Content
Figma's student design-a-thon • Mar 6–9 • Team of 2 (max 4) • $30K prize pool • Figma swag
Figma's annual design-a-thon this year was all about utilizing Figma Make, with the objective being: make an invisible sense measurable. So my partner and I asked, how do you make "flow state" visible enough to reach it on purpose?
People reach
flow by luck.
(Problem)
+
Traced flow to 1 sense
→ interoception
+
Turned it into 4
signals you can read
(Process)
=
Now they reach it on purpose.
(Impact)
The Challenge: Design a tool that tracks, measures, visualizes or quantifies an aspect of human sensory experience. Within the tool, provide the ability to detect, enhance, or manipulate those same sensory inputs.
Fri · 6
prompt drops
Sat · 7
build
Sun · 8
build
Mon · 9
submit
Unpack the brief
Survey 22–33 human senses
Commit to interoception
Define the problem
Break flow into signals
Build Flow Rate
Define the audience
Write 3 scenarios
Edge cases and safeguards
Slides narrative and demo script
A timeline of how the project was managed.
Source: https://figbuild2026.devpost.com/
The obvious assumption
Everyone's felt flow state. The feeling when focus is effortless, time drastically distorts, and self-doubt vanishes. Navigating through our problem kicked off by establishing the assumption that people simply can't get into flow when they want to.
What's really going on
But that's not it. Flow state's conditions form in the body before the mind notices. By the time you feel it, you're already there — and the moment you sense it slipping, it's gone.
We stopped treating flow as a single feeling and started treating it as a system of signals you can measure and read in real time.
But, what would flow state even be made of?
Instead of one mysterious feeling, Flowra breaks down flow into four (4) signals that you can actually feel and track.
And how would you actually measure each one?
Thought process
Breaking flow into signals only works if each signal can actually be read. So for every one, I asked: what exactly are we measuring, and can a sensor do it? Three (3) of them map to hardware that already exists. The fourth is where the speculation lives.
Signals
HRV (heart rate variability)
Breathing
Body Stillness
Cognitive Clarity
What it would take to read this
Optical pulse sensor (the spacing between heartbeats)
Rate & depth, readable from pulse patterns chest movement
Accelerometer (to calculate micro-managements + fidgeting)
Flowra infers it from the other three, + how you report feeling
The Equation: What flow rate is compiled of
+
HRV
+
Breathing
+
Cognitive Clarity
+
Body Stillness
=
Flow Rate
Flowra doesn't tell you that you were in flow; It shows how close you are right now. Think of it like a compass that points towards flow.
Deshawn
University Student
The moment
Last Tuesday's study session fell apart, and he doesn't know how and when it went south.
What Flowra does
Reviews that session's signals, shows what was off, and checks readings before tonight's.
Marc
Soccer player
The moment
15 mins. to kickoff, warming up, needs to be dialed in.
What Flowra does
Reads his signals live so he can adjust his breathing patterns before stepping on the pitch.
Maya
e-sports competitor
The moment
She had one perfect ranked session last week and wants it back.
What Flowra does
Surfaces the conditions of that peak run so she can recreate them before queing up.
The problem was hard.
Challenge: The science is mostly theory, so every design decision couldn't be backed by real data and/or evidence. Not only that, real resources were scarce and thin.
How we handled it: We treated every gap in research as an opportunity to reason in a creative, theoretical, and speculative way ✨. Also, it allowed us to take it less seriously and it allowed us to really get creative and have fun with it.
Challenge: The observer effect.🪞Watching your own flow rate too closely could create anxiety and ultimately, block you from reaching flow state.
How we handled it: We designed against it. Flowra restricts access and redirects you to non-technological relief when it detects rising anxiety, rather than feeding the spiral.
The clock was hard.
Challenge: Two of us against a max team of four, three days, and a first-time tool in Figma Make. I moved slow, laying foundations; my partner moved fast, building. The handoffs weren't smooth, and as new friends we raised the friction late. By then, time pressure meant talking didn't change much.
How we handled it: We set goals per time block; whatever got done in those hours was final, and we moved on. It meant cutting research depth we'd have wanted with more time, but it kept us shipping.
+ I learned to scope to the time I have, not the time I want.
+ I learned to communicate friction sooner, and not let politeness bury it.
+ Thinking in a speculative way helped us learn how to design for the future.
+ Making decisions when the research is thin.
+ I'm capable of learning a software and applying it in 3 days.