OSMIA - by S²K

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Inspiration

OSMIA was first inspired by a family member of one of our teammates who lost his sense of smell after COVID. Watching how that changed his relationship with food made the problem feel immediate and real. Without smell, flavor became harder to judge, and meals often became overly salty.

From there, we realized the idea could expand beyond smell loss alone. Two of us also live with food and environmental allergies, which made us think more broadly about how invisible chemical signals affect food, safety, and everyday life. That led us to see smell not just as a sense, but as a hidden system for understanding the world around us.

What it does

OSMIA is a sensory translation platform for people living with smell loss, especially post-COVID anosmia. Instead of trying to restore smell directly, it helps users interpret the signals they can no longer perceive by detecting scent-related and environmental compounds in food and in the air.

The app translates this information into clear, personalized guidance around:

nutrition and flavor balance
allergen awareness
air quality and environmental irritants
safety hazards

In short, OSMIA gives users a new way to understand what smell once told them.

How we built it

We built OSMIA through research, ideation, and rapid prototyping.

We spent about two days researching anosmia, smell training, allergies, environmental triggers, and the relationship between smell and flavor. That research helped us define a problem that felt meaningful and grounded.

We used ChatGPT and Claude to expand ideas and challenge assumptions, and Figma Make for early exploration. From there, we developed the product logic, visual direction, and prototype ourselves in Figma.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was finding a direction that felt original. Early on, OSMIA was more focused on nutrition and reducing over-seasoning, but that felt too close to products that already exist.

That pushed us to think bigger. We shifted toward a speculative sensing device that could detect scent molecules and environmental compounds, turning OSMIA into a sensory translation system rather than just a food tracker.

We also had to design quickly while still learning, which meant adapting fast and trusting our research process.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

This was our first FigBuild, and we’re proud that we pushed ourselves to do it. We’re also proud of how much depth we were able to create in such a short amount of time.

Most of all, we’re proud that OSMIA tackles a real human problem in a way that feels thoughtful, personal, and future-facing.

What we learned

This project taught us how important research is. Taking time to deeply understand the problem led to a much stronger concept. We also learned how to iterate quickly, change direction when needed, and build a clearer design system under pressure. And honestly, we also learned that rest matters. Taking breaks made our thinking clearer and our decisions stronger.

What's next for OSMIA - by S²K

We are very proud of OSMIA, and plan to continue refining beyond this competition. Next, we want to keep improving the personalization system, make the experience even more accessible, and further define how the speculative sensing device and app ecosystem would work together.

This project made us feel like inventors. It challenged us to imagine a future tool that could solve a real problem in a meaningful way. That is what made OSMIA so exciting to create, and why we want to keep pushing it further!

Thank you, FIGBUILD for giving us this opportunity! - S²K <3