Stylish Calculator Calcu
⭐️ 4.7 App Store Rating | 10 Million + Users | Android
Company: Digitalchemy LLC
Team: Calcu Team
My Role: UI / UX Designer
Project Spotlight: Stylish Calculator Themes
Making Math Pretty Since Day One
Overview
UX-Driven Redesign for a Global Audience
During my time as a UI / UX Designer at Digitalchemy LLC, a small but mighty startup - I was given a very fun task, to make calculator themes. Exciting I know. CALCU was a fan-favorite calculator app known for its clean experience and many customizable themes. I was asked to led the creation of several new hand-painted calculator themes, as well as a new theme gallery. This was a chance to transform an already great product into something genuinely aesthetic. From soft gradients to bold scenary, each theme was designed to elevate the user’s experience and bring personality to everyday math.
The new themes were so successful in fact, the app won several global awards.
Personalized & Stylish
With creative intention and attention to detail, I crafted several of the most popular themes for this top-performing app.
Below is a curated showcase of the CALCU themes I designed—each built to add personality, delight, and a touch of elegance to everyday math.
Ideation
Where wild ideas became beautiful themes
As the designer in charge of crafting joyful new themes, I kicked things off with a hands-on creative workshop—full of post-it notes, marker boards, and dangerously strong coffee.
Ideas grew fast. A sky with a moon? No. A beach at night? Closer. What if the user was on the moon, gazing back at Earth? Yes. That one.
This collaborative chaos was the launchpad for some of the most playful and beloved themes in CALCU.
A Home for the Themes
Like your own personal art gallery—only interactive
Fun ideas mean nothing without a space to explore them. I was tasked with designing a Theme Gallery—a clean, intuitive interface where users could browse, preview, and select their favorite looks.
It wasn’t just about picking a color. This gallery had to scale for global users, highlight popular themes based on usage data, and showcase new releases—all while keeping things simple and delightful.
Crafting Each Theme
The fun work
Every theme began as a high-resolution matte painting in Adobe Photoshop. From there, I tailored the full experience—custom button layouts, unique icons, themed fonts, and a matching calculation history screen.
One of the most loved? The Moon theme—painted by hand and adored by millions.
Delightfully Cold
For this winter-themed design, I added a subtle falling snow animation—complete with parallax movement when users enter history mode. A small, delightful detail that brought the theme to life.
This became a seasonal favorite, especially around winter and Christmas, bringing joy to users all over the world.
Tropical Vibes
Originally, this theme was planned to include gentle fish animations—but due to time constraints, that idea was cut. Even without animation, users found the design calming and “peaceful” during testing. It quickly became a fan favorite, especially overseas.
A Hauntingly Beautiful Challenge
This was the most labor-intensive theme I created—nicknamed the “Halloween Theme” during production.
Alongside a massive 100+ layer matte painting in Photoshop, I also crafted fully custom fonts to match the eerie vibe. It became a perfect opportunity to dive into type design, learning to build glyphs and fonts using Glyphs Software and FontLab.
Increased Downloads
Optimizing the App Store
Custom-designed App Store screenshots? Check. Optimized per region in 40+ languages? Absolutely. After rounds of A/B testing, the results spoke for themselves — a 35% boost in global downloads.
A Stylish Success
This was one of those rare projects where creativity and joy were baked into every pixel. The themes I designed helped bring global delight — across 40+ languages and millions of users.
The cherry on top? The app won multiple awards, and those vibrant themes played a starring role.
Disclaimer:
The work shown here was created during my time at Digitalchemy LLC and is presented solely for personal portfolio use. All visuals reflect my role and contributions, and are shared respectfully to highlight process and craft—not for public or commercial use.
Reflections
Behind the Scenes at a Startup That Cared
Working on Ideal Weight at Digitalchemy—a small but mighty startup in Redmond, WA—was one of those rare projects where thoughtful design met real-world impact. With over 5 million global users and support across 40+ languages, it became a quiet success story powered by a passionate team (and yes, a lot of pizza-fueled brainstorms).
Designing something that helped people feel better in their daily lives? That’s the kind of win that still makes me smile.
Here’s what teammates had to say…