Team NorthStar

Inspiration

As students, we constantly face decisions that shape our future from small everyday choices to bigger ones like internships or career paths. We were interested in the role intuition plays in those moments. Often people describe “gut feelings,” but those signals are subtle and difficult to interpret in real time. We were also inspired by the idea of Daimons from Greek mythology, guiding spirits believed to help individuals recognize their true path. This inspired our mascot Cosmo and the concept behind Alignment Sense, a speculative tool that helps visualize intuition.

What it does

Alignment Sense is a speculative AR system that helps users recognize intuitive signals when making decisions. By analyzing physiological signals such as HRV, Calmness, Confidence, and Satisfaction, the system generates an alignment score that helps users understand how their internal signals relate to their choices and long-term goals. Through small everyday decisions and larger life choices, the system surfaces insights and patterns that help users reflect on how their actions align with their values.

How we built it

We designed the product experience and interface using Figma, including the AR overlays and insights dashboard. We used Figma Make to prototype interactions and simulate how the interface might appear in an AR environment. For visual storytelling, we generated some of the Cosmo mascot images using Gemini, which helped bring the concept to life in our demo video and UI.

Challenges we ran into

One of the biggest challenges was defining what intuition actually means in a system like this. At first, we considered tracking intuition on its own, but we realized that intuition can occur in many moments that don’t necessarily lead to decisions. To avoid overwhelming users with too much data, we decided to focus on decision moments and connect them to physiological signals and long-term goals.

Another challenge was balancing how much the system should guide users without becoming a decision-making tool. We wanted the system to support reflection rather than tell people what to do.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud of creating a concept that turns an abstract idea like intuition into something visible and understandable. We're proud of develooping a cohesive experience that connects everyday decisions, major life choices, and long-term insights. We loved making Cosmo come to life as a guide to help make the experience feel more approachable and human. This was also our first times designing for AR and found it challenging but enjoyable!

What we learned

We learned that designing for emerging technologies like AR and AI requires flexibility. Experiences should evolve as users explore them rather than feeling rigid. We also learned that subtle emotional and physical cues can potentially be translated into measurable insights that help people better understand themselves. Finally, we realized how important accessibility and inclusivity are in AR design, making sure insights are clear and understandable for different users.

What's next for Team NorthStar

If we had more time, we would test Alignment Sense across a wider range of real-world scenarios to better understand when intuitive guidance is most helpful. We would also explore how users build trust with systems that interpret internal signals and design clearer ways to explain how insights are generated.

In the future, we would also experiment with additional AR visualizations and feedback systems that help users reflect on their decision patterns over time.