Lux et Memoria:
Holographic Habit Assistant

01. OVERVIEW
01. OVERVIEW
This is a product design project for Utrecht University's Interaction Technology Innovation course, focused on enchanting everyday objects by giving them that wow factor. This research proposes a habit tracker that leverages 3D holographic technology to create an immersive and interactive environment for tracking, maintaining, and improving user habits. I collaborated with a team of six HCI students, where I co-led and designed the user research study to gather qualitative data. Moreover, I also served as the designated user researcher to understand and leverage previously validated UX studies to justify design decisions.
This is a product design project for Utrecht University's Interaction Technology Innovation course, focused on enchanting everyday objects by giving them that wow factor. This research proposes a habit tracker that leverages 3D holographic technology to create an immersive and interactive environment for tracking, maintaining, and improving user habits. I collaborated with a team of six HCI students, where I co-led and designed the user research study to gather qualitative data. Moreover, I also served as the designated user researcher to understand and leverage previously validated UX studies to justify design decisions.

Role

Role

UX Researcher

UX Researcher

Timeline

Timeline

January 2024 - April 2024

January 2024 - April 2024

Team

Team

2 Designers, 2 Researchers, 2 Developers

2 Designers, 2 Researchers, 2 Developers

02. DISCOVERY & USER RESEARCH
02. DISCOVERY & USER RESEARCH

Identifying the problem

Identifying the problem

In personal development, the challenge of effectively tracking and improving habits in a way that engages and motivates individuals remains significant. Currently, both paper and digital habit tracking methods fall short in sustaining long-term engagement and motivation. This issue is critical as habits form the backbone of daily productivity, well-being, and overall success. We developed Lux et Memoria, a holographic habit tracker, to enhance the way individuals track, maintain, and improve their habits.

Pain points
Pen-and-paper logs

Tracking by paper often becomes repetitive and dull, leading to decreased user engagement over time. Research suggests this decline is linked to decision fatigue caused by competing tasks and distractions from daily life. Additionally, the absence of reminders means users must rely entirely on memory, and the lack of clear visualization makes progress difficult to interpret.

Digital mobile devices

Mobile apps demand a high degree of self-motivation, and research shows that creating habit consistency depends more on repetition than willpower alone. While apps often rely on notifications to nudge user actions, these alerts can quickly become intrusive, contributing to notification fatigue and disengagement.

Opportunities
Novel experience to sustain user engagement

Habit tracking can become more meaningful by introducing interactive and visually captivating experiences that motivate users to return consistently and sustain long-term progress.

Emotional connection as motivation

Users' emotional attachment to digital entities, such as virtual pets, allows for the influence of behavior in interactive technology.

Clear and dynamic visualization of progress

Visual feedback that makes achievements tangible can help users see growth over time, reinforcing their efforts and making progress feel more rewarding.

Meet Britt

Meet Britt

We wanted our habit tracker to be user-centric; for this reason, we made one user persona to provide our team with a clear and concentrated goal to ensure that we solidified consistency in the design process.

Iterative design:
Listening to user feedback

Iterative design:
Listening to user feedback

Our prototyping began with a broad concept: a holographic habit tracker combined with an alarm and a time display. Early user feedback revealed redundancy with smartphones and a preference for a simpler, habit-focused device. Through multiple Think-Aloud user sessions and design iterations, we refined the design into a compact display that motivates users through visual and emotional feedback.

Think-Aloud user feedback
First iteration
Initial idea
Initial idea
Initial idea
User feedback
User feedback
User feedback
Change
Change
Change
Second iteration
Challenge
Challenge
Challenge
User feedback
User feedback
User feedback
Change
Change
Change
Third iteration
Challenge
Challenge
Challenge
User feedback
User feedback
User feedback
Change
Change
Change
03. IMPLEMENTATION
03. IMPLEMENTATION

Designing the final product

Designing the final product

Implementation was critical to the success of our enchanted holographic habit tracker, divided into three major subgroups: (1) the physical structure of the hologram display, (2) software for the functionality of the holographic display, and (3) visual elements that users will select to represent the respective tracked habit.

Physical structure
Inner Layer
Inner Layer
Inner Layer
Holographic Display
Holographic Display
Holographic Display
Outer Layer
Outer Layer
Outer Layer
Software functionality
Python
Python
Python
3D Animations
3D Animations
3D Animations

Meet Lux et Memoria

Meet Lux et Memoria

Hi! This page is currently under construction. Thank you for being so understanding, as I fine-tune this case study to provide the best user experience possible.

Made from the ground up using Figma, Framer, Affinity Designer, and a cup of coffee.

alan castillo © 2025

Made from the ground up using Figma, Framer, Affinity Designer, and a cup of coffee.

alan castillo © 2025

Made from the ground up using Figma, Framer, Affinity Designer, and a cup of coffee.

alan castillo © 2025