How I Came Up with MonaLin
On January 2nd of this year, I attended a reunion to celebrate my high school homeroom teacher’s 60th birthday. It was our first time meeting in 30 years, and we shared a genuine sense of joy. I was completely filled with happiness—until I saw the video shared the next day.
In the video, where everyone gave a speech to the teacher, my expression was objectively “dead.” It looked like I was at a funeral. I was struck by lightning-like shock when I realized the massive gap between “the feelings I wanted to convey” and my “external output.” It felt like a fatal bug.
I tried recreating the speech at home, filming and analyzing it on my smartphone, but I couldn’t find a single clue on how to improve.
I decided to clip the video and consult Claude. I was shocked again; Claude guided me like a top-tier expression counselor. As I continued the trial-and-error process with Claude, I realized the true power of LLMs. A few days later, my appearance had changed to the point where I looked like a different person (at least when filming in my room). It might sound strange, but I felt like my face had returned to how it looked when I was 12.
Thanks to Claude, I learned how to use my facial muscles. Or perhaps I should say I “remembered.” I am sure there are others who struggle with similar self-expression issues. I realized this could be useful if turned into an application. This experience is how I came up with MonaLin.
Elevator Pitch
Service Name: MonaLin
Name Origin: A coined word combining “Mona Lisa” and “Rin” (Japanese for dignified/poised).
Concept: An AI self-expression counselor that synchronizes your “inner self” with your “impression” while ensuring psychological safety.
MonaLin is:
1. The Problem to Solve
Resolves the problem where the “inner self you want to convey” (friendliness, confidence, etc.) and the “actual impression conveyed” are misaligned, causing you to be unintentionally perceived as “angry” or “lacking confidence.”
2. Target Audience
For business professionals, engineers, and job seekers who want to view their expressions and atmosphere objectively and improve their non-verbal communication skills.
3. Service Category
An AI Expression Consulting Trainer.
4. What This Service Does
Users simply perform a 45-second speech. The AI visualizes “unconscious facial habits” captured from the video. Users then receive three rounds of interactive consulting with an AI coach to understand “why the gap occurs” and “how to achieve the intended expression.”
5. Competitors
Unlike emotion analysis tools that merely provide mechanical numbers like “Smile Score: 80%,” or interpersonal manners training that is expensive and creates high psychological hurdles.
6. Differentiation
The key feature is that it verbalizes the consistency between your internal self-image and your actual impression, all while ensuring psychological safety.
UI/UXイメージ
Photo: Unsplash - Michael Pointner