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MANIFESTO

A Quiet Rebellion

Technology has taught us to move faster, respond instantly, and measure our progress and worth in metrics.

What started as an efficiency and convenience booster has mutated into a system of interruption. An average person taps or swipes their phone over 2,600 times a day. Each interruption takes nearly half an hour to recover. Constant interruption is silently killing creativity, problem-solving skills, and learning abilities, all rooted in deep focus.

Philosophers like Bernard Stiegler have warned of a collapse of attention, while Byung-Chul Han describes a society burning out under the weight of self-optimization.

However, distraction is not an accidental side effect of technological advancements – it is a business model where attention has become a currency. Modern technology fragments attention by rewarding reaction instead of reflection. We became technically productive but mentally scattered, measured by dashboards that track everything except the quality thoughtprocess.

Polaris Focus™ manifesto visualization

Polaris began with a question:

What if technology could respect attention instead of exploiting it?

We turned to the concept of kaamos – the Finnish polar night where darkness lasts long enough for thoughts to settle and stars finally have room to speak. In that stillness, we discovered a perfect metaphor – focus isn't a race against time, but rather a space where ideas are allowed to take shape.

Polaris stands against the current.

We refuse tools that turn free flows of thought into countdowns.

We refuse the inevitability of distraction and urgency as the default.

We refuse systems that commodify, extract, and deplete attention to convert it into output, data, and someone else's revenue.

The Attentional Design™ philosophy is our response.

We believe that tools should respect the mind, not exploit it.

We believe that attention is not a commodity, but a foundational resource of imagination, autonomy, and creativity.

We believe that attention is worth protecting and time is worth reclaiming.

We believe that silence has value.

Polaris exists for those who live by their minds: writers shaping meaning from silence, engineers holding fragile abstractions, students diving deep into a complex topic, parents reclaiming a moment of clarity.

OUR MISSION

The Future We're Building

Polaris Focus™ mission visualization

Polaris is not another productivity tool. It is a step towards an alternative humane ecosystem where we can return to perceiving time as something to inhabit thoughtfully, not outrun.

Polaris is part of a movement to reclaim focus from noise and recover the slow, interior spaces – where presence replaces pressure and real thinking happens.

What we notice shapes what we become. The Attentional Design™ philosophy behind Polaris helps you notice what matters and let the rest fade back into the dark.

Instead of timers and ticking clocks, Polaris offers a visual chronoscape – a dissolving asteroid, marking time as presence rather than pressure; a flow rather than a final destination. It is a quiet technology that protects attention and facilitates healthy attentional habits. Over time, you can master your attention and reach deep focus without an unrealistic attempt to suppress all distractions or a need for a sprint towards a deadline.

Polaris is a reliable tool for those who still trust in depth, stillness, and the quiet power of uninterrupted thought.

Move beyond the pressure of the clock and reclaim the space required for real thinking.

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FOUNDERS Q&A

Meet the Founders

Victoria Rork

Co-Founder & Product Designer

Victoria leads product design at Kaamos Labs, applying the Attentional Design™ framework to shape intuitive experiences that simplify complexity and guide focus. With a decade of experience in design, she builds interfaces and systems that let users engage fully and stay present.

Anton Tyshko

Co-Founder & Systems Architect

Anton shapes the technical foundations at Kaamos Labs, designing resilient, stable platforms that recede into the background. With over a decade in mobile systems, he builds architectures that quietly support presence and sustained focus.

Polaris Focus™ founders visualization

What is Polaris Focus, and why should anyone care?

Victoria: Polaris Focus is a cognitive time tool designed to help people reclaim their attention. Somewhere along the way, productivity became synonymous with urgency, self-tracking, and pressure to always be “on.” We’re constantly measuring time but rarely experiencing it. That disconnect isn’t just stressful, it’s mentally depleting.

Anton: And it’s rewiring how we think. Most tools push us toward fragmentation and fatigue. Polaris is built to reverse that. It draws from neuroscience to ease cognitive load, using randomized durations and ambient visuals to create a space where focus can deepen without timers, metrics, or noise.

Was this a response to a problem or a shift in how you wanted to live?

Victoria: It honestly came from hitting a wall, mentally and professionally. I was working in tech, balancing deadlines, nonstop meetings, and constant context-switching. My days were full but rarely meaningful. Then I had a motorcycle accident. I walked away with a broken bone and road rash (lucky, really) but it forced me to slow down. I started questioning everything: how I spend my time, what real focus even feels like when it’s not wrapped in stress. Polaris came out of that shift. It wasn’t just about building a better tool; it was about changing my relationship with time.

Anton: I can relate to that. I was deep in code, parenting, and a browser full of tabs all competing for attention. Most of the tools I tried claimed to help but they just added more noise. We built Polaris to do the opposite: to create space for real focus, not to micromanage it.

So how is this not just another Pomodoro with prettier colors?

Anton: Most tools chase engagement. Even the minimalist ones still track you, nudge you, reward you. Polaris removes that entire layer. No telemetry. No dopamine loops. Just a session and a symbolic visual progression.

