Memento

Inspiration

We were inspired by the memory doctor in Blade Runner 2049, where memories were made tangible and editable.

What it does

Memento turns intangible emotional burdens and traumatic memories into a spatial, editable landscape that users can walk through and reshape. It captures moments of high emotional load through bio‑signals and context, then visualizes them as 4D “burden nodes”. This helps with users' emotional agency.

How we built it

We started by synthesizing research from environmental psychology, neuroarchitecture, trauma therapy, and memory reconsolidation into a single design question: How might we transform intangible burden into a spatial, editable medium? From there, we mapped user needs, spatial metaphors, and safety concerns into an interaction model centered on “metacognitive proprioception” – a sense of where burdens sit in space and how to move them. In Figma, we prototyped Memento as a spatial computing experience, designing the burden landscape, node states (healthy vs traumatic), UI physics driven by stress level, and the “truth buffer” flow that constrains unsafe edits. We then storyboarded end‑to‑end journeys from everyday sensing to mixed‑reality editing sessions.

Challenges we ran into

Designing for trauma and grief in a speculative future forced us to balance imagination with ethics constantly. We struggled with how far memory “editing” should go before it becomes identity‑threatening, which led to the idea of truth anchors and deviation thresholds. Another challenge was translating complex bio‑signals (EEG, HRV, amygdala vs prefrontal dynamics) into a visual language that feels intuitive, not clinical. Finally, designing a spatial interface that is emotionally intense but not overwhelming required multiple iterations on pacing, gradual reveal of content, and clear escape / zoom‑out gestures.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We articulated a new sense, metacognitive proprioception, that gives a compelling narrative for what this technology actually adds to human experience, all in all, making traumatic memories tangible and navigable.

What we learned

We learned that speculative wellness tools are most powerful when they respect existing psychology instead of ignoring it.

What's next for Memento

We would love for our idea to be collaborated with proper digital therapy tools and also modern VR technology like Metaquest, and the Apple Vision Pro.