Mira

Mira is an exploratory project that rethinks affirmation culture through honesty, friction, and humor.

problem

Most motivational tools rely on positivity, consistency, and self-discipline. For people with fluctuating energy or attention, especially those with ADHD, forced optimism can feel ineffective or even alienating. Everyday moments of hesitation, like the pause before leaving home, are emotionally loaded but rarely designed for.

solution

Mira is an interactive mirror that responds with honest, varied affirmations ranging from supportive to blunt or humorous. It requires no routine or intentional input, meeting users in a moment that already exists. By reducing cognitive effort and acknowledging emotional reality, Mira offers grounding without demanding motivation.

Mira began during an interactive objects course while working with Arduino-based systems. During early ideation, I realized that much of my past work had been shaped by external expectations, constraints, or audiences. I wanted to explore what it would look like to design something small, personal, and genuinely useful to my own day-to-day experience.

I noticed a moment that already existed in my routine. Before leaving home, I always pause at the mirror. It is a brief checkpoint filled with self-assessment, hesitation, and decision-making. While many people use mirrors for affirmations, that approach never worked for me. Forced positivity felt disconnected from how motivation actually shows up in my life.

Rather than designing for optimism, Mira was designed for honesty. The mirror responds with varied prompts that range from supportive to blunt or humorous, depending on proximity and interaction. It requires no habit-building or conscious engagement. Mira meets the user in a moment that already exists and reduces cognitive effort rather than adding to it.

The project remains intentionally open-ended. Future explorations include environmental awareness such as weather-based tone adjustments and adaptive response systems. At its core, Mira is an experiment in designing for reality instead of idealized behavior.