Identify once
Tell Axiom what the ingredient is.
Most people eat the same foods repeatedly. Assign an ingredient or recipe to a reusable Axiom token once, then simply place the token on the scale when preparing it again.
Building AxiomScale in public
Project Axiom is an active product-development journey.
We are building AxiomScale in the open: an ongoing attempt to make food logging less frustrating through NFC tags, smart weighing, and thoughtful companion software. The product is working, but it is still being tested, challenged, and shaped by real kitchen use.
What is being built
Food logging shouldn't require a phone every time you cook.
The working hypothesis is simple: if you already know what you're holding and you're already weighing it, logging should happen naturally in the kitchen. The app should be there when you want insight, not when you're preparing food.
Weigh naturally
Cook as normal. The scale captures the weight.
The valuable effort is already happening when food is placed on the scale. Axiom aims to capture that information without introducing phone interaction into the cooking process.
Review when convenient
Use the app when you want insight, not while preparing food.
Calories, macros, trends, meal history, and corrections can be reviewed later. The goal is to keep the phone out of the kitchen until it is actually useful.
Current status
Working prototype, active validation.
Project Axiom is past the pure concept stage, but not presented as a finished commercial product.
Hardware prototype
2 working prototypes assembled and out in households for testing.
Android app
Working. NFC writing, local persistence, food search, and Bluetooth sync are in tester-baseline form.
V2 hardware
Slimmer second-generation prototype currently being assembled.
Testing programme
3 independent users currently testing, with real-world validation as the current stage.
Project timeline
Every product decision leaves a trail.
This timeline highlights the key moments where the project changed direction, revealing how AxiomScale evolved from a kitchen labelling idea into a new approach to food logging.
Idea
December 2025. A long-standing frustration with kitchen labelling finally became a project worth pursuing.
Parts Ordered
January 2026. The first components were purchased and the project officially began.
First Assembly
February 2026. Individual parts started coming together into a working system.
Hello World
February 2026. The first successful communication proved the core electronics could work together.
First Label Printed
March 2026. The system produced its first usable kitchen label.
The Enclosure Problem
March 2026. A working prototype now needed a practical physical form.
3D Printing Begins
March 2026. The search for a suitable enclosure moved from ideas into physical prototypes.
Fighting Physics
March 2026. Multiple enclosure designs failed, revealing the realities of manufacturing and materials.
First Test Prototype
March 2026. The first complete label-printing device was assembled and ready for testing.
The Tester Problem
March 2026. Finding people willing to test the system proved harder than building it.
Weight Loss Journey
A personal health journey unexpectedly brought the problem space much closer to home.
Becoming the User
Daily calorie tracking transformed the problem from theory into lived experience.
New Ideas Emerge
March 2026. While refining the printer, new concepts around NFC and food tracking began to appear.
First AxiomScale Concepts
March 2026. Early ideas emerged for combining food identification and logging into a single workflow.
Commercial Reality
March 2026. Manufacturing, certification and support considerations forced a reassessment of the project's direction.
Choosing a Path
March 2026. The decision was made to focus on a single product rather than multiple parallel ideas.
Food Logging Friction Rediscovered
April 2026. The biggest obstacle proved not to be food identification, but the effort required to log it.
Problem Redefined
March 2026. The project's focus shifted from organisation and labelling towards reducing logging friction itself.
NFC Takes Centre Stage
March 2026. NFC emerged as the most natural way to identify food without disrupting kitchen workflows.
The First AxiomScale Concepts
March 2026. The first ideas appeared for combining weighing and identification into a single action.
The First AxiomScale Prototype
April 2026. The first scale capable of weighing and identifying food became a reality.
Building the Ecosystem
April 2026. Development expanded beyond hardware into firmware, tags and companion applications.
The First App Connection
April 2026. Data successfully moved between the scale and companion application for the first time.
Identity Becomes Essential
April 2026. The system evolved from tracking food to tracking who was consuming it.
Recipe Workflows Emerge
April 2026. Attention shifted from individual ingredients to complete meal preparation workflows.
More Tokens, More Problems
April 2026. Solving identification by adding tokens revealed a new source of friction.
Passive Logging Discovered
April 2026. Fixed-location tags demonstrated a simpler way to capture repetitive actions.
The Coffee Jar Insight
April 2026. A simple sticker on a coffee jar validated the value of near-effortless logging.
From Prototype to Product
May 2026. Focus expanded from proving the concept to creating something others could use.
The First External Tester
June 2026. The device left the development environment and entered real-world use.
Household Validation Begins
June 2026. Testing moved into genuine household routines and daily habits.
Public Development Begins
June 2026. The project's journey started being documented publicly through the website and saga.
The Current Testing Phase
June 2026. Multiple testers are now evaluating the system while development continues.
Looking Beyond the Prototype
June 2026. Attention is beginning to shift from validation toward what a future product could become.
Tester stories
Real-world observations, not testimonials.
The useful stories are the ones that change the product: what confused people, what survived repeat use, and what failed in ordinary kitchens.
More Is More
From the beginning, my philosophy was simple: more tokens meant less friction. If every ingredient had its own NFC token, identifying food would become effortless and logging would naturally become easier.
Read MoreThe Recipe Tag Surprise
I assumed that needing to identify every ingredient individually would become frustrating, so I explored recipe tags, guided cooking workflows, and various ways of reducing the number of interactions required.
Read MorePretty Isn't Useful
I spent a surprising amount of time refining the visual language of the tokens. Food icons went through countless revisions as I searched for something that felt polished, modern, and attractive enough to live permanently on a kitchen worktop.
Read MoreAxiom Visual Evolution
The journey matters as much as the destination.
Axiom wasn't designed in a single breakthrough moment. It emerged through prototypes, failed assumptions, real-world testing, and continuous refinement.
Hardware Evolution
The complete journey from the label printer origins through the development of AxiomScale.
Open gallery
Token Evolution
How NFC tags evolved into a physical interaction language designed around habits and reduced friction.
Open gallery
Icon Evolution
The development of a visual language for identifying ingredients, categories and actions at a glance.
Open galleryAxiom Saga
From bench prototype to tested product.
A running journal of the AxiomScale build: hardware changes, software decisions, tester feedback, mistakes, fixes, and lessons learned.
The Alphabet Soup
The breadboard had taught me an important lesson:
Read More
Signs Of Life
Having finally defeated the Spaghetti Monster and convinced myself that the wires were connected correctly, it was time for the next logical step.
Read More
Now We're Cooking
Following the successful display of dlroW olleH, progress accelerated rapidly.
Read MoreTesting programme
Help shape the product while it is still malleable.
Testers are not signing up for a finished beta. They are helping decide what AxiomScale becomes: which workflows survive, which assumptions break, and which problems are worth solving next.