Dark Sand

Dark Sand is a mobile app and wearable device that uses AI and EEG technology to visualize, record, and analyze dreams. By combining dream visualization tools, sleep tracking, and community engagement, it offers users a unique way to explore their subconscious and understand their dreams on a deeper level.

Year

2024

Inspiration

As someone who dreams vividly almost every night, I found dreams to be a rich source of personal inspiration. The surreal imagery and emotional depth often sparked creative ideas that I wished I could capture more effectively.

Challenge

Most dreams fade within minutes of waking, making them difficult to recall and describe. Traditional methods like writing or drawing couldn't fully recreate the visual and emotional experience of my dreams.

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Goal

Design a mobile app that helps users quickly record their dreams
Integrate AI to visualize dreams based on user input
Develop a wearable EEG device to monitor sleep stages and capture dream-related brain activity
Create a seamless and inspiring user experience that turns dreams into shareable, visual memories

UXD Process

Survey

To understand users' habits and expectations around dream recording, I conducted an online survey with 101 participants.
The results revealed that:

Most people dream frequently and are interested in recording dreams.
Their main reasons include self-exploration, inspiration, and preventing forgetfulness.
Users are highly interested in AI-powered dream visualization and interpretation.
Many users are willing to share their dreams with others through community features.‍

These findings confirmed a strong demand for a tool that combines dream journaling, visualization, and social sharing.

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User Persona

Based on survey insights, I created two representative user personas. These personas reflect two core motivations: creative expression and personal insight.

Competitor Analysis

I analyzed two leading dream apps: Oniri and DreamKit. Existing apps lack immersive visualization, deep personalization, and integration with sleep data. Dark Sand fills this gap with AI-powered dream visuals and EEG-supported analysis.

Design Process

System Map

Technology

I used Touch Designer to create dreamlike sand effects, and ComfyUI with Stable Diffusion to generate videos from text for dream visualization. On the hardware side, I built an EEG system using the TGAM module and Arduino, then used Python to process brainwave data and visualize sleep quality.

Product Design

Inspired by crescent-shaped sand dunes, Barchan is a comfortable EEG headband with five electrodes forming four channels to monitor brain activity during sleep. Its soft, minimal design ensures both accuracy and wearability.