planners too.

The reference hunter

Composite persona from P4 and P5

Name: Riya (fictional)
Age: 24
Role: UI/UX designer
Behaviour: Saves UI examples and design reels while scrolling: Instagram saves, Pinterest, screenshots, WhatsApp. Tried Notion and Instagram folders, then stopped.
Needs: Search across every app by what she remembers, without filing anything by hand.
Motivation: Start a new project with the references she already collected, instead of searching from scratch.
Frustration: "Which app was it?" When she can't find it, she gives up and makes something new.

Secondary: life & hobby planners (P1, P3), whose pain is emotional, losing the motivation to do the hobby, and social scrollers (P2), who save so much that only effortless capture works.

Context to keep in mind

We can't ask people to organise. Organising competes with momentum. 3 of 5 tried and didn't keep it up.
Intent isn't fixed. Someone is into cooking this month and photography the next. Categories set today go stale.
We can't replace their habits. Instagram save, screenshots and WhatsApp already work for capture. Build on top of them.
Not every platform lets you in. Most apps share a link, not the file.
Screenshots can't store links. The fastest capture method loses the source.

From ten pain points to three pillars

Idea 1 · Rejected

Help people organise better

Smarter folders, tags and a "why did you save this?" prompt on every save.

Every option adds a decision at the exact moment people least want one. Our participants already had folders, and dropped them.

Idea 2 · Reframed

Get people to revisit their saves

Daily digests and "you saved this a month ago" nudges.

The goal isn't to make people revisit everything. It's to have the right save ready when a task comes up.

Breakthrough

People remember the content, not the container. So don't ask them to remember where. Let them describe what they remember, and keep saving exactly as fast as it is today.

We grouped the ten pain points into three pillars and ranked them by frequency and severity. Retrieval hurts most, but saving had to be fixed first: if Pixel isn't the quickest way to save, nothing lands in it to find.

Pillar 1Effortless saving

One tap from any app's Share button, and no tap at all for screenshots.

Pillar 2Optional organizing

It never blocks a save, asks one question and can be done later.

Pillar 3Retrieval built on memory

Search the way you remember it, plus saves that come back at the right moment.

Inspiration

Google Photos. Nobody files photos into folders. It sorts them by what, where and when, and brings old ones back as Memories. We wanted the same for saves.

Boundary

We won't replace Instagram, Pinterest or WhatsApp. People keep saving where they already do, and Pixel makes those saves findable.

The solution

Pillar 1 · Effortless saving

One tap, zero decisions. Pixel names each save and reads what's in it.

The phone's share sheet with Pixel Hunters — **Share from any app**1 tap after Share, the same in every app.

Screenshot saved notification with product, price and sale end date — **Screenshots save themselves**0 taps. Pixel reads the text in the screenshot. Personal photos are skipped.

Decision

The Saved card shows content, not just a tick. A plain "Saved" makes people wonder whether it worked and what Pixel understood. Showing the title and key facts builds trust without opening the app.

Pillar 2 · Optional organizing

Organizing never blocks a save. Every save stays in All, filed or not. When you do organize, the app asks one question: which collection?

Organize: pick a collection, Pixel suggests Pottery — **One question, right after saving**Pixel suggests a collection, but nothing is filed until you choose. A note and a reminder stay hidden until you ask for them.

Sort your saves: 1 of 3, pick a collection or skip — **Or sort later, one at a time**A quiet nudge appears on Home once 3 or more saves are unfiled. Tap a collection or skip. Stop anytime.

Nicely sorted: 2 added, 1 skipped — **Done in two minutes**It turns a guilt-inducing chore into a task you can drop at any point.

Decision

A save stays in All after it's filed. We debated moving saves into collections, the way folders work, and rejected it: people remember the thing, not where they filed it, so a save that disappears from All is a save that gets lost again.

Pillar 3 · Retrieval built on memory

Search the way you remember it. Never ask which app first. Bring saves back when they're useful.

6 close matches for recipe for dinner, matched words highlighted — **Search the way you remember**One search across every app: topic, what's in the picture and text inside screenshots, with matched words highlighted.

