by juliašŸØrazumovskaia -

PROTOTYPING ā€“ Design & Research II (Birgit) – 1/6

Continuing my research on the topic of ā€œSlownessā€from last semester, I will be doing further work on this topic as part of the Design & Research II course with Birgit Bachler PhD.

For the final assignment, I will need to record a 2-minute video of the final prototype ā€” in my case, I plan to use prototyping in Figma, which each of you will be able to test. The research will again focus more on contextual analysis, as well as user testing, bibliography, and heuristic evaluation.

In this first blog post, I want to show you three quick lo-fi prototypes for a future app. The task was to create 3 scenarios, and Iā€™ll be presenting each of them today. All of them were put together and thought through quickly, in no more than 20ā€“30 minutes.

*Also, during the second session with Birgit, we did a speed dating exercise, and at the end Iā€™ll go over some notes and discuss the issues my classmates encountered.

Prototype 1: Mood-based navigation šŸ˜

In this scenario, the user first selects their mood or intention (calm, curious, social, fast), and then receives a route that matches that mood.
The route includes different types of spaces ā€” parks, cafes, quiet street, depending on the userā€™s chosen mood.
The goal is to demonstrate how navigation can adapt to the person, rather than just to the geographical task.

Prototype 2: Fast vs. Slow Route šŸƒā€ā™€ļø

This scenario compares two approaches to navigation: “fast” and ā€œslowā€.
It shows the user that a longer route can be a better experienceā€”it passes through green spaces, quiet streets, and places to stop (such as cafes or shops).
The goal is to shift the focus from efficiency to the experience of the route and a conscious choice.

Prototype 3: Explore unknown areas šŸ¤·ā€ā™€ļø

Here, the navigation system encourages users to explore unfamiliar parts of the city.
The map is divided into ā€œknownā€ and ā€œunknownā€ zones, and users can choose a route that takes them through new places.
The goal is to encourage exploration, step outside of familiar routes, and foster a personal connection with the city.

šŸ—Øļø Speed Dating notes:

During testing, additional scenarios emerged that are not covered by the current logic:

  1. First, a safe route is important, especially at night ā€” taking into account street lighting, the presence of people, and the overall sense of safety.
  2. Second, the issue of data collection arose: to implement such routes, we need to understand where to source information, for example, regarding lighting, traffic, locations, and user behavior.
  3. There was also a request for budget-friendly routes, paths that take cost into account (like avoiding expensive locations or suggesting affordable spots), which adds another layer of personalization.

by ylva.larsen -

Product/Business Idea

What Problem are you solving?

I want to promote sustainable clothing consumption. I want to show people that it really can be quite easy to repair, tailor, and even make your own clothes. Studies show that taking part in the making and maintenance of your clothes makes you feel more attached to them, resulting in you taking better care of them and keeping the clothes longer.

Why should we care about it?

The fashion industry is one of the most environmentally harmful industries in the world. Fast fashion generates enormous amounts of waste, uses large quantities of water, and is one of the most exploitative businesses when it comes to labor rights.

What is the solution you are offering? How does it work?

Right now, my idea is a website for reusing old clothes and materials. It can generate sewing patterns based on the materials available, their quantity, and the userā€™s preferences. The user can customize the experience as much as possible by using filters to reflect factors such as their skill level, available time, tools, and workspace.

Who is the target audience? Who is the customer?

I would say my target audience would be young people that are interested in living more sustainably and are motivated to keep their clothing consumpion down.

Key words for my main taget group: thrifters, crafty, prctical, motivated, hobbies, sewing

What is going to happen? (Change & Impact)

People will realize how easy it is to take care of and customize their clothes. Early users will influence others, and hopefully the rest of society will follow their lead. This will decrease fast fashion demand and, in the long run, have a positive effect on the environment. šŸ™‚

by Indigo Tschurtschenthaler -

ClimaSynth: Enhancing Environmental Perception through Climate Change Sonic Interaction

In this entry I will be reviewing a NIME (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) paper I read, ClimaSynth: Enhancing Environmental Perception through Climate Change Sonic Interaction. The authors are Eleni-Ira Panourgia and Angela Brennecke from Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF and Bela Usabaev from the Cologne Academy of Media Arts. The paper was published in 2024 from the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression.

