ROLE
Product Designer
scope
0→1 Product Concept
focus
Research · Product Strategy · Interaction Design
Timeline
2026
PROBLEM
WHERE THE EXPERIENCE BROKE DOWN
01
The interaction ended.
Saving a feeling created no reason to return.
02
Nothing accumulated.
History piled up as data, but offered little sense of progression.
03
The hardest step came first.
Naming or explaining an emotion required clarity before the interaction helped create it.
product bet
REDUCING INPUT FRICTION
Recognition before explanation.
Instead of requiring users to name an emotion upfront, Myxora begins with visual recognition. Users select the colors that feel closest before the product introduces language.
This lowers the amount of interpretation required at the start of a check-in.
THE SYSTEM
The flow needed to create immediate value while building something useful over time. Each check-in gives something back, preserves the moment, and gradually makes patterns visible.
Users begin with color before choosing a label, reducing the need to precisely name an emotion upfront. Their selections then become a generated potion.
The potion appears before journaling is introduced. Reflection stays optional, keeping additional effort from blocking the core check-in.
Each potion is saved to the Apothecary, turning individual check-ins into a history users can revisit over time.
Repeated emotional patterns gradually shape the companion's appearance, giving accumulated history a visible consequence.
EARLY USER SIGNAL
In interviews and early testing, people liked the idea of tracking how they felt but struggled to maintain the habit. The opportunity wasn't more reminders or longer prompts. The experience needed to offer value before asking for more effort.
WHY A COMPANION, NOT A CHART
The companion began as a visual reward, but that wasn't enough to justify its place in the product. It became more useful when previous check-ins could shape it over time, turning accumulated history into something visible and personal.
Peace + clarity shape the week's state.
Repeated heavy check-ins alter the state.
Joy + love shape the week's state.
EARLY TESTING
I put three early directions through informal testing before committing to them. Each exposed a different reason to simplify the experience.
EXPLORATION 01
User-controlled customization
What happened
Customization pulled attention toward designing the companion instead of reflecting on the feelings shaping it.
EXPLORATION 02
Journal required before reveal
HOW ARE YOU FEELING TODAY?
felt kind of weird… idk hard to say today
Write something to continue
flask hidden until journal complete
What happened
Testers wrote the minimum required to unlock the reveal, turning reflection into a task rather than a meaningful choice.
EXPLORATION 03
User writes the potion name
NAME YOUR ELIXIR
Monday
Early testing outputs:
"Monday" · "ok i guess" · [left blank]
What happened
People froze trying to invent the “right” name. One person typed “Monday,” another left it blank, and everyone wanted to move on.
product direction
The companion is shaped, not customized.
Instead of letting users design the outcome directly, repeated emotional patterns gradually shape how the companion evolves. The goal wasn't to give people control over the outcome. It was to make the outcome feel genuinely shaped by them.
COMPANION EVOLUTION · SHAPED OVER TIME
STAGE 01
A glow appears. No fixed form yet.
STAGE 02
A silhouette emerges from early patterns.
Traits begin reflecting repeated behavior.
A fully formed companion shaped by repeated patterns.
Moving the paywall was a monetization decision, not a layout one. At Brew 5 people hadn't formed enough attachment to the companion for the premium tier to mean anything. At Brew 14, roughly two to three weeks in, they could see it had changed because of them. The goal wasn't to delay monetization, it was to ask after people had experienced what makes Myxora different.
Brew 5
Too Early
Not enough accumulated value.
brew 14
Stronger direction
More core value experienced before the paywall.
FINAL INTERACTION
Testing changed the order of the experience. The final flow gives users something back before asking them to reflect, keeping journaling optional rather than making it a requirement.
INTERACTION SEQUENCE: FINAL ORDER
1
See the stones, feel pulled toward a color, tap it. The label is there to confirm. It never asks you to start there.
2
Brew: flask fills, name generates, fairy absorbs the color. The reward lands first.
3
Journal prompt appears: optional, post-reward, in the glow of the result.
WHAT’S NEXT
What I know
Informal testing helped simplify the core interaction around recognition, reward, and optional reflection.
What I don't know
Whether an evolving companion creates enough value to drive voluntary return over repeated use.
Next test
Test the core loop across repeated sessions before expanding the product.
