Month: January 2026

Introduction

Why is pothos the best plant for starting to care for plants?
And why is pothos a simple and natural example of how good interaction works?
In recent years, more and more people are becoming interested in the world of plants, often living in cities, in small apartments, and with little time to spare. However, caring for a plant isn’t just about adding a decorative element to the home; it’s also about starting to observe how something can change over time.

Image1. A pothos plant, from Firah

Pothos is a very simple plant to care for, making it ideal for learning. Its changes are easy to notice: the leaves become softer when thirsty, the color changes depending on the light, and growth slows or accelerates. By observing these signals, we begin to understand what the plant needs and how to respond.

This mechanism helps us understand a key principle of interaction design: feedback. Our actions produce a result that modifies a feature of the interface and allows us to understand the next steps to take. In the natural world, feedback arrives slowly, over time. It is not as immediate as a digital interface, but for this very reason it requires attention and observation skills.

Pothos: a Great Plant for Beginners

Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) is often recommended as a first plant, and for good reason. It is a tropical climbing plant, capable of adapting to a wide range of conditions. It thrives in both bright light and partial shade, requires little watering, and survives even minor care mistakes. [1]

But its real strength is how easy it is to understand its needs.
When thirsty, the leaves lose vigor.
When too much light hits, the color changes.
When healthy, it grows rapidly.

Image 2. Screenshot from the video
Pothos Care Indoors: Yellow Leaves, Brown tips, Watering, Repotting, Pruning, Soil & Growth Tips

Looking at pothos, we learn that good feedback doesn’t have to be complicated. It just needs to be visible and consistent. This form of slow, natural interaction helps us understand how, even in the design of digital interfaces, feedback is essential for building intuitive, accessible, and learning-oriented experiences.

Slow Feedback and Interaction Design

In the field of interaction design, one of the fundamental principles is feedback. An interaction works when the system responds to the user’s actions in a legible and coherent way.
The pothos works exactly like this.
Humans act, the plant responds over time.
This relationship isn’t as immediate as the digital one, but for this very reason, it’s educational. It teaches us to recognize patterns and respect timing.

Nature-Based User Interfaces: The Makey Makey Example

In recent years, interaction design has begun to explore nature-based user interfaces, or interfaces that use natural elements as inputs, outputs, or communication mediums. Among the various examples is Makey Makey—a sensor that, like a keyboard or mouse, can become an input for the computer.
It is a system designed to create tangible interfaces simply and immediately, without the need for programming or building complex circuits. Its unique feature is that it does not require specific technological materials. It can also work with natural elements such as plants, leaves, soil, fruit, or simply the human body. [2]
Sensors, digital models, or nature-based interface platforms can therefore amplify existing signals, without replacing them.

Image 3 & Image 4
Makey makey and scratch plant playgrounds

Reference

[1] “Epipremnum aureum,” Wikipedia. [Online]. Available: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epipremnum_aureum. Accessed: Jan. 21, 2025.

[2] J. Silver, E. Rosenbaum, and D. Shaw, “Makey Makey: Improvising Tangible and Nature-Based User Interfaces,” MIT Media Lab / Beginner’s Mind Collective, Cambridge, MA, USA. [Online]. Available: https://www.firah.org/upload/notices3/2012/makey-makey-improvising-tangible-and-nature-based-user-interfaces-notice-a-mettre-en-ligne.pdf. Accessed: Jan. 21, 2025.

[3] J. Silver, E. Rosenbaum, and D. Shaw, “Makey Makey: Improvising Tangible and Nature-Based User Interfaces,” MIT Media Lab / Beginner’s Mind Collective, Cambridge, MA, USA. [Online]. Available: https://www.firah.org/upload/notices3/2012/makey-makey-improvising-tangible-and-nature-based-user-interfaces-notice-a-mettre-en-ligne.pdf. Accessed: Jan. 21, 2025.

With movies such as “Spiderman: a new universe” a push towards a more hand painted style in the animation industry could be felt. Arcane pushed the combination of hand painted looks of 3D animation even further. However, these styles are always in combination with computer animation. What if a movie is not only hand drawn but hand painted?