The document describes ClimaSynth, an interactive application that aims to communicate climate change through sound, using interaction as a means to raise awareness about the changing environment. ClimaSynth explores the relationship between acoustic and climatic effects by allowing users to manipulate sound through an interface.

I believe it is relevant for New Interfaces for Musical Expression because it explores how we can use simple sonic parameters to communicate big issues. At the same time, it is relevant for my research because it shows a way to draw attention to an environmental cause.

The web-based application developed wishes to enhance environmental perception and explore how sound can express aridity and drought. It achieves this through contrast and familiar sounds, which are associated with climate conditions. The aim is also to investigate the issue through non-human perspectives.

The sonic experience wants to be accessible, with a blurred distinction between content and interface. The authors wanted to create a minimal UI that united sound and vision. Other applications in this format already exist, such as Sound Canvas, Lines and GrainTrain. Riverssounds, another one, allows users to navigate river ecosystems with mouse interaction.

Climate change also means that environments sound differently. This interactive application tries to communicate this using a sound design technique called granular synthesis. It transforms audio by breaking it down into microscopic fragments called “grains”. In this case, granular synthesis is used to manipulate recordings. 

The user can select a soundscape from a drop-down menu: ā€œbirds near waterā€, ā€œriver waterā€ and ā€œtree barkā€. Each of these corresponds to a field recording. They can then adjust two parameters with sliders, ā€œareasā€ and ā€œspreadā€, which are then translated visually and sonically. By modifying these parameters, it is possible to transition between two extremes: the birds singing alone or accompanied by insects, the river becoming dryer and the tree bark readjusting its flexibility, all changes caused by drought. 

The ā€œspreadā€ value is visually translated as a purple area around the mouse, that can be more or less dense. With zero spread the grains are sampled from the same point, while a higher value allows for a broader selection of grains.

The ā€œareaā€ value shows the number of black dots around the mouse. Lower values allow the sounds to be individually perceived, while higher values make us perceive them as connected.

The conceptual originality of ClimaSynth is using parameters to communicate climate change and identifying which ones convey the idea the best. The non-human perspective of the applications makes the user almost feel like they are a fish in the river or the tree itself.

The idea of melting interface and content is coherent and shows that sound and visual elements can also communicate greater problems without needing any words.

The paper is missing information about target audience, testing and participants.

I also think that it is not very accessible to someone not from the field because the way the parameters work is not intuitive. Their visual translation is clear, but I found the sonic changes difficult to grasp. Before reading the paper, I was not sure of what the interactions meant. I would have wished for clearer naming of the parameters or labels on the two ends of the sliders, as a sort of cue of their effect on the sound. 

With the climate changes not being too evident on screen or sonically, I think the result is limited, although after playing with it for a while it is possible to perceive the changes.

As a consequence, I believe that the mapping could be more thoughtful, but the instrument is still performable beyond the lab. It explores musical expression in a way that is closer to nature and it surely conveys a message.
I agree with what is stated in the conclusion of the paper: ā€œThis approach offers a promising direction for conveying the complexity of climate change through rich sonic encounters with changing environmental states.ā€ 

The conclusion also mentions the possibility to integrate more parameters and environmental or location-specific data in the UI, and I can imagine the interface changing for each recording, to make the experience more immersive.

I reckon the application could be displayed in exhibitions about environmental issues, but it could also be used to promote behavioural change in interactive ads.

The method explored has potential to communicate the complex issue that is climate change, and it was of great inspiration for my research theme, as I am interested in how interaction can raise awareness about light pollution. Using parameters, whether visual or sonic and analysing them is a way to communicate environmental changes and I will take it into consideration when working on my light pollution project.

by anja.kljajic -

D&R2 SED D2 ā€“ Business Idea 2/2

What Problem are you solving?

