About Humanova
Humanova Apps is an independent UK product studio founded by designer and developer Joshua Ross.
I take original ideas from early concept through product design, UX/UI, implementation, testing, monetisation and release creating apps and games that are useful, playful and thoughtfully made.
Since February 2026, I have conceived, designed, built and released four original Flutter and Dart apps across iOS and Android: Flyxly, 22 Seconds, LexiLink and BATBALL. I have also completed the privacy-focused experimental project Vestibule and am developing BONCE!, an original physics-driven party game in Unity.
A personal starting point
Humanova grew from lived experience.
I live with ADHD, autism, anxiety and depression. These experiences can bring creativity, intensity, sensitivity and unusual connections—but also overwhelm, cognitive fatigue and fluctuating attention.
Much of the software we use appears to assume that people have unlimited focus, consistent energy, linear thinking and constant motivation. Those assumptions do not hold for everyone, and they do not need to.
Humanova begins with a different understanding:
Focus fluctuates
Energy comes and goes
Clarity matters more than speed
Pressure can make things harder
People deserve control over their attention
Thoughtful by design
Humanova products are designed to feel steady, respectful, understandable and forgiving.
That means avoiding dark patterns, manufactured urgency, unnecessary streaks, manipulative notifications and engagement traps. People should never be pressured to optimise themselves, fix themselves or use a product more than they want to.
The aim is simple: create software that meets people where they are, rather than where a metric says they should be.
Not therapy. Not productivity theatre.
Humanova apps do not claim to diagnose, treat or fix anyone.
They are tools, games and experiences designed with care—informed by neurodivergence and mental-health realities, but not defined by them.
Some are practical. Some are playful. Some are experimental. A few may simply offer a quiet space that asks nothing at all.
They share one underlying belief:
Technology should reduce cognitive load, not add to it.
One studio, many forms
Humanova works across consumer apps, games, assistive ideas and professional tools because each can serve a different human need.
Some products are about play, presence, joy and curiosity. Others support clarity, discovery, memory or everyday decision-making. Future professional tools will explore how organisations can work effectively without losing sight of the people within them.
The category may change. The care should not.
Sustainable without extraction
Humanova is not opposed to growth or revenue. It is opposed to achieving either by making products worse for the people using them.
Revenue exists to sustain the work—not to justify surveillance, exploit vulnerability or manufacture dependency. Useful products can be financially sustainable while remaining transparent, restrained and respectful.
Shared principles
Whatever form a Humanova product takes:
It should not manipulate attention
It should not treat vulnerability as a growth opportunity
It should not pretend to offer therapy or authority it does not possess
It should communicate clearly and respect consent
It should give people more than it asks from them
Whether someone is playing, choosing, organising, reflecting or creating, the software should feel like it is on their side.
Humanova
A studio built to last.
Calm by design.
Human at its core.