Help me find it: what it was, roughly when, where you saw it; 5 left — **Can't think of the words**Three taps with a live count of how many saves are left. Offered on every search that finds nothing, so people don't give up.

Dinner time: Cooking tonight? 2 recipes you haven't tried — **It comes back at the right moment**Recipes at dinner time, reads in the morning, places at the weekend. You can hide them or turn them off.

Decision

Search lives on Home, not on its own screen. In an early version, search was a separate tab with filters. People came to Pixel to find something, so making them navigate first added a step. Search now sits pinned at the top of Home, and filters belong to browsing.

Also designed

You copied a link: Save it? — **Copied link**1 tap, read only after you tap Save

4 photos saved, each named — **Several photos**Each one named for you

Already saved, moved to top — **Saving it twice**No copy is made; it moves to the top

Saved, will finish online — **No internet**It still saves, and finishes later

All saves grouped by time — **All, by time**Because people remember roughly when

Search finds sale ends inside a screenshot — **Text in screenshots**"sale ends" finds the screenshot

In short summary and More like this — **In short + More like this**On every save

Original removed from Instagram, copy kept — **Deleted post**The original is gone; your copy stays readable

Reminders list — **Reminders**Only the ones you set yourself

Easy dal tadka save detail — **Save detail**Cards that know what they are

Filters sheet — **Filters**Part of browsing, not search

Organize with a note and a reminder — **Note and reminder**Hidden until you ask

Home nudge: 3 saves aren't in a collection — **Sort nudge**Once 3 or more are unfiled

Collections grid — **Collections**Made by you, suggested by Pixel

Save options menu — **⋮ menu**Everything else lives here

Scroll sideways for more screens.

Every pain point, mapped

#	Pain point (evidence)	Pillar	What we designed
1	Finding is hard (5/5)	Retrieval	One search; loose matching; highlighted close matches
2	Saves scattered across apps (5/5)	Saving	Share from any app; screenshots, links and uploads in one place
3	Only look when a task comes up (5/5)	Retrieval	Moments; reminders; pin to top
4	Screenshots as a quick save (4/5)	Saving	Automatic screenshot saving; searchable text
5	Links sent to self on WhatsApp (4/5)	Saving	WhatsApp → Share; copied-link prompt
6	Saves never opened again (4/5)	Retrieval	Unseen dot; "not seen" count; Not opened filter
7	They give up (4/5)	Retrieval	Help me find it on every empty search
8	Have to remember the app (3/5)	Retrieval	Search never asks for the app; source on every card
9	Organizing not kept up (3/5)	Organizing	Optional; one question; sort later
10	Saves went missing (2/5)	Saving	Private snapshot; deleted posts labelled; no duplicates

Iteration: what changed and why

We built an end-to-end clickable prototype and went through rounds of mentor and self-critique. The strongest decisions were cuts.

Round 1 · First wireframes

Five screens, each tied to a finding from the interviews.

1 · Save from any appOne share-sheet save, an optional reason, and a copy kept. Solves saves scattered across apps (5 of 5).

2 · HomeOne search box for everything, and collections by purpose. Solves having to remember which app (3 of 5).

3 · SearchTitles, notes and text inside screenshots, across every app. Solves "needle in a haystack" (5 of 5).

4 · Collection"Not opened yet" sits on top. Solves saves never opened (4 of 5).

5 · Saved itemSays when the original is gone, and keeps the copy. Solves saves vanishing (2 of 5).

The bad moment · asking too much at save time

Everything was optional, and it was still too much

The first save sheet asked why you're saving it (six chips), for a note, and which collection, all before "Done". Each field was optional, but together they put a handful of decisions between the user and getting back to scrolling.

It fought our strongest finding. Saving is meant to take no thought, and 3 of 5 participants had already abandoned organising.
It asked for intent too early. Intent isn't fixed: a "Recipe" today might be "Inspiration" next month.
Home filtered by app (Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube), the very thing people told us they can't remember.

