brain
scapes
Group: Dahoon, Jin, Jiayi, Ellen
Week Sixth
Exploring, exploding, exploiting process, criticality and interaction in relation to user experience design.
Design a way to make brain activity responding to aesthetic experiences visible, tangible, or interactive.
Neuroaesthetic
Partnership: Kinda Studios
Ideation
Building an experiential installation composed of a series of moments designed to help participants see and feel breath in different formats. To visualize breath in real time and enhance sensory engagement, we’ve started working with TouchDesigner.
Our plan includes three sessions:
Session One focuses on something tangible yet ungraspable, like sand or water—materials that metaphorically represent airflow and transience. This part acts like a meditative reset, helping participants slow down and become aware of their breathing.
Session Two introduces a simple warm-up activity designed to subtly raise participants’ heart rates, which in turn shifts their breathing rhythm—preparing them for the next stage.
Session Three offers real-time visual feedback of each participant's breath, allowing them to observe how their breathing changes—from short and fast to long and soft—through dynamic visual patterns.
direction
Our design amplifies everyday vital signs, breath, to externalise brain activity.
Through tangible, interactive expressions, we transform internal rhythms into playful, collaborative experiences in the physical world.
user testing
Session one
The entire experience is guided by instructions, with time set aside to ensure participants feel safe and supported. After that, we would help everyone to settle into a calm and relaxed state.
We tested the experience with 3 pairs of participants, simplifying the process to focus solely on playing with their breath, without intentionally increasing heart rate or altering breathing rhythm.
Session two
We incorporated additional elements to engage other senses, such as silicone for tactile feedback and physical bubbles for interaction to enrich the overall experience.
user feedback
Distractions:
💬 "Environment matters – need to hide clutter for focus." – Tonicha
💬 “Silicon is distracted when it not synchronise with the breathing rhythm” Yanshan
💬 "The experience would be more soothing if there were background music." – Chenchen
Collaborative
💬 "Think of the relationship between two participants, who are comfortable experiencing this together" – Tonicha
💬 "Exploring how different seating positions might affect the experience—such as sitting face-to-face or side by side." – Tonicha
user feedback
Bubbles:
💬 "Physical Bubbles become distracting without purpose... they should reflect my breath." – Cindy
💬 "Physical bubble is kinda fun, to change the speed the breath, fast and funny to change the vibe" – Zoe
💬 "Can’t tell which bubble is mine... needs identifiers." – Shanshan
result:
Photograph by Dahoon Lee / Edit by Jin Wang
Aware of Breath
Next Steps
P0 Test-Blocking Issues
P1 Guidance Upgrades
P2 Engagement Enhancements
Solve Bubble Identification
Implement colour-coded or add subtle user avatars inside bubbles (e.g., initials ▲●)
Repurpose Physical Bubbles
Make bubbles functional indicators:
Size = Real-time breath depth
Rise speed = Inhalation pressure
Colour shifts & expansion duration = Neuro-emotional translation
Introduce Collaborative Mode
Bubble fusion mechanic: Sync breathing → Merge bubbles → Unlock visual effects
behind the scenes
Reflection & next step
This week, we began prototyping ideas that could lead to our final outcome. We experimented with various materials and formats, aiming to align with the key themes we’ve identified. While these initial tests helped us explore different directions, we still need to refine our approach and determine which concept works best. As the next step, we plan to explore digital elements that better connect with our central theme: breath.
