by genovefa.zourkou -

2.4. First Test with Bare Conductive’s Touch Board

In this post, I’m documenting my first hands-on test with the Touch Board by Bare Conductive. After choosing it for its built-in capacitive touch sensors and MP3 playback, I wanted to validate whether this microcontroller could support the kind of screen-free, tactile storytelling I’m imagining, where visitors trigger audio simply by touching a point on a surface.

The Touch Board is basically an Arduino-compatible microcontroller designed for sound-based interactions.

It comes with:

  • 12 capacitive touch electrodes (E0-E11)
  • Built-in microSD card slot for MP3s
  • Audio jack and speaker terminal
  • Micro-USB for power and programming

What I Used

  • 1x Touch Board
  • 1x microSD card
  • 1x microSD card reader
  • 1x Speaker
  • 1x USB cable (for power and code upload)
  • 1x LED (for basic feedback)
  • 1x 220 Ohm resistor
  • 1x Breadboard
  • 3x Jumping Wires
  • Bare Conductive’s “Touch MP3 with LEDs” example code

Basic Wiring

The Touch Board’s default “Touch MP3” code links each of the 12 electrodes (E0-E11) to a corresponding MP3 file on the microSD card. When you touch an electrode, it plays the matching audio clip.

To make the interaction more multisensory and responsive, I added a simple LED feedback: when a sound plays, the LED lights up.

Here’s how I wired it:

  • Connected Touch Board’s GND to the breadboard’s ground rail using a jumper wire.
  • Placed a red LED on the breadboard.
  • Connected the long leg (anode) of the LED to a 220Ω resistor.
  • Connected the short leg (cathode)  to the breadboard’s ground rail using a jumper wire.
  • Connected the other end of the resistor to one of the Touch Board’s pins using a jumper wire.

For more detailed instructions, check out this helpful tutorial: https://www.instructables.com/Touch-Board-and-LEDs/

First Test

Touching one of the electrodes triggered a short sound from the speaker. At the same time, the LED lit up, confirming that the interaction was happening.

Here’s a short video testing this simple interaction.

Observations

  • Responsiveness: Very fast, almost too sensitive. Occasionally triggered by nearby touches or objects.
  • Satisfaction: The sound + light combo made the interaction feel clear and complete.
  • Compactness: Everything fit neatly on one board. No need for additional modules at this stage.

Next Steps

For wrapping up this lo-fi prototype, I will:

  • Add more electrodes and connect multiple LEDs
  • Try using conductive ink or custom-designed graphics as touchpoints
  • Test a portable setup powered by a USB power bank
  • Design audio content that reflects unusual or hidden stories from Graz

Reflections

This first test confirmed that the Touch Board is a great fit for early-stage, lo-fi prototyping. It’s easy to set up, intuitive to work with, and lets me focus on designing interactions, not just solving hardware problems. More importantly, it opened up space for experimenting with storytelling, mapping emotion, sound, and place onto physical interaction. I’m excited to continue developing this idea and exploring how each touchpoint might reveal a different layer of the city.

by Vigdis Teigen -

WebExpo Conference

I chose to take notes from the two talks: “Creating an effective & beautiful data visualisation from scratch” with Nadieh Bremer, and “Survival kit for advertising jungle” with Kateřina Huňová & Vladimír Zikmund.

Creating an effective & beautiful data visualisation from scratch

Speaker: Nadieh Bremer

Information about the talk from the web expo page: During this talk, Nadieh will show you how to create a unique, effective, and (dare we say it) beautiful chart using d3.js, a leading tool for creating interactive data visualisations online. Without any slides and starting from an empty white browser window, she’ll take you through all the nuts and bolts that go into coding and creating a chart with d3, showing you how, with just a little bit of out-of-the-box thinking, you can use SVG in the weirdest ways to get what you had envisioned.

Nadieh Bremer is a data visualisation designer with a background in astronomy and data science. In her talk, she showed us from scratch how to program a datavisualisation set in an artsy way.

My notes from the talk:

  • She chose live coding to show how easy it is to do it your self
  • Making art from Data
  • visualising important data to get it more out to people
  • important to compare data to average data to show what is important
    • the spikes in the data are the interesting factors
  • Using D3 page for code paches in her code
    • using svg
  • She uses colours to show differences in the data
    • what is below and under average
    • makes it a gradient to make it interesting and pretty
  • She uses labels for context, or else the visualisation does not make sense
  • how she chose to show the data: dots
  • d3 annotations

In the end of her talk, she presented her finalised data-visualisation. It was impressive to watch her make it so easily, and I now feel like I could actually so something similar myself. I think it is easy to be scared of trying to code something – since the programming universe seems so advanced. That is why I liked Nadieh´s approach so much, especially how chill she presented it as well.

