Sanda Study Sleigh

Turn study tasks into gifts — pack them one session at a time

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Inspiration

I love studying in aesthetic, calming environments cafés, softly lit rooms, winter evenings with music playing in the background. In those moments, studying feels intentional and comforting rather than stressful.
However, most productivity tools feel mechanical: checklists, timers, and numbers that don’t emotionally reward effort.

Santa Study Sleigh was inspired by the idea of romanticizing discipline turning focus into a visual journey. Instead of pushing users to work harder, the app invites them into a beautiful space where progress feels magical and completion feels meaningful.

What it does

Santa Study Sleigh turns productivity into a festive, story-driven experience.

Users create their study tasks as gifts Santa needs to collect and pack. These gifts appear along a visual track in the dashboard. Each Pomodoro study session moves Santa forward through a cozy, Christmas-themed workspace with live animated backgrounds and soothing music.

As tasks are completed, gifts are packed visually in real time.
When all tasks are finished, Santa reaches the final destination an interactive 3D Christmas tree that responds to hand gestures, serving as the ultimate reward and moment of accomplishment.

The tree is not just decorative it is the emotional core of the experience.

How we built it

  • Frontend: Next.js + React + TypeScript for structured, scalable UI logic
  • 3D & Rendering:
    • Three.js for real-time 3D graphics
    • @react-three/fiber and @react-three/drei for declarative 3D scene management
  • Gesture Control:
    • MediaPipe Vision for real-time hand gesture recognition
    • Gestures are mapped directly to 3D tree interactions
  • Visual Effects:
    • Postprocessing with bloom and lighting effects to enhance immersion
  • Styling & Tooling:
    • Vite for fast development and builds
    • Tailwind CSS for consistent, aesthetic UI design

The Pomodoro system, task state, and visual progress are tightly connected so every action has a visible consequence.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was implementing gesture-controlled 3D interaction in a way that felt smooth, responsive, and intuitive. Mapping real-world hand movements to meaningful in-scene reactions required careful calibration and performance optimization.

Another challenge was balancing rich visuals with focus ensuring the experience felt immersive without becoming distracting.

Coordinating state between tasks, Pomodoro sessions, Santa’s movement, and the final 3D reward also required thoughtful architectural decisions.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Building a gesture-controlled 3D reward experience as the emotional centerpiece
  • Successfully combining productivity mechanics with immersive visual storytelling
  • Creating a smooth integration between Pomodoro sessions and visual progress
  • Designing an experience that makes studying feel calming and rewarding
  • Delivering a cohesive journey from task creation to final completion

What we learned

  • Emotional engagement can significantly improve consistency and focus
  • Visual and interactive rewards are more motivating than abstract metrics
  • Gesture-based interaction adds a powerful sense of presence and accomplishment
  • Productivity tools don’t have to feel harsh they can feel warm and immersive

What's next for Santa Study Sleigh

  • Add non-seasonal themes so the experience works year-round
  • Expand gesture-controlled interactions beyond the final tree
  • Introduce adaptive environments based on focus patterns
  • Add cloud sync and multi-device support
  • Explore accessibility-friendly gesture and interaction modes

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