An independent product studio
Zen Magpie is an independent product studio - a studio of one, working out of Scotland. We make small, sharp apps that earn a place on your phone instead of fighting for your attention: tools for discipline, headspace and the odd bit of mischief, built to be used and then put down.
Right now that means Stoic Mind, a daily Stoic quotes app; Monk Mode, a habit tracker for building discipline; ArtTrails, a GPS art generator for runners and walkers; and Cone the Duke, a daft wee game about Glasgow’s most famous statue.
No venture money, no growth team, no dark patterns. Every product is built and maintained by one person, shipped when it’s good and fixed when it’s not. We make things for the long game - the habits that compound, the ideas that have outlived empires, and the walk that clears your head.
The products
Small tools for habits, headspace and creativity - plus the odd game. Each one does a single thing well, and is made and maintained by the same person who answers your email.
Stoic Mind
A daily Stoic quote and a calendar of every week you have left. Use as directed.
Monk Mode
A habit tracker without the dopamine slot machine. For people doing the work, not posting about it.
ArtTrails
Walks that draw something. Pick a route, your GPS makes the picture. Yes, sometimes it is a duck.
Cone the Duke
Glasgow’s most famous bit of public art is a traffic cone on a Duke’s head. Help keep it there.
Why this exists
Most things made today are built to win your attention. We build things made to deserve it. A studio of one.
Built by one person
No team, no investors, no committees. Every product passes through one set of hands. The person you email is the person who made it.
Made to earn their keep
Built to deserve a place in your life, not fight for one. No tricks, no nagging, no engineered FOMO. If something stops earning its keep, it gets fixed or it goes.
For the long game
Compounding habits. Walks that clear the head. The same Stoics people have been reading for two thousand years. Slow stuff that works.
The work is serious. We’re not.
Discipline isn’t reverence. One of the things we ship is a game about putting a cone on a statue. On purpose.
From the blog
Notes on what we make and the places it comes from.