tripp

designed and shipped a mixed reality feature for tripp's ai wellness app to increase user retention

timeline

may – august 2025

role

product design intern

collaborators

trung nguyen

zach krausnick

cody char

daniel kharlas

matthew bracks

tools/skills

ux research

xr development

prototyping

interaction design

context

jump to solution

A VR wellness company creating meditative experiences with AI guidance and stunning visuals.

TRIPP is an award-winning company making mindfulness feel transformative, on nearly every headset and on mobile.

Inside the app is Sanctum, a mixed reality space where users earn gifts (for coming back to TRIPP three times a week) and place them around their physical room.

diagram of tripp's structure: sanctum inside tripp, giftbox inside sanctum, gifts inside the giftbox

problem

The gifts were decorative, so nobody came back.

The current gifts in Sanctum sat still and ignored the room around the user. This new gift needed to be a reason to return every day.

  • 01

    More sessions, and more time in Sanctum

  • 02

    Mindful movement between meditations, using the whole room

  • 03

    Interactivity and whimsy, following SPARCS, the six design principles below

SPARCS is the set of design principles every gift is held to. Select a letter to see what it stands for.

01of 06

Sound

Spatial audio that relates sound to emotion.

process

Three concepts went into the headset, one came out.

01prototype

Prototyped in ShapesXR, then graded.

Mirrorbeam, Marbles, and Fireflies were each scored on retention lift, development effort, SPARCS coverage, and brand fit.

grading slide comparing mirrorbeam, marbles, and fireflies on retention lift, dev effort, sparcs coverage, and brand fit
Figure 1The three prototyped concepts graded on retention lift, development effort, SPARCS coverage, and brand fit. Fireflies, later named Glowkeeper, led on every measure.

02sketch

Two controls to run the whole game.

Grip opens the lid. Holding select turns the jar into a magnet that pulls the fireflies back in.

hand-drawn sketch of the fireflies prototype: the jar in the room, the lid, magnetism, and the exit button
Figure 2My interaction sketch for the prototype, annotating the lid, the jar's magnetism, and the exit control.

03build

Building it in Unity, alongside engineering.

I learned Unity with no prior experience and modeled the jar and fireflies in Blender.

Figure 3Testing the jar and its firefly trails in the Unity editor.

solution

Glowkeeper is an interactive jar that gets people moving, gathering fireflies around their room in a playful way.

ideas ranked on five criteria
25+
concepts prototyped in shapesxr
3
built and shipped in unity
C#
  1. the sanctum gift menu with the glowkeeper card open

    01Take Glowkeeper from Sanctum's gift box

  2. the jar being placed in the room in a burst of purple light

    02Place the jar anywhere in the room

  3. fireflies drifting out of the open jar

    03Lift the lid to release the fireflies

  4. fireflies floating across the bedroom

    04Watch them drift through the room

    They scatter if approached too quickly.

  5. a trail of fireflies streaming back into the jar

    05Hold select to pull them back like a magnet

  6. the closed jar glowing with gathered fireflies

    06Put the lid back on to end the game

    The jar glows brighter with every firefly returned.

takeaways

  • 01

    Simple can win

    Fireflies was the least effort to build, and it still graded highest on retention lift, SPARCS coverage, and brand fit.

  • 02

    Cut to the core loop

    The first flow had room dimming, constellations, and a compass. Stripping it back to release, gather, and close made it easier to learn and to ship.

  • 03

    Prototype in the medium

    Putting all three concepts in a headset with ShapesXR made the trade-offs concrete before any code was written.