Survival kit for advertising jungle


Speakers: Kateřina Huňová & Vladimír Zikmund

information about the talk from web expo site: Kateřina and Vladimír will share 10 practical tips on how to survive in the advertising jungle. With the growing complexity of marketing, it’s getting harder to navigate from brief to campaign goal and the risk of getting lost during the process is ever-growing. As they have lived in this jungle for the last 10 years, they have created the survival kit to help you reach your goals and get as effective and creative as possible.

Kateřina is an Executive Creative Director at the advertising agency Zaraguza, and Vladimír is the Creative Director at the agency Zaraguza.

Notes from the talk:

  • It is easy to end up trying to do everything, ends up doing nothing
  • Klarna: very absurd memorable ad – but 1 simple message (fish sliding down a childrens slide)
    • good marketing
  • The Ordinary: we only care about science not influencers – also clever ad

Here are Katerina´s and Vladimir´s takes about what to think about when doing commercials:

  • integration: in one campaign you have concistency in every ad even though its different mediums
    • about one campaign
  • consistency is about long term
    • business ethics
    • consistent brands have +20% more
  • Snickers “you are not you when you are hungry”
    • concistent for many years
  • fluent device ads -> use a maskot
    • using a good guy
      • gives humor, something cute
    • or a dickhead (panda commercial)
  • duolingo maskot worked so well
    • turned into memes
    • got integrated into everything
  • “Climb the tree for better perspective”
  • get attention!
    • jeep – painted p-space in stupid places
    • birdhouses that sang incredible music pieces as ad for classical music shows
  • How to hande the trend moments – short term wave
    • brat summer is an example
    • following trends does very little for your brand, exept for engagement
    • if you do it, do it cheap, quick and funny
  • Cooperate with indiginous people (people with status?)
    • like Jeremy Allan White in Calvin Klein
      • then a random, not so pretty guy
    • does not work if you have no story or trustworthyness
      • kendall jenner with pepsi
  • Obstacles cant stop you
    • thats where you find creativity
    • knowing your brand
    • Its when you meet obstacles you learn
  • Remember to celebrate at the end!

This talk was interesting, first of all since I have never done anything like this. There were a lot of good tips, some of which I may be able to take with me – but i do think this commercial domain is not something I am particularily interested in, or something in which I would like to work in. Still, I will from now on have an extra eye for good commercials, and those worth judging.

by jakob.schnurrer -

15 Creating a Web Interface for Arduino

Like I have teased in the last blog post, I came across a YouTube video, that showed, how to create a web interface for an Arduino. This has a number of use cases, live sensor monitoring, remote control, live system feedback or interactive installations. This makes it possible to control how the user can interact with an Arduino, using a platform, that they already know.

When the Arduino connects to a WiFi network, it gets an IP address and starts a tiny web server that can talk to web browsers. When you open that IP address in your browser, the browser sends a request to the Arduino. The Arduino responds with a simple web page, in my case a form in which you can write morse code. If you type something and click “Submit,” the browser sends the text back to the Arduino. The Arduino reads and understands the send information and can react accordingly. This way, the Arduino works like a tiny website, letting you interact with it through any browser.

I once again started with an example, I found in the WiFiS3 library of Arduino, “SimpleWebServerWiFi”. This code generated a very simple website with which you could turn on and off an LED on the Arduino. Using this as my starting point, I first wanted to expand the web interface, which took a little longer than it would usually take to build, since I had to upload the code multiple times and change it so it finally looked “good enough” for this prototype. But doing the interface it self was just the easy part.

Before
After

Next I wanted to give my simple interface some functionality, there for the form I created on the Arduino needed to send the data input by the user back to the Arduino, so it could understand and for now translate it. And I have to be honest, I really tried to understand the code but just couldn’t figure out, how it worked, so I asked ChatGPT to help me out. Using its infinite wisdom it created a short piece of code, that converted the users input into a string, that could be understood by the code, I had written before.

The next step was easy, I added the code for decoding the message, I created last week and explained in the last blog post. Now I just needed the Arduino to display the message, after it received one, which was easy enough by just adding an “if” statement, that would only add extra content to the website, if a message had been received before. And like that, I finished the next version of my chaotic morse code prototype.

Now that I’ve built this basic version, I’ve been thinking about how this kind of setup could be used in different contexts. For example, it could be adapted for interactive museum exhibits, where visitors can type a message into a browser on their phone and trigger lights, sounds, or physical movements in an installation. It could also be used for DIY home automation, like controlling lights. Or it might become a learning tool for kids, where they can experiment with inputs and immediately see results, helping them understand communication systems like Morse code in a playful, hands-on way.

