Thursday’s Branding and iOS App UI Design
Most city apps try to tell you where to go.
Thursday wanted to capture how a city actually feels.
Backed by Norwegian founders and investors connected to Spotify, Thursday set out to create a social platform built around discovery, spontaneity, local culture, and human connection.
The ambition was bold:
Create a mobile experience that helps people discover the pulse of their city through recommendations, social interaction, and shared experiences.
But for a platform built around personality and emotion, functionality alone would never be enough.
The brand itself needed character.
That became Xfiner’s role.
The challenge
The assignment extended far beyond app design.
Thursday required:
- A complete brand identity
- A compelling visual story
- A distinctive iOS app experience
- Animations and motion language
- A custom website
- A playful personality users would remember
The experience needed to feel modern, approachable, social, and unmistakably different from traditional city guide applications.
And then there was the unexpected request.
Custom emojis.
Including a highly memorable poop emoji.
Building a brand with personality
Xfiner began by shaping the core identity of the Thursday brand.
The goal was to create something that felt energetic, adventurous, and human rather than overly corporate or polished.
The resulting brand identity combined:
- Friendly visual language
- Bold personality
- Modern aesthetics
- Playful storytelling
- Strong emotional accessibility
Animations and visual assets were developed to reinforce the feeling of movement, discovery, and spontaneity that defined the product vision.
The result was a brand experience designed to feel alive.
Designing the iOS experience
Once the brand foundation was established, focus shifted toward the mobile application itself.
Working closely with the Thursday team, Xfiner crafted a UI experience designed to feel intuitive, engaging, and visually distinctive.
The collaboration worked especially well because the Thursday team brought strong UX thinking into the process, allowing Xfiner to focus heavily on refining the visual experience and interface quality.
The app experience emphasized:
- Smooth interaction
- Clean navigation
- Social discovery
- Visual storytelling
- Ease of exploration
- Emotional engagement
The goal was not merely usability.
It was creating an app people genuinely enjoyed spending time inside.
Yes, even the emojis mattered
One of the project’s most memorable aspects involved designing a completely custom emoji set for the platform.
Including the now legendary poop emoji.
What could have easily become a gimmick instead became part of the product’s charm and personality.
The custom illustrations helped reinforce the playful and human tone of the platform while making interactions feel more personal and entertaining.
It became another small detail users remembered.
And memorable details matter.
Completing the ecosystem
Beyond the app itself, Xfiner also designed the website experience for Thursday.
The website extended the same visual language and storytelling principles across the broader digital ecosystem, helping create consistency between the product, brand, and marketing presence.
The outcome
The final result was a highly distinctive social discovery platform that blended branding, product design, humor, and usability into one cohesive experience.
Thursday launched with:
- A strong visual identity
- A polished iOS experience
- A playful custom emoji system
- A modern digital presence
- A memorable brand personality
The project became another example of how bold creative decisions, when executed thoughtfully, can strengthen emotional connection with users.
Designing products people remember
Most digital products disappear into sameness.
This collaboration took the opposite approach.
It embraced personality, humor, and emotional design without sacrificing usability or quality.
Because sometimes the difference between a product people use and a product people remember… is a perfectly designed poop emoji.
Services involved
- UX/UI Design
- Product Design
- Branding & Visual Identity
- iOS App Design
- 2D/3D Design & Animation
- Website Design
Related links
For related context, see Talk to us, European Design Award Silver, AI-powered internal tools and automation, ICP-led web design, Xfiner showcase, and Xfiner.
