Bini Park

XR DESIGNER · MR · MPP HACK 2024

Lumina MR

MR Meditation Game

MR Meditation Game

MR Meditation Game

MR Meditation Game

Hand Tracking

Hand Tracking

Hand Tracking

Hand Tracking

Roomscale

Roomscale

Roomscale

Roomscale

What if your ceiling could bloom into a garden of presence?

MR meditation simulation that allows individuals to relax by transforming their ceiling into a garden!

INFORMATION

Built for Meta’s Presence Platform Hackathon 2024 in 30 days with a team of 4.

Lumina MR is a mixed reality experience designed for Meta Quest that invites users to slow down, look up, and interact with your physical ceiling that turns into a magical garden and grows based on your presence and gestures. Built during the Presence Platform Hackathon, the project explores how subtle, upward motion can create a sense of calm and presence in an otherwise fast-paced world.

Our team worked remotely for a month, building the project from the ground up. I collaborated with Vien Nguyen as part of the XR design team, co-leading the overall design direction. Together, we identified the core problem, refined the concept, and explored how mixed reality could enhance the experience. Despite the remote setup, our team maintained strong momentum, from brainstorming and dividing tasks to giving thoughtful, insight-driven feedback throughout the process.

OUTCOMES

ROLE

ROLE

XR Designer

XR Designer

Front-end developer

Front-end developer

Concept designer

Concept designer

TEAM

TEAM

Vien Nguyen

Vien Nguyen

Tejas Shroff

Tejas Shroff

Yolanda Correia

Yolanda Correia

TIME

TIME

30 days

30 days



TOOLS

TOOLS

Unity

Unity

Blender

Blender

Figma

Figma

MR Utility Kit

MR Utility Kit

SKILLS

SKILLS

Prototype

Prototype

3D Modeling

3D Modeling

Animating

Animating

Interact Design

Interact Design

HOW TO PLAY

CONCEPT

Seeds are flying around the room

Grab the seeds and combine them

Plant them on the ceiling

Harvest the seeds from the plan

PROBLEM & SOLUTION

STRATEGY

DESIGN QUESTION

How might we create a meditative MR experience that encourages users to look up and slow down, without feeling passive or bored?

PROBLEM

Modern life moves fast, maybe too fast. Studies show people now walk, eat, and speak up to 10% faster than before, often at the cost of patience, presence, and well-being. As Cal Newport warns, this obsession with speed fragments our focus and erodes space for stillness.

Most MR experiences mirror this rhythm like fast, horizontal, and task-driven and rarely inviting users to slow down or look up.

SOLUTION

We uses MRUK to detect the ceiling and invites people to slow down by planting calming, glowing plants in the space we usually ignore, above us. It transforms the simple act of looking up into a peaceful moment of presence.

Ceiling-based spatial anchor as the primary interaction zone

Presence-based bloom the longer you gaze, the more life grows

Pinch-to-plant gestures that trigger glowing seed animations

GOAL

STRATEGY

Our main goal is to…

Create a spatial experience that encourages upward motion, stillness, and relaxation while offering users a chance to take a break from the constant rush of everyday life.

We aimed to use Meta’s Presence Platform and All-in-One SDK to create a calming experience where users could feel as comfortable as possible. Since headsets can be heavy and uncomfortable to wear for long periods, we designed Lumina MR to be something you can enjoy even while lying down, making rest a core part of the interaction.

Challenge + Learning

STRATEGY

CHALLENGE

The biggest challenge I faced was time management.

During this project, I had seven other projects going on at the same time. That was the result of my own ambition and overconfidence in thinking I could manage everything. I believed that taking on more experiences would naturally lead to gaining more skills but I quickly realized that wasn’t the case.

Instead of learning something new, I found myself overwhelmed, stressed, and limited to doing only what I already knew. This experience taught me that more projects do not necessarily equal more growth, especially when done in a short period of time.

LEARNING

⇾ So what I learn…

  • I need to be more aware of my own limits, both in terms of time and capacity.

  • More experiences only lead to more skills when they’re given enough space to reflect, explore, and grow.

⇾ Other key learnings from this project..

  • I gained hands-on experience with the Meta Quest Presence Platform SDKs, many of which I hadn’t been able to test before.

  • I learned a new way to set up Unity projects from Tejas, which greatly improved my workflow.

  • I experienced the joy of working with incredibly talented developers and designers, and how smooth and effective teamwork can be when everyone brings their strengths to the table.

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Design Process

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LATEST MAIN POSTER & CONCEPT SHOT

Custom NPC that guides user during the game

Main Poster

Guideline poster [credit: Vien Nguyen]

USER RESEARCH

USER TARGET

We focused on people living in fast-paced environments who often feel overwhelmed or burnt out as well as MR enthusiasts who already own a Meta Quest headset.

They want….

  • a way to relax and experience something different from the typical fast-paced or energetic VR games.

  • to disconnect without needing to commit to a long session.

