A workframe · Not a framework
Your messy mind is not a bug. It's a design advantage.
M.E.S.S.Y. is a workframe for neurodivergent designers — built on cognitive accessibility, executive function, and universal design. For minds that think in loops, forks, and constellations.
Start here
Pick the door that fits today.
You don't need to read this site in order. Choose what you came for; everything else stays one click away.
The workframe
Five moves. In no particular order.
Pick one. Skip three. Loop back. The point isn't the sequence — it's having language for what you already do.
M — Map your mind.
Get it out of your head before you judge it.
E — Externalize the chaos.
Nothing gets simplified while it's still invisible.
S — Simplify the task.
Not the thinking, the task.
S — Sync with your energy.
Capacity is not constant, plan like it isn't.
Y — Yield without burning out.
Stopping is not failing.
The letters spell a word, not a sequence.
Position
Productivity was written by linear minds, for linear minds. That's the bug — not you.
M.E.S.S.Y. is for designers whose process doesn't fit the corporate loop: ADHD, autistic, AuDHD, dyslexic, twice-exceptional, and the still-unlabeled. Complexity and non-linearity aren't deficits to correct — they're how the work gets sharper.
No deficit framing. No self-help gloss. No academic hedging. Just a workframe rooted in cognitive accessibility (COGA), executive function, and universal design — pulled off the academic shelf and into the studio.
The podcast
Two AI voices for a very human project.
UX Messy is also a short-form podcast, in English. Noah and Vera take one idea from cognitive accessibility at a time and ask whose assumptions are built into it.
Who's behind it
Started in Porto, February 2025.
UX Messy was founded by Gustavo Brado, a UX/UI designer based in Porto, Portugal. Ines Esculcas joined as co-author and researcher.
The first spark came from Gil Gershoni and his work on Dyslexic Design Thinking.
Build this with usQuestions
The short answers.
What people ask first about M.E.S.S.Y. and this site.
What is M.E.S.S.Y.?
M.E.S.S.Y. is a workframe for neurodivergent designers. It names five moves (Map, Externalize, Simplify, Sync and Yield) that you can use in any order to work with a non-linear mind instead of against it.
Why a workframe and not a framework?
A framework implies a fixed sequence. These five moves have no required order: pick one, skip three, loop back. The point is having language for what you already do.
Who is it for?
Designers whose process doesn't fit the corporate loop: ADHD, autistic, AuDHD, dyslexic, twice-exceptional, and the still-unlabeled. It is also for the leads and teams who work alongside them.
What is cognitive accessibility?
Cognitive accessibility means designing so that people with differences in memory, attention, language and executive function can use what you build. The W3C's Cognitive Accessibility guidance (COGA) is the main reference.
Does it cost anything?
No. Everything on this site is free to read, and the resource lists carry no affiliate links.
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Occasional notes on the workframe, new writing, and what we're building next. No drip campaigns, no funnels.