Victoria: There’s no countdown, no alerts. It’s not about squeezing more into your day, it’s about creating mental space to actually think.

Wait, so there’s no ticking clock? How does that even work for productivity?

Anton: That’s right. There’s no visible timer or countdown. Instead, we use a dissolving asteroid as a visual proxy for time. It degrades at a consistent rate, but without numerical markers. This deliberate abstraction reduces time anxiety and minimizes cognitive load allowing users to stay focused on the task, not the clock.

Victoria: Exactly. Most timers create this constant background tension, you’re always aware of time running out. With Polaris, time feels different. You pick a session scale (XS to Mega) and Polaris guides you visually, not numerically. It gives you a sense of movement, but it’s ambient, almost meditative. It’s like working with time, not against it.

You mentioned “session scales.” What’s that actually mean?

Victoria: We got rid of time, at least the way we’re used to measuring it. Instead of setting a 25- or 60-minute timer, you choose a symbolic size: XS through Mega. It’s about shifting your attention away from the clock and toward the actual work. When you’re not counting minutes, you start noticing what really matters.

Anton: Each scale maps to a general time range, but the exact session length is chosen by an algorithm, randomly, within that range. That intentional ambiguity helps break the obsession with precision. It’s not about tracking time, it’s about moving with it.

Alright. But is there actual science behind this or is this just well-designed intuition?

Victoria: Science. Polaris draws from cognitive neuroscience and flow psychology. It’s grounded in how the brain regulates attention, particularly the Central Executive, Salience, and Default Mode Networks. These systems help us manage focus, filter distractions, and shift between tasks. Polaris is designed to support them. That’s why the interface is so quiet. It’s low-stimulation by design.

Anton: Exactly. Most timers and productivity tools actually disrupt focus. They activate the Default Mode Network, which is linked to mind-wandering, anxiety, and self-monitoring. We wanted to do the opposite. That’s why there’s no countdown, no blinking indicators, no gamified progress bars. Instead, Polaris uses a dissolving asteroid – a slow, symbolic animation that visually marks time without measuring it. It’s subtle on purpose. The whole system is built to protect focus, not pressure it.

Let’s talk about the asteroid. Beautiful, weird, and… slowly falling apart?

Anton: Yes. It’s a metaphor and a pacing device. It fragments and rotates as time passes, giving you a sense of momentum without triggering urgency. It’s not a progress bar. It’s alive, but quiet.

Victoria: And symbolically, it represents attention: finite, powerful, and dissolving when cared for. It reminds you that the moment matters not because of how long it is, but because you were actually present for it.

Who’s this built for? Besides both of you, obviously.

Anton: We built it for people who do focused, creative, or complex work: writers, coders, researchers, designers, and anyone who needs uninterrupted cognitive space. But we also thought about people who were feeling overwhelmed by traditional productivity tools. The ones who’ve tried everything with timers and dashboards, and still feel scattered.

Victoria: And for people who’ve internalized urgency as the default. We heard from so many users who said, “I open a to-do list and immediately feel behind.” Polaris is for them, too–for anyone looking to unlearn the idea that productivity has to feel stressful.

That includes neurodivergent users, those with ADHD, anxiety, or sensory sensitivity, who often find rigid systems more punishing than helpful. Polaris is designed to feel like a reset: no streaks, no grading, no pressure.

Anton: If you’re tired of your tools managing you, Polaris gives you space to focus without pressure or noise.

Let’s be honest, aren’t apps like this just helping people cope with toxic work culture instead of actually challenging it?

Anton: It’s a valid question. Most tools end up reinforcing the very systems they claim to fix, pushing productivity at the cost of well-being. Polaris was built as a counterweight. No targets, no streaks, no pressure. It’s not a treadmill. It’s a pause.

Victoria: An app alone can’t change a broken culture but it can offer an alternative. And when enough people adopt new behaviors, that’s how culture shifts. Polaris creates space to slow down, pay attention, and reset. It’s not about checking out, it’s about showing up differently.

What does the future of Polaris look like? How do you stay true to that original movement while still evolving the product?

Victoria: We’re evolving Polaris deliberately through feedback, collaboration, and ongoing research. Right now, we’re partnering with researchers and organizations working on time perception, workplace cognition, and digital well-being. These collaborations build on the ideas in our white paper and keep Polaris grounded in both science and lived experience. There’s growing momentum around ethical design in this space, and we want Polaris to be part of leading that conversation.

Anton: We’re also exploring integrations, not to complicate things, but to meet people where they already are. The challenge is always the same: how do we add clarity without adding clutter? Polaris is designed to stay lean for a reason. Every feature has to earn its place.

Okay, be honest, how many productivity tools do you each have on your phone or laptop right now?

Victoria: Fourteen. All in folders, perfectly named. None of them work but they look productive.

Anton: Nine. Maybe ten. One still thinks it’s 2021.

Victoria: Exactly. That’s why we started with focus. One problem at a time.