![]() “That’s how I started learning how to solve design challenges.” ![]() “I’d spend an hour or so sketching and figuring out how to fit things in,” he says. But over time, people started asking for more metrics: cloud cover, wind speed, pressure. “It was a cool, gimmicky kind of thing, and people liked it,” he says. Carrot Weather began strictly as an entertainment app - one that leaned in entirely on Mueller’s digital doppelganger. His fitness app shames you for slacking off. His alarm clock mocks you for sleeping in. His to-do list yells when you fail to complete a task. With his robot ready, Mueller began releasing a series of apps - Carrot To-Do, Carrot Fit - all with the same distinct approach to motivation. Sometimes she gets annoyed by that, but she’s a lot funnier than I am.” “Every time my wife says something funny, I write it down. “A lot of the dialogue for Carrot is drawn out of stuff that we’ve actually said to each other,” he says. (Sister Beth, for instance, commemorated Carrot’s Apple Design Award win by emailing him the following: “You’re probably getting lots of congratulatory messages, so I just wanted to remind you that you are the worst.”) Her dark, devious personality, however, comes from those closest to Mueller: his mom, sister, and wife - all of whom tease one another relentlessly. “That was basically the extent of what I could do in Core Animation in iOS at the time.” Instead, he popped into Photoshop, drew a simple pattern of three circles, and then began playing around with animation, eventually landing on a nefarious-looking pulsing red light drawn straight from the HAL and GLaDOS school of evil sentient robots. But it was way too hard for me to animate a cartoon dog.” “The dog’s name was Sir Waffles, and he had a top hat and monocle,” Mueller laughs. In a matter of months, Mueller had his first title, a to-do list app called Grailr whose mascots were an Indiana Jones-type character and his cartoon dog sidekick. But it wasn’t anywhere near as over my head as I thought, so I just started building.” “I got a book on iOS development, mostly so I could flip through the vocabulary and not sound like a complete idiot. “I figured if I was going to build an app, I’d just hire someone to do it for me,” he says. “I love to write and create characters and tell stories, but I had no real idea of what I would do with my life.” He found the idea of apps intriguing, but had no experience to draw from. ![]() “I’m an English major with a creative writing minor,” Mueller says. It’s a long way to go for a guy who started developing on the side seven years ago while pursuing a full-time career as - not entirely surprisingly - a screenwriter. ![]()
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