The way back: saving became a small "Saved" card with one optional Organize button. Organize asks a single question, which collection, and Pixel suggests one. Notes and reminders stay hidden until you ask for them.

Home · from a list to a visual library

Before: Today as a text list with small thumbnails — Today was a list of small thumbnails and text.

After: Home with search on top, a weekend Moment and today's saves as large image cards — People remember **what it looked like**, so the image leads. One card style is used across Home.

Cards · from 9 elements to 4

Before: cards with type badge, saved date, collection label and uneven heights — A type badge, saved date, collection label, reminder pill and more on every card, with uneven heights that left gaps.

After: slim cards with image, title, one fact and source in aligned rows — Image, title, **one** key fact and the source. An unseen dot and a reminder bell sit on the image. Every tap target is at least 44px.

What we cut

Cut	Why
Tags	A second filing system nobody maintains. Collections and search cover it.
Smart collections	Confusing next to collections people make themselves
Separate search screen with filters	One more step before finding. Search moved to Home.
"Best match" vs "Also close"	People scan one list. A single "N close matches" count is enough.
Progress bar while saving	Saving should feel instant
"Mark as done"	Saves aren't tasks. It added guilt, not value.
Long onboarding	Name, apps, import, how-to: get people to their first save faster

Try the prototype

Pick an entry point on the left (an Instagram reel, a WhatsApp link, a Dribbble shot), then search for it, or try "Help me find it".

Open the prototype full screen ↗ · Nothing you do in it is stored. Smart search and Moments run on sample data.

Feasibility and risks

A concept is only as credible as its constraints. These are the ones we know about.

Area	Reality	How the design handles it
Sharing from apps	Instagram and most apps share a link, not the file	Pixel stores the link, preview image, caption and text it can read. It doesn't download other people's videos.
"Keeping a copy"	Re-hosting someone else's content raises copyright and platform-terms issues	Keep a private snapshot for the user (thumbnail, caption, extracted text), never shared. Needs legal review before build.
Reading images	On-device text and image recognition exists on both platforms (Apple Vision, Google ML Kit)	Process on the device where possible, which is also better for privacy
Auto screenshot saving	Needs photo access. On iPhone, new screenshots are picked up when the app runs or refreshes in the background, not instantly.	Opt-in during onboarding, and the notification says "saved" rather than promising it's instant
Clipboard	Reading the clipboard triggers a paste permission prompt on iPhone	Detect that it's a link without reading it, and read it only when the user taps Save
Smart search quality	The prototype runs on sample data	Validate with real saves (see the validation plan)

MVP scope

MVP

Share from any app, Saved card, Organize (collection only)
Search on Home, time-grouped Home, collections
Screenshot saving (opt-in)
Reminders

Later

Several photos at once, offline queue
Moments, More like this
Copied-link prompt, sorting later
Help me find it, once search data shows where people fail

Success metrics and validation plan

Not yet tested. These are the targets we'd test against.

Pillar	Metric	Target
Saving	Time from tapping Share to saved	Under 3 seconds
Saving	Share of saves that need no follow-up	Over 90%
Organizing	Found saves that were never filed (shows finding doesn't depend on organizing)	Track; expect over 50%
Retrieval	Finding a known save on the first search	Over 70%
Retrieval	Finding it within 30 seconds, with or without Help me find it	Over 85%
Retrieval	Saves opened again within 30 days (versus about 0 today)	Track as a baseline

Usability test · next step

5–6 participants, at least half non-designers, with three tasks:

Save a reel and a screenshot.
Find "that recipe you saved for dinner".
Sort three unfiled saves.

Reflection

Cutting was the hardest and most useful skill

Tags, smart collections and a separate search screen all seemed helpful. Each one added a decision for the user.

The order of the pillars matters

Retrieval is the biggest pain, but saving had to be fixed first: if Pixel isn't the quickest way to save, there's nothing in it to find.

What I'd do differently

Recruit beyond designers from the start, and test the save flow with real people before designing the retrieval features.

Limitations: five interviews, mostly designers. Evidence counts are strong signals, not proof. Smart search and Moments are simulated on sample data.