Loving Vincent is an animation film published 2017, written and directed by Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman. It is the first feature length painted movie. In 1 hour and 35 minutes all of the 66 960 frames are hand painted oil paintings created by 125 professional oil painters. As reference real actors and actresses were filmed in front of a green screen or sets designed to look close to the paintings.

As a concept for the movie 94 paintings of Vincent can Gogh were reimagined, reframed and strung together to create a story. For flashbacks photos of the time and van Gogh were added in a black and white to create a contrast to the colorful painting world.

Following the death of Vincent van Gogh Armand gets the task to deliver van Goghs final letter to some worthy recipient. While searching for the recipient Armand finds himself in a village with many people close to van Gogh or people who modeled for his paintings. Questions about van Goghs life as well as death were asked but left open for interpretation just like his paintings.

Loving Vincent is a special case in many aspects. The animation style is woven into the concept of the movie itself. It doesn’t just enhance the narration. It takes over the narration. The goal is to be sucked into the paintings of van Gogh, and the movie succeeds in it. Sometimes the style can be confusing and overloading due to the many moving brush strokes, however, it doesn’t take away from the impressiveness. It is an ode to van Goghs works and completely driven by the style. With a different approach the movie would lose a big part of the story. While not all viewers may understand all the references and nods given to the paintings, they will recognize van Goghs painting style even if they only know one painting of his. In a different style this connection may be lost.

Loving Vincent is not a typical movie about a famous figure. It does not feature the painter as the main character. It shows what he left behind with a new perspective.

https://lovingvincent.com

Animation is a broad field with varying requirements depending on the medium in which it is used for. Whether it is 2D, 3D, or stop-motion animation, there are clear differences between animations created for television and those produced for film. Television series typically feature less expressive animation, and in 3D animation, shaders are kept simpler to reduce render times. Infographics represent a form of animation that is generally the simplest in terms of complexity.

Infographics are predominantly used to simplify complex or abstract themes. The core of infographics is often a presentation. It includes facts and data. Without any animation the information is skimmed over without much of an impact on the viewer. Meanwhile, adding animation while dissecting a theme into small portions as well as adding comparison and a storyline the information is more likely to be remembered. While animation is an important part of infographics, it should not overshadow the information itself. The animation should enhance the information rather than distract from it.

There are various ways to create an animated infographic. Due to budget limitations, many projects share a similar visual style. Often Stock vector graphics are used as a base for the animation In these cases, the designer or animator focuses mainly on animating pre-existing elements instead of designing each asset from scratch. This approach significantly reduces production time and cost. For higher-budget projects, vector graphics may be custom-designed specifically for the infographic, allowing for a more unique and tailored visual identity that closely matches the topic and target audience.

A different approach is the so-called white board animation. Here elements get pinned or stuck on a whiteboard according to the desired story. The elements are hand drawn figures and objects giving it a personal note. Sometimes elements are drawn in addition. The hand of the, in this case, animator is shown and interacts directly with the infographic. The desired outcome is the feeling of someone explaining the topic directly to the viewer.

Ultimately, the most important factor for infographic animation is efficiency. The goal is to convey information and tell a story in the quickest and clearest way possible For this reason, characters—if they are used at all—do not need to be complex or highly detailed. If a storyline only requires a character to perform a simple action, such as raising a hand, there is no need for an advanced or intricate animation rig in software like After Effects. Simplicity often leads to clarity, which is the true strength of effective infographic animation.

Infographics found their way into YouTube as well. Many explain videos use them to create content without having to create complicate animations or invest into expansive real-life footage. They reach a large audience for example a video about “Crazy Things Science Still Can’t Explain” has over 1.2 million views over just 4 months.

Overall, animated infographics demonstrate how simplicity, clarity, and purposeful motion can effectively communicate complex information to a wide audience while remaining efficient in both production and storytelling.

https://explainvisually.co/en/animated-infographics/

https://absolute.agency/articles/blogs/five-essential-items-for-an-animated-infographic

https://www.nobledesktop.com/blog/tips-for-creating-effective-animated-infographics