pebble

Inspiration

We noticed that many of our friends and classmates struggled with deadlines, assignments, and keeping up with their classes—even when they were fully capable of doing the work. Often, the hardest part wasn’t understanding the material, but finding the momentum to get started. We saw how executive dysfunction, including challenges commonly experienced by people with ADHD, could turn manageable assignments into overwhelming sources of stress and anxiety.

We wanted to build something that met students where they are, rather than adding another source of pressure. That idea became Pebble: a gentle academic companion built around the belief that progress doesn’t have to happen all at once. Sometimes, all you need is one small step.

What it does

Pebble is an ADHD-friendly academic organizer and AI-powered study companion designed to make studying feel more manageable. Inspired by the calm, intentional beauty of Japanese Zen gardens, Pebble helps students organize their work, find a starting point, and regain momentum when plans change.

Key features include:

Just Start: Break assignments into smaller steps and focus on one actionable task at a time.
Five-Minute Mode: Choose a short study session that fits your available time and ease into your work.
Energy Check-In: Select your current energy level to receive task suggestions that match how you feel.
Deadline Rescue: Prioritize assignments based on deadlines, effort, and importance.
Restart Button: Return to unfinished work, make a task smaller, or reschedule without feeling guilty.
Progress Without Pressure: Celebrate completed tasks and small wins without punishing streaks or guilt-driven productivity metrics.
Adaptive Garden: Powered by the Gemini API, our AI feature personalizes study sessions around students’ goals, available time, energy levels, and interface preferences. It can generate revision notes, worked examples, practice questions, explanations, and manageable study steps.
A Personalized Garden: Choose a quieter, more minimal environment or a more visually engaging experience to suit your preferences.

Pebble isn't about doing everything perfectly. It's about making the next step feel possible.

How we built it

We built Pebble as a web application using React and TypeScript, with a focus on creating an intuitive, accessible, and calming user experience. Our interface draws inspiration from Japanese Zen gardens, using a nature-inspired visual language to make academic planning feel less intimidating.

We designed rule-based features for task prioritization, energy-based recommendations, and study-session timing. For personalized study support, we integrated the Gemini API to help generate structured learning materials and adapt study steps to each student's needs.

We also focused on practical usability: preserving progress, supporting session continuity, reducing visual clutter, and giving students control over their study environment. Our goal was to make Pebble feel like a supportive companion rather than another demanding productivity tool.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was balancing functionality with simplicity. Academic organizers can easily become overwhelming when they display too many assignments, reminders, and metrics at once. We had to think carefully about how to give students useful information without creating more distractions.

Another challenge was designing AI-powered study sessions that feel genuinely helpful instead of generic. We wanted the AI to provide concrete learning materials and actionable next steps while keeping students in control of their goals and preferences.

We also had to consider that students have different energy levels, study habits, and sensory preferences. Creating an experience that could accommodate those differences without making assumptions about users required thoughtful design decisions.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud to have created a concept that treats academic productivity with empathy. Instead of relying on guilt, rigid schedules, or endless to-do lists, Pebble encourages students to work at their own pace and recognize progress in small increments.

We're especially proud of bringing together practical task-management tools and AI-assisted learning in a calming, cohesive experience. Features like Just Start, Restart Button, and Adaptive Garden are designed to address different moments in the studying process—from getting started to recovering momentum after falling behind.

Most importantly, we built Pebble around a simple idea: students deserve tools that support them without making them feel like they're failing.

What we learned

We learned that productivity isn't just about organizing time. Getting started, deciding what to do next, managing energy, and recovering from interruptions can be just as important as completing the work itself.

We also learned that AI is most useful when it helps people take meaningful action, not when it adds complexity. Personalized explanations and manageable study steps can make a large assignment feel more approachable, especially when students remain in control of the experience.

Finally, we learned that accessibility and thoughtful design should be considered from the beginning. Small decisions—like reducing clutter, allowing students to adjust their environment, and avoiding guilt-based progress systems—can change how welcoming a tool feels.

What's next for Pebble

We'd love to continue developing Pebble into a more complete academic companion. Our next steps include improving the personalization of Adaptive Garden, expanding the range of subjects and learning materials it supports, and refining how it recommends tasks based on students' goals and available time.

We also hope to explore calendar and learning-platform integrations, customizable reminders, and more flexible accessibility settings. With further testing and feedback from students—especially those who experience executive-function challenges—we want to understand which features genuinely help and where Pebble can improve.

Our long-term vision is to make Pebble a place where students can pause, find their footing, and take the next small step forward.

Pebble — Small steps. Softer days.