App Critique: Wünderlist

Wünderlist’s main list screen (left) and to-do item screen (right).

The Target Audience 

The target audience are people who are technically savvy and want to use a to-do list app on their mobile device to keep track of their tasks. The demographic probably skews younger in the 22-39 range. Wunderlist’s design is appropriate for their target audience since they offer advanced features like conversations and shared lists in addition to the typical features a user would expect of a to-do list. The advanced features require more familiarity and integration with technology, such as syncing with a Google account.

Does the content, organization, and navigation make sense for a mobile or touch context? 

Yes, navigation is touch based, relying mostly on taps and swipes. Positioning of the Add button is in the bottom center which is an easy position for the user to tap with their thumb. There’s the standard swipe left to delete function as well. Taps on different areas of a to-do list item also offers different functionality: tapping the checkbox checks or unchecks the item, tapping in the center of the list item brings up a more detailed screen where the user can edit their list item or add subtasks, tapping to the right side stars/favorites the item for easier sorting and viewing.

I like, I wish, what if?

I like using a to-do list app over traditional paper and pen for recurring tasks. It’s so easy to set up a recurring task and customize how often the task should recur. The organization of the app is also simple and clean allowing for groups of lists and folders.

I wish the app continually auto-sorted tasks by the user’s preferences. For example, I frequently choose to sort my tasks by due date, however, if I add a new task, that tasks just goes to the top of the list instead of in the proper spot according to its due date. I need to manually re-apply the sort by due date filter if I would like the new task sorted by it’s due date rather than added at the top.

What if Wünderlist allowed more user customization for the visual design? Wünderlist currently allows users to choose from a limited set of preset themes that changes the background and color of the UI elements. It would be nice if the user could choose their own colors for more customization or import their own photos to use as a background.

Additional Thoughts

The visual design is nice for the app’s functionality - essentially a list of items - so form follows function. The navigation and user flow is also standard, making use of the back button in the upper left corner to navigate to previous screens and using taps on the to-do list items to navigate forward into more detailed screens.