Mora is a project originally born from a 10-day design sprint — a productivity app exploring cozy gamification through virtual Spaces.
Building on behavioral insights and user research to support gentle, sustainable focus.
Type
Solo project
Duration
August 2025 - ongoing
Scope
End-to-end design
Brief
I love video games, and I love the grind — or more specifically, I love the feeling of seeing my effort and time realized as points, high scores, and cute characters! That carries over into real life too — I’ve learned that I work best when my goals are tied to clear, tangible indicators of progress. When I finish a big project, I treat myself with a nice dinner or by buying something I’ve been saving up for.
I wanted to apply this idea to something more granular: a focus tool to help me stay on task and off my phone while working. I’ve tried a few gamified productivity apps, but never quite stuck with them; their incentive systems often felt too punishing or complex, or there just wasn’t enough payoff to justify the time and inconvenience of integrating them into my routine.
An early user flow for Mora alongside user personas generated from surveyees’ responses about their work habits.
Research & Insights
I looked into a mix of productivity tools, from conventional to-do lists (Todoist, TickTick, Microsoft To Do) to gamified apps with built-in incentive systems (Habitica, Finch, Forest). I also surveyed 25 people, asking what tools they use to manage their productivity and what they look for in such products.
A few things stood out:
High-level vs. momentary focus: Most people already rely on high-level organizers like GCal or Notion, but many productivity tools still push users to re-enter all their meetings and tasks into their own systems. The average person isn’t looking to rehouse their productivity stack — they’re looking for new tools that provide better motivation to stay focused in the moment.
Survey takeaway: People don’t need another planner, they need help staying focused.
Feature bloat: Overcomplicated, feature-rich apps can overwhelm the user and trigger productivity guilt, the sense of failing at productivity itself. A softer, minimal UI that does less but does it well would relieve that pressure and create a friendlier entry point. (This was a common point brought up by people seeking tools to manage/work with ADHD.)
Left: The homepage for Clarify ADHD… where do I click to start?
Right: The seven (!) mandatory screens you need to slowly page through after missing a day with Finch…
Punitive game mechanics: Many productivity apps rely on negative reinforcement — punishing missed days or to-dos with lost hit points, currency, or broken streaks. This creates unnecessary stress, discourages users from returning after a break, and turns new users away before they integrate the app into their routine. (Ben Davies-Romano has a really excellent writeup with more on streak mechanics and how they relate to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation!)
Themes identified in a study of adverse behavioral effects from Habitica, a gamified productivity app (screengrab on right).
Based on this research, I defined the scope of the app as a focus tool with a pick-it-up-when-you-need-it vibe, rewarding presence and awareness rather than penalizing disuse. Mora needed to help users stay grounded through long workdays — striking a balance between being passive enough not to distract and engaging enough to keep you committed. The app had to be lightweight and require little thought to open or use, letting users lock in and get straight to work with no friction.
At the same time, I wanted to include features like tagging sessions with what you worked on, self-reporting how productive you were, and exporting session history. These features serve more analytical users, who may want to track their time closely or build healthy routines by logging frequent short sessions.
The Making of Mora
Instead of a generic reward loop, Mora revolves around Spaces — virtual study rooms that users can decorate with furniture, pets, and other items earned by focusing with the app open. To set the right emotional tone even in early tests, I mocked up a few pixel art references by hand and used AI tools to generate additional elements in the same style.
I was inspired by apps like Forest and Focumon, which reward focus with virtual trees or monsters, but I wanted to take the idea in a more personal direction. By letting users personalize their Spaces with cosmetics and focus aids such as music and ambient sound, Mora provides both a sense of progress and a reason to return.
An annotated mockup of Mora’s main Session View, where the user's avatar earns rewards for time spent in a customizable Space.
Mora’s Flowmodoro timer lets users start working without locking into a fixed length. Break time is earned in proportion to focus time, defaulting to 1 minute of break for every 3 minutes of work, which allows the user to take breaks in accord with the natural ebb and flow of attention. A separate timer function with an alarm also allows users to more actively pace themselves if they so choose.
After each session, users rate their productivity, which applies a multiplier to coins earned. Together, these mechanics support Mora’s goal of a flexible, non-punitive productivity experience that still feels game-like and rewarding.
Users earn coins and other resources by focusing, then spend them in the Shop to personalize their Spaces.
To reflect the needs uncovered during discovery, I made several key UI and system design choices:
Instant start: Starting a work session takes just two taps. Mora’s main menu and Session View were designed to be as immediate as possible, without clutter or distractions. Detailed controls such as time-use stats and session tags are tucked away but still easily accessible in submenus.
Visually grounded interface: Mora uses expressive pixel art and a tactile layout that evokes physical space. Menus slide like drawers, and many elements are skeuomorphic (opening a book takes you to your To-Dos, visiting a café makes it your active workspace). These visuals give each action a sense of physicality and help ground the user in Mora's offering of Spaces.
Left: Add tags and view to-dos in Session View.
Right: Open stats and manage tags via the secondary home menu.
Deep personalization: Mora motivates the user by making the study environment itself rewarding. Users can customize their Spaces with hundreds of furniture and decoration options, ambient music or sounds, and even weather controls. Different Space types — like cafés, libraries, or space stations — drop unique resources that can be used to unlock more items, giving progress a personal and playful dimension.
Soft social motivators: Mora also creates motivation through light, community-driven dynamics. Users can open up their Spaces to friends or the wider Mora community, and co-working sessions make visiting users' goals and current tasks visible for gentle accountability. This shared presence encourages consistency without relying on punitive mechanics, turning focus into something social as well as personal.
Moving Forward
There’s still a lot for Mora to explore! User testing of Mora’s Figma mockup brought strong positive feedback, especially around the core focus flow. Most suggestions centered on refining existing features — adding recurring tasks to to-dos, making the Flowmodoro and alarm timers more visually distinct, and offering a classic Pomodoro mode with set focus and break intervals.
I’m currently building a fully functional prototype for A/B testing to introduce Mora's space-building and co-working features, and to see which changes are most helpful and engaging! In the meantime, you can check out the latest clickable mockup below.