# Colour, Candy, and Control: How I Reclaimed My Attention with Custom App Icons ## Focus isn’t just a mindset. It's a design decision we make for our tools and the world around us. Published [[2025-08-07]] on [Idea Waypoints](https://ideawaypoints.substack.com/p/colour-candy-and-control-how-i-reclaimed) --- Imagine heading into a grocery store craving something sweet. You head to the candy aisle or soda section. What stands out first? Chances are, it’s colour: - Coca-Cola red vs. Pepsi blue - Brightly coloured candy wrappers - Cadbury purple signalling sweet chocolate In retail design and branding, colour isn’t an afterthought – it’s a strategy. It helps products stand out, creates recognition, and most importantly: grabs your attention. ## Your Phone is a Candy Aisle Now think about your phone’s homescreen. It’s not all that different from a shelf in the candy aisle. Apps use colour, shape, and brand design to draw you in. That bright red notification badge? That familiar blue of Facebook or coloured swirl of Slack? It’s all working the same way candy packaging does: to get your attention – and draw you in. And just like grabbing a chocolate bar you didn’t plan on, it’s easy to tap into an app *without* intention. Why? Because I wanted: - Fewer visual distractions - Less unconscious engagement - More control over what I *meant* to do I needed a way to put myself on a healthy diet from distraction, but do so with small shifts that encourage lifetstyle change – not just some fad diet or expensive gadget. ## A Design Intervention: Going Monochrome The podcast, Life Kit, [recently aired an episode](https://www.npr.org/2025/08/07/nx-s1-5493267/is-your-phone-becoming-a-time-suck-try-a-boring-phone) encouraging the shift to a "boring phone" or "simple phone". There was some great advice on that episode – but my iPhone has a lot of beneficial features that I don't want to give up, or start carrying multiple devices to achive. You don't need to buy something new to make change. I know, because I started this years ago, and it still serves me well. During grad school, I noticed a pattern: I’d open my phone to jot a note… and find myself 20 minutes deep in Discord. Social media can be a quick hit of dopamine, and designed to capture and keep your attention… or encourage you to what more. So I made a change. I designed a **custom monochrome icon set** for my most-used apps – and stripped my homescreen of everything else. While I still had access to all of the other apps on my phone through the App Library or search, my homescreen not only became a curated set of apps for easy reach, but designed to inform but not entice. ## Intentional Design, Not Just Minimal Aesthetics This wasn’t about being aesthetic or minimalist (though I do love a good clean interface). It was about **intentionality** – using design as a tool to support my focus. By designing custom icons: - I had to decide what _deserved_ to be on my homescreen as it took time and effort to put it there - I avoided the trap of reactive tapping - I made engaging with my phone _just inconvenient enough_ to pause and ask: *Do I actually need this right now?* I even used Shortcuts to tie into workflows in tools like **Obsidian** and **OmniFocus**, so my phone became more of a support system – and less of a temptation. One word of caution: You don't need to go to my extreme of making an icon set to get be ## How It’s Going I've been using this set up now for a few years, and the custom setup is still going strong. No bright icons. No red badges. No candy shelf, encouraging a quick fix of distractability. The result? - Lower screen time - Fewer distractions (from my phone, at least) - A healthier relationship with my tech My phone is a tool in my toolkit… not a tool for distraction. --- **Today's question:** What’s one visual change you could make to your digital space to help reduce friction… or regain focus? --- ## Outline In design, the strategic use of colour can help draw the eye. The absence of colour can also be used to our advantage. Imagine yourself in the aisle at the grocery store, and you're looking for a sugary treat. What are the visual cues that stand out to you? If you're looking for a carbonated beverage, are you likely to confuse the vivid red of Coca Cola with the royal blue of Pepsi? In the candy aisle, the rich purple of Cadbury stands out in a sea of neon and bright, playful packages, all vying for your attention. In branding, colours are one form of creating a visual identity to stand out against the competition. But it's also a tool to draw your eye for sales and marketshare. The homescreen of your phone is no different than a candy aisle. Colour and brand are visible for a reason: they inform what it is – but also, serve as a visual nudge for you to open and engage. Opening and engaging isn't a bad thing, if that's what you intend to do. In my last two posts about colour, I talked about how the strategic use of colour helps as [a visual cue for motivation](https://ideawaypoints.substack.com/p/the-colour-of-habit-how-one-shade), and [for my calendars](https://ideawaypoints.substack.com/p/colour-makes-my-calendar-work-smarter). My goal is to signal action or information, and to draw attention to it. - When I switched to a custom icon setup - During the peak of grad school, I noticed I was easily distracted by my phone. If I'd pop onto my phone to make a quick note, I'd find myself – 20 minutes later – scrolling on Discord. - I knew I needed a way to make my phone less interesting. - Why I switched to a custom icon setup - Colour app icons were like candy… and I had a sweet tooth for social media - One of my first design jobs was in package design, and I learned a lot about what sells and what tempts the eye. A great experience… but also, the [[klein2000NoLogoTaking|No Logo]] gal in me bristles at my attention being manipulated… - It made me really choose what lives on my home screen - Frankly, I don't *want* to make icons for everything… and I liked the intentionality of making my own (artisinal icons LOL) - Apple's iOS even has switched to allowing the user to desaturate or custom colour their icons now! - (But you can also just download others if you're interested… plenty of great sets out there…) - Prioritize to what matters close within reach, vs wanting to apply good friction to my system. - This includes being able to leverage Shortcuts… which ties in to fun little things in [[Obsidian]] and [[OmniFocus]] etc. - How it has helped - I still use my phone, but I do so with intentionality. - None of the icons on my phone screen are screaming for my attention. - My dependence on my phone has gone way down, as has my screen time. - And I've been doing this now for the past few years, with no urge to return to what was. Better focus, and a better relationship with my phone being a tool in my toolkit, rather than a distraction.