Most game interfaces are static and cluttered, creating massive legibility and navigation barriers for visually impaired players. Designers often lack the time or specialized tools to implement complex WCAG-like standards and multi-sensory feedback.

Why should we care about it?

Accessibility isn’t just a “feature”, it is a fundamental right to play. When games like Black Myth: Wukong launch with unreadable text, it excludes millions of players and hurts the gameā€™s reputation and reach.

What is the solution? How does it work?

An interactive design engine that acts as a “Canva for Game UI.” It allows designers to drag-and-drop modular HUD elements and automatically checks them against accessibility rules while providing a library of haptic and audio logic.

Who is the target audience/customer?

The target audience is the visually impaired gaming community who needs better tools to play. The paying customer is the UX/UI Designer and Game Studio looking to streamline their workflow and meet professional standards.

What is going to happen? (Change & Impact)

We will move from a “one-size-fits-all” UI to a Modular Era where games are playable by everyone from day one. This shift reduces “design guesswork” for studios and replaces frustration with independence and mastery for players.

Bonus: How can this make money?

The platform will operate on a Freemium SaaS model, offering a free basic toolkit for students and indies, while charging Enterprise Subscription fees to large studios for advanced simulation tools and custom haptic libraries.

by juliašŸØrazumovskaia -

5# Product & Business Idea ā€“ Design & Research II (Katerina)

āœļø What problem are you solving?

Most navigation systems are designed solely for speed and efficiency. They guide people from point A to point B as quickly as possible, but ignore their mood, context, and the quality of the journey. This creates a sense of passivity, stress, and detachment from the city itself, especially when it comes to large cities or complex journeys.

āœļø Why should we care about it?

Because the way we move around cities affects our attention, stress levels, and attitude toward urban spaces. When navigation focuses solely on speed, people miss out on the cityā€™s opportunities and the chance to explore it. In large cities, this often means we stick to our usual routines and never get to know the city beyond what is strictly necessary.

āœļø What is the solution you are offering? How does it work?

The solution is an adaptive map navigation system that suggests routes based not only on the destination but also on the userā€™s mood, time of day, and preferencesā€”in other words, on the right kind of onboarding. Instead of always suggesting the fastest route, it can offer alternatives such as peaceful, curious, social, or exploratory pathsā€”for example, through parks, cafes, quiet streets, or unfamiliar neighborhoods. Safety and lighting can also be taken into account.

āœļø Who is the target audience? Who is the customer?

The target audience includes city residents, travelers, immigrants!, researchers, and people seeking more meaningful ways to navigate urban spaces. This is particularly relevant for users who are tired of navigation focused solely on efficiency (such as myself). Clients may include individual users as well as city tourism organizations, municipalities, or mobility-related services interested in promoting a more measured and people-centered urban experience.

āœļø What is going to happen? (Change & Impact)

My product prioritizes mindful navigation over mere ease of use. Instead of simply speeding up movement, users get more information, more choices, and a deeper connection to the city. This can reduce stress, encourage exploration, and help people discover new neighborhoods, rhythms, and everyday experiences in places they already knowā€”or think they know.

Thanks! šŸ™

by juliašŸØrazumovskaia -

4# Customer Profile & Value Proposition Map ā€“ Design & Research II (Katerina)

šŸ’¼ Persona I – Busy Commuter

This is a time-conscious person who needs to move efficiently between locations, often under stressful conditions. They rely on navigation to save time, but in doing so experience stress, overload, and reduced alertness. They need routes that remain efficient, reduce mental strain, and allow for brief moments of calm.

šŸ—ŗļø Persona II – Curious Explorer

A user who explores the city with an open mind and curiosity, rather than in a hurry. They are interested in discovering new places, atmospheres, and experiences. They need a navigation system that supports exploration, suggests meaningful routes, and helps them engage more deeply with the city.

by juliašŸØrazumovskaia -

NIME Article Review – Sonic City: The Urban Environment as a Musical Interface

Iā€™d been looking for a topic that interested me for a whileā€”and the title itself caught my eye because I was searching by keywords. Of course, Iā€™m not usually interested in much of the technical information related to ā€œmusic.ā€ But this really caught my attention.

