Tequila

01 / Inspiration

Should we adapt to our tools, or should our tools adapt to us?

That question started Tequila.

I found myself switching between productivity apps that often forced a trade-off: powerful features in interfaces I didn't enjoy, or beautiful designs that couldn't keep up with my workflow. Instead of choosing between the two, I decided to build my own macOS workspace.

Coming from a background in fashion design, fashion management, and visual production, I naturally pay attention to visual hierarchy, composition, and how people interact with designed systems. Learning Swift gave me a way to turn those interests into something functional—not just something that looks good on a screen.

02 / Build

Tequila is a native macOS productivity workspace built with Swift, SwiftUI, and AppKit. It brings six everyday workflows into one application:

• Focus — tasks, schedules, and day counters
• Timer — count-up and countdown sessions
• Calendar — customizable visual planning
• Mail — multiple email accounts in one workspace
• Logs — notes, research, and project materials
• Settings — control over the workspace's appearance

The goal isn't to collect features for the sake of collecting them. It's to make different parts of everyday work feel like they belong together.

Building Tequila also changed how I approached design. Instead of treating the interface as decoration added after development, I considered visual hierarchy, customization, and functionality together. A productivity tool should help people think more clearly—not give them another thing to organize.

03 / Iterate

Shipping v1.0 was the beginning, not the end of the to-do list.

After releasing Tequila publicly, I gathered feedback through GitHub and social platforms. Some responses challenged my visual choices; others helped me spot places where the interface could communicate more clearly. I learned that a feature isn't finished just because the code works—and a design isn't successful just because its creator likes how it looks.

Each release became an opportunity to rethink, refine, and occasionally admit that the first idea wasn't the best one.

• v1.1 — Less Noise, More Focus. Simplified the interface and removed unnecessary text to make the experience cleaner and more direct.
• v1.2 — Time, Made Visible. Added count-up and countdown day counters in Focus, making elapsed time and days remaining easier to track. Also corrected inconsistent wording across the interface.
• v1.3 — Every Day Counts. Continued refining the day-counting experience, helping users track how much time has passed or how much remains at a glance.
• v1.4 — No Task Left in the Dark. Added clearer visual indicators for completed and incomplete tasks, making progress easier to scan. The delete control also turned red: some actions deserve a little more visual urgency.

The principle behind these updates is simple: less guessing, clearer signals, better workflows. I want Tequila to become more useful not by adding features endlessly, but by making everyday interactions more intuitive.

04 / What I'm Learning

Building Tequila has taught me that software development is more than making an idea work. It means translating a personal problem into a usable system, balancing visual expression with practical needs, and revising decisions when real users respond differently than expected.

It has also given me a new perspective on design. Whether I'm arranging visual elements or structuring a software feature, I'm solving a similar problem: how can a system become clearer, more intuitive, and more adaptable to the person using it?

Tequila is still evolving, and that is part of the point. Every release gives me another opportunity to test an idea, identify friction, and improve the product through implementation and feedback.

The long-term question remains the same: what if productivity software adapted to people, instead of asking people to adapt to it?

Built With

• appkit
• desktop-app
• git
• productivity
• swiftui