MR Enthusiasts & Daily Users

Wellness & Mindfulness Practitioners

SKETCHES & STORYBOARD

IDEATION SKETCHES

[credit: Vien Nguyen]

STROYBOARD

GAME FLOW MAP

Key Experiments

01 | MENU ITERATIONS ——————————————————————

Menu design for a mixed reality experience was one of the most exciting and challenging parts of the project. Unlike traditional screens, interactions are embedded directly into the XR world, so clarity and ease of use are essential. Our goal was to design a menu that felt natural, intuitive, and easy to understand without breaking immersion. Working closely with Tejes and Yola, we created the clearest menu experience through our NPC interaction. It became the most successful version across all our iterations.

1) Menu through NPC interaction

2) Floating blob that can be popped to reveal options

3) Radial menu activated by wrist direction [Tejas is demonstrating a suggested interaction]

✳ Key Takeaway ➝ Ease of navigation is more important than visual polish in mixed reality design

While visually appealing interfaces can grab attention, we found that overly complex or decorative designs often led to confusion. Prioritizing usability helped us create a more accessible and immersive interaction, especially in a calming experience like Lumina MR.

02 | HAND GESTURE ——————————————————————

Since this app is fully hand-based, we created a hand interaction map covering calling npc, grabbing, combining, and a custom gesture for harvesting seeds. Our goal was to keep interactions as simple and intuitive as possible to support a relaxed and seamless experience.

Call NPC : Palm upward

Distant Grab/Grab : Pinch index finger and thumb

Plant the Seeds : Release index fingers and perform a gentle throwing motion

Harvest SeedsPoint upward with your index finger and face your palm toward the plants

Interaction Guide Map [credit: Vien]

03 | GAZE & BUILD MODE ——————————————————————

There's two mode in this app : Build & Gaze mode

Build mode:

  • Build your garden by interacting with seeds and gently tossing them onto the ceiling.

  • The environment is bright and clear, allowing users to see their surroundings and focus on creation.

Gaze Mode:

  • Accelerate plant growth simply by being present.

  • Your stillness becomes energy for the garden.

  • The environment shifts to a darker, immersive space as glowing particles emerge and respond to your gaze.

[credit: Vien Nguyen]

Build Mode

Gaze Mode

Design Decision

Design Goal

As a team, we defined three core design goals to guide the experience and ensure it felt intentional, comfortable, and emotionally engaging.

01 | Relaxation through proprioception

Support comfortable postures like sitting or lying down to make relaxation possible, even with the headset on.

02 | Freedom of interaction

Let players fully control and shape their garden, creating a sense of ownership and agency.

03| Friendly companion vibe

Include a soft, supportive presence so the space feels warm and never lonely.

Aesthetic Goal

Before diving into 3D modeling and development, our design team explored three main aesthetic directions for the environment: Dreamy, Sci-Fi, and Paper.


I created a mood board and visual references for each, along with a mock-up to show how they might look in the app. We ultimately decided on the Dreamy aesthetic, as it offers a more comforting and calming vibe which is perfect for a meditation context.

Moodboard + Mockup

Environment Goal

Our main environment design focused on the plants and island which are the elements that user will interact with most.
We explored various directions, including natural-looking plants and more alien-like designs.

My initial plant design

Final plant design [credit: Vien]

In the end, we chose the alien-inspired aesthetic to help this world stand out from typical nurturing garden environments.


This decision was also supported by research showing that people can feel both relief and excitement when encountering things that are unfamiliar or unexpected.

Color Goal

Here's our color palette!

We explored various directions, including natural-looking plants and more alien-like designs.

NPC Goal

Designing the NPC character was one of my responsibilities

I explored three main design directions that aligned with our aesthetic goals. I focus on simplicity, approachability, and seed-inspired shapes.

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Final Look

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What's next?

01| Game Flow Enhancements

  • Clearer room setup and scene understanding guidance

  • Fallback system if Spatial Data permission is denied

  • Seamless integration of title screen and onboarding (e.g., Cubism)

02| NPC Development

  • Engaging autonomous behavior

  • Collaborative gameplay with the player (e.g., seed collecting, planting, harvesting)

  • Exploring voice interaction support

03| Object & Environment Placement

  • Prevent plant collisions with furniture and room mesh

  • Ensure plant boundaries are respected and naturally integrated

04| Gameplay Improvements

  • Refined seed-throwing mechanics and plant placement

  • Enhanced time-passing visuals (e.g., lighting shifts, day/night cycle, Gazing mode effects)

FINAL THOUGHTS!!

Although this was one of my first virtual hackathon projects and with a team of people I had never met before, it’s an experience I’ll never forget. We put so much heart and effort into it, and I had the chance to work with an incredible team of passionate individuals who I know will continue shaping the XR space.

This project taught me a lot about designing in XR and how to collaborate effectively with developers. I'm especially proud of the visual and interactive language we created, which brought a strong sense of relaxation and wonder to the experience.

Overall, we’re proud of how the team stayed agile, adapted quickly, and prioritized the elements that truly mattered. Together, we built a cohesive and meaningful experience that beautifully conveyed the core metaphor behind our concept.

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