Sonic City is a powerful and innovative project precisely because it presents the city not as some kind of ā€œbackdropā€ for interaction, but as the interface itself. This certainly resonates with me as someone with a background in architecture. There, we always thought of the city in terms of movement, rhythm, route, atmosphere, andā€”not leastā€”the physical perception of space. In Sonic City, all these qualities are not just characteristics of the environment, but also part of the interaction. The authors of the article literally propose ā€œplaying the city,ā€ transforming everyday movement into a form of musical and spatial experience. This idea is explicitly stated in the projectā€™s main text: the city is viewed as an interface, and mobility as an interaction model.

From an interaction design perspective, I find it particularly significant that the project moves away from the conventional screen-based UX. There is no traditional screen, buttons, or graphical interface here. Instead, everything is built around body movements and environmental dataā€”rotations, movement, light, even pollution levels and the presence of metalā€”as well as pauses and combinations of context and behavior. The authors describe a two-level mapping system, where some parameters influence short musical events and timbre, while others affect the more structural composition of the sound. This makes the interaction less abstract and more situational; the music arises precisely from the connection between a person and a specific place and moment.

The first text “In Duet with Everyday Urban Settings: A User Study of Sonic Cityā€œ [1] struck me as a stronger conceptual and design-oriented exploration of the questions ā€Why can the city be an interface?ā€œ or ā€How does this project differ from a musical performance?”. It was also very interesting to see how they included not only engineers and designers in their team, but also architects and sociologists. The project isnā€™t just about technology; itā€™s also about the body, the city, behavior, everyday life, and its aesthetics.

The second text “Sonic City: The Urban Environment as a Musical Interface” [2] is a bit more important to me, since it tests whether the idea works in real-world user experiences. The study was smaller and more qualitative than quantitative. It included people of different ages and lifestyles, and, by the way, none of them considered themselves musicians. This is an important point, since the project was tested on ordinary people. The authors, by the way, asked the right UX question: ā€œDo people perceive Sonic City as a research tool or as a musical one?ā€

Overall, I consider Sonic City a very important example of how to think at the intersection of architecture, urban experience, and interaction design. For me, the projectā€™s value lies precisely in the fact that it translates spatial perception into an interactive experience, and interactivity back into urban and bodily reality. The papers showcase not just interesting technology, but a different way of thinking about UX: not merely as interaction with a screen, but as interaction with space, the body, the route, and the atmosphere of the city. And that is precisely why this project still seems relevant to me today.

Sources šŸ›ˆ

[1] In Duet with Everyday Urban Settings: A User Study of Sonic City. Proceedings of the 2004 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME 2004). Authors: Lalya Gaye, Lars Erik Holmquist. Available at: https://www.nime.org/proceedings/2004/nime2004_161.pdf

[2] Sonic City: The Urban Environment as a Musical Interface. Proceedings of the 2003 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME 2003). Authors: Lars Erik Holmquist, Lalya Gaye. Available at: https://www.nime.org/proceedings/2003/nime2003_109.pdf

by juliašŸØrazumovskaia -

3# Inclusion & Accessibility ā€“ Design & Research II (Katerina)

These factors highlight that access to slow navigation is not the same for everyone. The experience depends on physical abilities, emotional awareness, and cognitive skillsā€”such as the ability to walk, recognize oneā€™s mood, and make decisions about the route. It also requires a certain level of spatial awareness, which is not always equally developed or maintained.

At the same time, accessibility is shaped by external conditions: pedestrian infrastructure, GPS accuracy, access to mobile devices, safety, and cultural habits of movement. This shows that slow navigation is not just a matter of design, but a systemic issue influenced by the environment, technology, and the social context in which the user finds themselves.