Instructions

If you wanted to try it out yourself, here was what you needed:

  • An Arduino
  • a Laptop or any other device that can use a Browser ;D

This time it is even simpler, plugin the Arduino, change the SSID & Password to fit your home WiFi network and upload the sketch. In the Serial Monitor you will then see the Arduinos IP address, now open a browser and type in the shown IP address. Now you should see the simple interface I created, the only thing to do now is to write some morse code and let the Arduino decode it.

MorseWebServer.inoDownload
by dorota.bicarova -

Blog Post 6: Designing wireframes for the prototype and Video of the prototype

This post focuses on the wireframing process for the Device App prototype, developed as part of my ongoing research into the role of Digital Memories in technology and interaction design. The goal of the wireframes was to translate research insights and conceptual direction into tangible, testable user flows. These wireframes represent the core flows of the prototype.

Starting With Sketches

I began the design process with rough sketches on paper to explore layout ideas quickly and think through user flows without constraints. This sketching phase allowed me to focus purely on functionality, flow logic, and visual hierarchy without getting distracted by UI details.

In the sketches, I explored the two key flows of the app:

  1. Adding Photos from a Connected Device
    • Users can connect a device via cable.
    • Choose to create a new folder or add to an existing one.
    • Photos are selected, reviewed, and saved into the desired folder.

  1. Viewing Photos as a Slideshow
    • Users can open any folder and launch a fullscreen slideshow.
    • A horizontal strip allows navigation between photos while viewing.

This paper-first approach helped me solidify the app’s structure before moving to Figma for the digital wireframes.

Building the Wireframes

Once the core flow was mapped out, I built detailed wireframes in Figma. The two main flows in the prototype are:

1. Add Photos Flow

Users connect a device, choose a folder (or create one), select photos, and upload them. The wireframes guide them step-by-step through this process with clear UI feedback like folder creation confirmation and selection indicators.

2. Slideshow Viewing Flow

Folders can be opened to view photos as a slideshow. This mode is minimal and immersive, offering a fullscreen photo experience with a navigation strip below.

Navigation and consistency were key considerations throughout. I maintained common buttons, tabs (like Add Photos / Saved Folders / Watch), and bottom navigation across screens to reduce friction and support intuitive exploration.

HOMESCREEN – Wireframe

ADD PHOTOS

CREATING NEW FOLDER FROM A DEVICE

Design Decisions

Some key choices I made:

  • Simplicity & Clarity: Especially important for intergenerational use.
  • Folder-Based Memory Organization: To give emotional context to digital memories.
  • Clear Action Paths: With visual hierarchy and button grouping to support user confidence.

FINAL LOW FIDELITY PROTOTYPE VIDEO

I was also describing the prototype so I reccomend to play the video in faster speed 1.5x. Thanks 🙂

by felix.prinz -

Blog Post 6: Sketching an Inclusive EV Charger

Over the past week I dove into sketching my very first EV charging station interface, on paper, low-fi style. My goal? A clean, intuitive flow that anyone, whether standing or in a wheelchair, can use without a hitch.

1. First Sketches: Facing the Screen

I started by thinking about how the display sits in real life. Based on some research I’d gathered (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169814197000875), I initially tilted the screen at about 45° for comfortable reach and visibility. Drawing a single-column station with that slanted display felt natural…until I grabbed a ruler and realized wheelchair users would struggle to see or reach it. Back to the sketchbook.

2. Measuring for Everyone

Next, I looked up anthropometric data: average standing height (around 1.63 m for women) and wheelchair eye level (about 1.30 m). That research told me the top of the screen should sit at roughly 1.60 m, with the row of buttons falling around 1.20 m. Everyone’s arm and line-of-sight reach now fall squarely within easy range.

3. Second Sketches: Flat & Accessible

Armed with those new dimensions, I redrew the station. This time the screen is perfectly vertical, no tilt, so a seated user can see the full interface. On each side: charging cables loop neatly above the column. From past frustration I know that having the cable hang above the car inlet gives you full freedom of movement, if it came from below, you’d scrape against bumpers or crouch awkwardly. The cable’s plug snaps in and out with minimal force and a clear click, avoiding any wrestling match.

4. Interaction Storyboard

  1. Welcome Screen (140 cm high): A crisp display text and 4 sturdy physical buttons. Underneath, the payment pad glows green when it’s your turn to tap.
  2. Scan Step: Three payment methods—bank card tap, RFID charge card, or QR code scan. A left-arrow “Back” button stays red until you choose.
  3. Plug Step: You pull the cable from its cradle, align it to your car’s port, and push in. A simple animated diagram on screen guides you.
  4. Confirmation Lights: With each successful step—scan, plug, start—an LED ring pulses green. If something’s off, it flashes yellow for “check connection.”
  5. Charging Dashboard: Once juice is flowing, you see real-time kWh delivered, state-of-charge %, and an estimated “Time Remaining.” A big “End Session” button waits for you.


5. