1
Independence Engine
Large football-themed cards organise hygiene, routines and household tasks by time of day, with simple taps, instant points and clear feedback.
Person-centred digital architecture
Liam's Match Day Level Up Independence
A bespoke football-first Progressive Web App that transforms daily routines, health tracking and supported living into an age-appropriate experience built around motivation, dignity and real life.
Core principle:
Technology should adapt to people. Not the other way around.
Platform
Progressive Web App
Primary focus
Independent living
Architecture
Serverless Google Workspace
Design method
Passion-to-utility translation
Project overview
A gamified independent living platform
Liam's Match Day was designed for a young adult navigating autism, epilepsy, learning disabilities and right-sided hemiplegia. It replaces the cold visual language of a care plan with an experience grounded in football, familiarity and personal identity.
The central problem was not a lack of available reminders or checklists. It was the absence of a system Liam would genuinely want to open every day.
Standard independence tools often focus on compliance. They ask whether medication was taken, whether a room was tidied, or whether an appointment was attended. Liam's Match Day keeps those practical requirements, but translates them into the language of football so the experience feels personal rather than clinical.
Daily routines become Match Training. Medication becomes Training Supplements. Chores move into Extra Time. Seizures are recorded as Red Cards. Completed tasks build Performance Stats and a Transfer Budget that can unlock trophies and real-world rewards.
The design shift
The platform starts with the question: what would make Liam want to use this? It does not begin with the convenience of a service provider.
Football-first philosophy
Speak the user's language
Football is not a decorative layer placed over a generic task manager. It is the organising language of the product. The terminology, progress model, rewards, visual feedback and motivational prompts all connect essential routines to something Liam already values.
This approach can be described as passion-to-utility translation: mapping practical, educational or health-related requirements into the language and reward structures of a person's established interest.
Age appropriate
Dignity first
Emotionally relevant
Non-clinical
The product model was built around the user, rather than fitting the user into a pre-existing product model.
Daily routines and hygiene
Match Training
Medication management
Training Supplements
Household chores
Extra Time
Seizure logging
Red Cards
Points and progress
Performance Stats and Transfer Budget
Functional layers
One platform, several parts of daily life
Each layer supports a different part of Liam's day while keeping the interaction model familiar and consistent.
2
Health and seizure layer
Red Card logging provides a quick, low-friction way to record seizure counts and preserve a reliable history for future clinical conversations.
3
Match Day engagement
Live fixtures, points, trophies, league form and manager-style Team Talk messages keep the platform connected to Liam's actual football interests.
4
Calendar and scheduling
Google Calendar events surface appointments, football sessions, social activities and college commitments inside the same daily interface.
5
Weather and preparation
Live conditions support practical self-care decisions such as what to wear, what to take and how to prepare for activities outside the home.
6
Rewards and progress
Consistency is reflected through form, streaks, trophies and a Transfer Budget that links daily effort with meaningful rewards.
Technical architecture
Pragmatic, transparent and maintainable
The architecture deliberately favours low operational overhead, user-owned data and familiar tools over unnecessary infrastructure.
Google Sheets as an empathetic database
Google Sheets was selected because it gives family members and carers a familiar, transparent ledger without requiring a separate administrative portal. It is not simply a cost-saving shortcut. It is an architectural decision shaped around the people who need to maintain the system.
Google Apps Script handles the data operations between the Progressive Web App and the underlying sheets, while Google Calendar supplies appointments and scheduled events.
React
TypeScript
Vite
Tailwind CSS
Zustand
Google Apps Script
Google Sheets
Google Calendar
API-Football
OpenWeatherMap
| Component | Purpose |
|---|---|
| React, TypeScript and Vite | Fast, component-based user interface and installable PWA. |
| Zustand and local storage | Local state and resilience during temporary connectivity loss. |
| Google Apps Script | Serverless data operations, validation and integrations. |
| Google Sheets | User-owned operational ledger for tasks, health, points and settings. |
| Google Calendar | Appointments, sessions, college events and social activities. |
| External APIs | Football fixtures and live weather information. |
Accessibility-first design
Designed around the person
Accessibility is treated as an interaction and architecture problem, not a checklist added after the interface was finished. The design responds directly to Liam's cognitive profile and right-sided hemiplegia.
- Large touch targets support limited motor precision.
- Simple tap interactions minimise typing and navigation effort.
- Immediate visual feedback confirms every action.
- Undo options make accidental interactions easy to correct.
- High-contrast sections support visual scanning.
- A flat structure keeps key actions close to the surface.
Accessibility principle
A forgiving interface reduces the cost of mistakes. It supports confidence instead of punishing imperfect interaction.
Dignity and autonomy
Visibility without surveillance
The system gives carers the information they need without requiring them to take over Liam's device or digital space.
Liam remains the primary actor in his own system. His account, his device, his data and his routines remain centred throughout the architecture.
Carers can review task completion, points, appointments and health trends from their own devices through shared access. They do not need to borrow Liam's phone, look over his shoulder or become the sole keeper of his information.
This creates a practical balance between independence and support. The architecture preserves adult autonomy while keeping vital information available when it is genuinely needed.
Market context
Where Liam's Match Day fits
Research into assistive technology found an active market of visual planners, caregiver-supported tools and gamified habit trackers, but few products combine these approaches through deeply personalised, passion-led design.
Clinical schedule tools
Specialist products can provide strong visual structure and caregiver support, but often retain a formal or service-led interaction model.
Liam's Match Day
A bespoke system combining visual scheduling, health tracking, caregiver visibility, live sports data and a fully personalised football metaphor.
Generic gamified apps
Products such as fantasy trackers or virtual pets make routines more engaging, but the theme and interaction world are defined by the product.
The transferable innovation
Football is the implementation, not the limit of the idea. The same architecture could be built around music, gaming, trains, animals, art, motorsport or any other meaningful interest.
The reusable method is to identify the world that already matters to the person, then translate routines, progress, feedback and support into that world without compromising dignity or safety.
Project impact
Independence through design
Liam's Match Day demonstrates how personalised architecture can make support tools feel less like work and more like something worth returning to.
Personal
Built around Liam's actual interests, identity and support needs.
Practical
Uses low-cost, maintainable tools that family and carers can understand.
Dignified
Supports visibility and safety without turning independence into surveillance.
When technology is designed around what a person loves rather than what they lack, the relationship with the tool can change completely.