Puff · Break Companion
A quiet break companion that helps you step away without losing your place.
Puff looks for a possible stopping point, saves where you were, and helps you return with a clear next step.
Welcome Back
2001:145
Suggestion
2001:54
Home
2001:26
Final Puff experience: a quieter way to step away and return to work.
My Role
Product Design · Product Strategy · User Research · Prototyping
Team
Two person team
Origin
AI Tinkerers NYC Hackathon
Project Context
Independent product exploration
The Challenge
Taking a break is easy in theory. Finding the right moment is not.
Break reminders can arrive while someone is still focused.
And after stepping away, returning may require rereading or remembering what comes next.
We focused on two moments:
when to step away, and how to come back.
01 · Working
02 · Step Away
Deep focus
Finishing a meaningful part
Deadline
03 · Break
04 · Return
Reread
Remember next step
Find where I stopped
From AI Agent to a Simpler Product
Puff began as an AI agent during a one day hackathon.
It understood work context, suggested a task, asked for approval, and worked while the user stepped away.
But the concept introduced deeper browser access, more sensitive context, and more technical complexity.
That led us to ask:
Did the experience actually need this much AI?
Original AI Concept
composite image needed · Nudge · Confirm · Away · Resume
Technical Flow
image needed
Competitive research also showed that break timing, browser companions, and work resumption were usually treated as separate problems.
We saw an opportunity to connect them:
help someone step away with less disruption, then return with less friction.
Break reminders
Timing
Browser companions
Lighter interventions
Context tools
Work resumption
What We Learned From Users
Research shifted several assumptions.
Moment over clock
The moment mattered more than the clock
In our first survey, reminders immediately after saving, submitting, sending, or exporting were consistently rated as less disruptive.
User decides
The user still needed control
There was no universal right moment for a break. Puff could suggest, but the user needed to decide.
Resume lightly
Returning needed lightweight support
In a larger survey, 57% had to reread something and 29% had to remember their next step.
Collect less
Privacy mattered
65% were uncomfortable with Puff accessing tab titles and URLs, even with local processing.
Context before clock · Suggest, do not decide · Resume lightly · Collect less · Stay quiet
Findings are directional and based on exploratory research.
A Simpler Product Direction
Research did not show a strong need for an AI assistant at the center of the experience.
What came through more clearly was the need for:
predictability · control · lightweight support · privacy
So Puff became a quieter companion.
01 · Quiet
02 · Suggest
03 · Hold Your Place
04 · Break
05 · Welcome Back
06 · Resume
Instead of asking where we could add AI, we started asking:
Where does intelligence create enough value to justify the complexity?
Before · AI Agent
Original AI Concept
composite image needed · Confirm · Away · Resume
After · Ambient Companion
Suggestion
2001:54
Hold Your Place
2001:81
Welcome Back
2001:145
Designing and Testing the Core Loop
What should Puff preserve before someone steps away?
Research pushed us toward something lightweight:
where the user was
what they wanted to do next
Preserving a place
Earlier
Retro Hold Your Place
110:17
Final
Hold Your Place
2001:81
What does someone need when they return?
The experience gradually centered on two questions:
Where was I?
What should I do next?
Returning to work
Earlier
Retro Welcome Back
110:21
Final
Welcome Back
2001:145
Testing Three Approaches
We tested three interaction approaches.
A · On Time
Timer based.
A Suggestion
308:4523
B · Gentle
A softer contextual suggestion.
B Suggestion
308:4767
C · In Your Hands
More explicit user control.
C Suggestion
308:5032
Each participant tested one variation, so the goal was not to choose a winner.
What Testing Changed
Puff did not need more features. It needed more clarity and control.
We clarified short term dismissal versus longer quiet controls.
We simplified return context.
We made the next step easier to understand.
Control clarity
Before
C Suggestion
308:5032
After
Final Suggestion
2001:54
Supporting
Pause Puff
2001:328
Return context
Earlier
C Welcome Back
308:7052
Final
Final Welcome Back
2001:145
Polish the core loop before expanding the product.
The Final Experience
The final experience focuses on five moments.
01 · Quiet
Puff stays out of the way while the user works.
Home
2001:26
02 · Suggest
At a possible stopping point, Puff gently suggests a break.
Suggestion
2001:54
03 · Hold Your Place
Puff saves the chosen page and an optional next step.
Hold Your Place
2001:81
04 · Break
The context stays saved while Puff stays quiet.
On a Break
2001:114
05 · Welcome Back
Puff brings back:
Where you were
What is next
Welcome Back
2001:145
Future Exploration
Could Puff become quieter by moving partly off screen?
We began exploring a physical desk version that could communicate through subtle light, movement, and presence.
The software would still handle timing, context, privacy, and return support.
The physical Puff would simply make the work rhythm more visible.
01 · Software Puff
02 · System State
03 · Physical Puff
Quiet
Rest ready
Invitation
This remains a future hypothesis, not a validated product direction.
Reflection
Follow the problem, not the first solution.
Puff started with an ambitious AI concept.
Research kept changing our understanding of what people actually needed.
The product became simpler because the problem became clearer.
Use AI intentionally.
AI should create enough value to justify the added complexity and privacy considerations.
For Puff, a predictable and rule based core experience was the stronger choice.
Puff started as an agent that could work while you stepped away.
It became something quieter: a companion that suggests a pause with less disruption, keeps just enough context, and makes it easier to come back.