FlowZone

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  FlowZone: A preview of how our product works.

Inspiration

We’ve all sat down planning to work for hours, only to lose focus within thirty minutes and blame ourselves for it. But research shows 71% of people feel overstimulated while working, and visual clutter alone can reduce productivity by up to 33%.

The problem may not be discipline. It may be the environment competing for our attention.

Our brains automatically respond to visual signals like brightness, motion, and clutter. Yet we have no way to perceive which parts of our surroundings are pulling our focus away. Most productivity tools ignore this. They block apps and silence notifications, but they don’t consider the physical environment you’re working in.

FlowZone addresses that gap.

What it does

FlowZone is an adaptive focus environment system powered by AR smart glasses and a mobile companion app.

By scanning a user’s workspace with computer vision, FlowZone analyzes visual signals such as brightness, contrast, clutter density, and movement to estimate how strongly different objects compete for attention.

It then translates this information into a new form of perception we call Environmental Attention Awareness. Instead of simply seeing objects in a room, users begin to perceive how strongly each object competes for their focus.

This builds on a sensory system many productivity tools ignore: proprioception, the brain’s awareness of the body and objects in the space around it. When a workspace is cluttered or visually noisy, the brain must constantly process these nearby stimuli, increasing cognitive load before a task even begins.

FlowZone helps users manage this hidden environmental load by visually reducing distractions and making attention patterns visible over time.

Key Features

Visual Distraction Filtering FlowZone reduces visual distractions through adaptive AR filtering. Using computer vision, the system analyzes objects in the workspace based on brightness, contrast, movement, and clutter density. Objects are categorized as:

• task-relevant
• neutral
• distracting Rather than removing objects entirely, the system reduces their visual impact by dimming brightness, lowering color saturation, softly blurring distracting items, dimming areas outside the focus zone. This keeps the environment visible while visually prioritizing what matters most.

Gaze-Based Distraction Detection FlowZone tracks gaze direction, eye movement, and head movement to detect when attention begins to drift. If the user repeatedly looks toward distracting areas, the system identifies an attention drift event and responds with subtle visual guidance instead of disruptive alerts.

Peripheral Focus Feedback Instead of sending notifications, FlowZone guides attention using peripheral visual cues. When attention begins to drift, the edges of the AR view dim slightly while the task area remains clear. If distraction continues, distracting objects may become further muted or blurred to gently nudge attention back to the task. Only after prolonged distraction does the system suggest a short break.

Distraction Awareness Mode Users can activate Distraction Awareness Mode to visualize which parts of their environment compete most for attention. The workspace becomes a temporary heatmap showing areas of low, moderate, and high distraction. This helps users identify clutter, rearrange their workspace, and reduce environmental distractions.

Focus Insights After each session, the system provides a focus summary including:

• time spent in flow
• attention breaks
• top distractions
• overall focus rate Over time, FlowZone identifies recurring patterns and suggests adjustments to help users design environments that better support concentration.

How it Works:

1. System Activation The user launches FlowZone through a mobile device or AR glasses. The workspace is displayed through the device’s camera or AR interface.

2. Environment Scanning The system scans the workspace to detect objects, visual contrast, clutter density, and movement, creating an environmental map.

3. Focus Area Selection The user selects a focus area within the workspace, allowing the system to identify task-relevant and potentially distracting objects.

4. Visual Filtering FlowZone reduces the prominence of distracting objects while keeping task-related items visually prioritized.

5. Attention Monitoring & Guidance During the session, gaze tracking monitors attention. If attention drifts toward distractions, the system uses subtle peripheral feedback to guide focus back to the task and may suggest environmental adjustments.

6. Optional Distraction View Users can activate View Distractions Mode to see real-time feedback highlighting distracting areas in the workspace.

7. Session Summary At the end of the session, users receive a focus report summarizing attention patterns and suggestions for improving their workspace.

How we built it

This is a design project for FigBuild 2026. We researched the science of attention and overstimulation, mapped the full user journey, then designed two interfaces in Figma: a real-time AR overlay for the glasses and a companion app with session logs, disruption analysis, and environment profiles.

Challenges

Designing for senses people don't know they have is hard. Explaining peripersonal space awareness without sounding abstract was a constant challenge. Privacy was another one: an AR system that scans your room and tracks your eyes is sensitive by nature, so we built real safeguards -- users opt-in per session, recording indicators are always visible, and all data can be deleted at any time. Collaboration was another challenge. We were all juggling packed schedules, but still wanted to show up and build something we were proud of, which made finding time to design and prototype in Figma genuinely difficult. But that's kind of the point -- FlowZone is for people exactly like us.

What we learned

Designing both an AR system and its companion app taught us how much the two interfaces need to feel like one product, not two separate tools. We also learned how to design data that feels like context to help the user improve, not judge. A focus score can easily become triggering if framed wrong. We kept coming back to one principle: capture passively, reflect intentionally.

What's next for FlowZone

The glasses component is waiting on hardware -- when lightweight spatial computing becomes mainstream, the full vision becomes buildable. In the meantime, a camera-only mobile version could deliver a lot of the same value today. We also want to explore integrations with calendar and task apps so FlowZone can match your environment recommendations to what you're actually working on that day. Long term, the data patterns FlowZone collects build something that travels with you: a focus profile for every space you work in, so that any space can be your FlowZone.

Built With

• figma
• figmamake