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Inspiration
We are three enthusiastic students and after joining the BU Hackathon, and as soon as the theme was revealed we jumped into a whiteboard session to brainstorm from our own lives.
Nuray works part‑time in marketing while studying, and she’s constantly trying to keep a 50/50 split between work and university. On heavy study days she tends to overinvest in preparing for classes, which pushes her work tasks past their deadlines, even when her goal is to do everything “fifty‑fifty.”
Aziza has struggled with anxiety since she was young and has a high achiever syndrome. Usually during the midterms and finals she chases the highest GPA she can, spending long, uninterrupted hours studying without even short breaks. That rhythm leads to burnout and stress instead of sustainable performance.
Ainamkoz puts sports first, but when workload spikes she drops exercise entirely and her neck gets sore very quickly because she isn’t used to sitting for long stretches. These health constraints make her studying sessions feel uncomfortable and annoying.
These real, everyday struggles motivated us to create Demal Companion: a simple, clear, and insightful Windows desktop companion that helps people finish on time, protect deep work, and keep healthy routines. We decided to name it "Demal" because of its meaning from Kazakh Language "to have a rest". Our own problems pushed us toward this idea and we would use Demal ourselves. We wanted something simple, clear, but very insightful, and we went for it. If you don’t have a real problem, you will not really have anything to propose.
What it does
Demal Companion is a standalone desktop app with an always‑on “pop‑up pet” that launches at startup in a small always‑on‑top window. It works across all apps (not a browser extension) and gives light structure (time caps or a finish time) plus gentle wellbeing prompts for eyes, posture, and movement. It includes time tracking, smart break planning, and optional Notion/AI integrations.
Onboarding is quick: set goals and typical hours, pick problem areas and tone, choose micro‑exercises (eye resets, stretches, posture, hydration) and frequencies, and optionally connect Notion and your Google calendar so the pet can respect events and tasks.
Each day it asks for your target hours or finish time, then builds a plan that balances focus blocks with short breaks and a longer break, placing your chosen exercises. You see the remaining time, next break, and next meeting at a glance. It tracks focused work across apps, pauses when idle, and gives timely nudges (“2 hours left,” “Break in 10 minutes,” “Meeting in 30”). You can snooze, skip, or reschedule; the plan adapts instantly. At day/week end it shows where your time went, why breaks were skipped, and suggests helpful AI automations (e.g., an Excel helper if the user spends too much time on Excel without AI automation implemented, or job‑search assistant) which prioritizes the privacy first and fully under your control.
How we built it
We began with research: scanning productivity apps, desktop companions, and pop‑up animation patterns to define a visual style that feels friendly, light, and respectful of focus. We mapped the user journey from the first run by questioning what to ask at sign‑in (work and study hours, calendars to connect, break preferences, exercise goals), how to set a daily finish time, and how to honor personal balance rules like “study/work 50/50”, so we could design flows that felt natural. We divided roles across research and target‑market analysis, prototype and experience design, and a technical proof of concept. Using familiar design tools, we created clickable screens for planning, break prompts, and summaries, then implemented a basic desktop prototype to validate scheduling logic, pop‑up timing, and local data handling without committing to a heavy tech stack. We organized with shared docs, mentor feedback loops to keep scope tight and decisions fast under hackathon constraints.
Challenges we ran into
As a desktop companion (rather than a mobile app or website), Demal had fewer ready‑made resources and examples for us to borrow from, so we spent time exploring options and talking to our advisor to pick a path we could deliver within the hackathon. With limited coding experience and a short timeline, it was tough to balance ambition with stability. Early prototypes occasionally felt laggy when the pop‑up animation and background activity checks ran together, so we simplified visuals and throttled background work to keep things smooth. Calendar realities like recurring events, last‑minute changes, and time zones made automatic reflow and conflict avoidance more complex than we expected. We also iterated a lot on the tone and timing of nudges so they’d feel supportive rather than nagging, especially during exams, live meetings, or full‑screen focus.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We produced a clear, concise written report with a well‑defined problem statement, target market, and a business model canvas. Rood R&D gave us a precise goal and a sharper understanding of the pain points we wanted to address. We built a working prototype that demonstrates meeting‑aware planning around a chosen finish time, contextual break prompts with quick ergonomic exercises, and local‑first data handling with an instant pause and per‑app exclusions to build trust. Despite limited time and experience, we overcame lag issues and kept the prototype cohesive and usable. Demal directly supports UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG) which is "Good Health and Well‑Being" by encouraging healthier screen habits, reducing burnout risk, and protecting posture and movement without sacrificing productivity.
What we learned
We learned how to collaborate under time pressure, split responsibilities clearly, and adopt new tools quickly while keeping user needs front and center. We saw firsthand that trust is a prerequisite for productivity tools: a visible pause button, clear data practices, and respectful defaults matter as much as scheduling features. Context‑aware breaks work better than fixed timers; when nudges align with meetings and deep work, people actually take them. Meeting‑aware planning lowers cognitive load, so users spend less time rescheduling and more time doing meaningful work. Most importantly, framing decisions around well‑being (SDG 3) helped us make healthier defaults that users can sustain.
What's next for Demal Companion
Next we’ll expand Demal with opt‑in AI optimization that analyzes patterns to recommend smarter buffer times, task ordering, and focus‑block lengths, making on‑time finishes more consistent. We’ll suggest exercise and mobility routines that fit each day’s rhythm such as short movement after long desk sessions, quick stretches after back‑to‑back meetings, and keep those slots protected when workload spikes. We plan to deepen integrations so the companion pauses itself automatically during calls and can write concise daily and weekly reviews to tools like Notion. After stabilizing the Windows experience, we aim to bring Demal to macOS. In a small private beta, we’ll track SDG‑3‑aligned indicators such as perceived stress, eye strain, neck and shoulder discomfort, break adherence, and end‑of‑day fatigue to make sure Demal advances both well‑being and sustainable productivity.
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