App -design and atmosphere coding with AI to give you a new perspective

How to combine the atmospheric coding, app design and philosophy to reformulate challenges in opportunities – built in just eight hours with a focus on calmness, clarity and meaning.

A look at a positive thinking companion app that combines AI, app design and a little personal philosophy to reformulate challenges and to increase well-being.

I have always admired how great spirits split problems into their essence – whether it solving general theory of relativity, DNA sequencing or sending people to the moon. But in my own life I tend to reflect on the negatives until someone offers a different position. Friends are great for that, but after moving abroad 15 years ago, making new ones was not easy.

That is where the idea for Saige (a temporary name) began: what if I could distil the wisdom of the thinkers, writers and scientists that I admire the most – Richard Feynman, John von Neumann, Enrici Fermi, Adam Smith, Paulo Coelho – and have it when I needed perspective? What if AI could put together the most inspiring insights from years of reading and notes and could present them in a way that felt personally and encouragingly?

The concept

Saige is a digital companion that not only offers generic advice – it leads you by reformulating challenges. Based on concepts such as “sins of omission versus sins of the committee” and the philosophical journey in the alchemist, it pushes you to take action and see obstacles as part of your personal path.

The user interface reflects that philosophy: clean, calming and distracted free. A soft color palette, clear typography and intentional distance create an environment where you feel safe to explore your thoughts.

Saige Building in a week

This project took shape for about eight hours, spread throughout my week:

1. Research and inspiration
   With the help of Gemini 2.5 Pro I mapped references from scientists, economists, psychologists and authors. This was the longest and most rewarding step – building the intellectual basis of the app.
2. Prototyping in Canvas
   I worked with Gemini to make a functional test version, to refine the power and answers. Once happy, I asked to generate a Swiftui version.
3. App -in Figma
   The first builds in Xcode worked but looked rough. I collected visual inspiration – Olivetti machines, minimalist text layers, liquid glass effects – and prototyped in Figma before the final user interface is coded.
4. Itteren in Swiftui
   Some design elements evolved in code instead of Figma, especially mesh gradients and glass effects. Coding gave me room to experiment beyond the static mockups.

More than the end product

After a few eruptions of coding and designs, Saige was turning – and looked good. AI did not accelerate the process alone; It expanded what I thought it was possible to reach in such a short time.

For me, the joy was not only the building of an app out and idea, to create a deep knowledge with AI, for the app design and coding, but creating something that might help calm my cheaper syndrome and give me a new perspective.

Atmosphere coding and app