Designing Helm108
Helm108 was designed in the open, alongside an AI collaborator — and some of the calls were made with the whole family looking at the same screen. These are the studies we used to decide.
← back to Helm108
Helm108 was designed in the open, alongside an AI collaborator — and some of the calls were made with the whole family looking at the same screen. These are the studies we used to decide.
From placeholder to callsign
The app started life as a placeholder, "AI Console." We wanted a name that said SSH terminal for steering AI coding agents — landed on Helm (you're at the helm), then dodged the Kubernetes "Helm" collision by turning it into a callsign: Helm108. On the App Store it reads Helm108: SSH AI Terminal; under the home-screen icon, just Helm108.
Interactive comparisons we actually used to decide
Three directions for the mark — a ship's helm, a terminal prompt, and a callsign monogram — each shown at real icon sizes. The family's vote for "The Helm" was unanimous.
open study →Amber for folders; for files, a choice between neutral and cool cyan. The study revealed the catch — an off-white file color vanishes on a light list — so the file color adapts by appearance.
open study →Four ways to color the ••• menu — blue, phosphor, amber, multicolor. Phosphor won for brand cohesion, with one amendment from the youngest reviewer: Clear Screen should be red.
open study →Calls that shaped the app — the "why," not just the "what"
SSH keys are powerful but painful on a device with no shell — the public key has to reach every host. Instead of making you copy blobs around, Helm108 generates a key on-device and installs it over your existing password in one tap, like ssh-copy-id. The hard part disappears.
Multi-line prompts (Shift+Return) had to work on a hardware keyboard, the on-screen keyboard, and by voice dictation — because one of our reviewers drives entirely by voice. No core interaction gets locked behind owning extra hardware.
see the architecture →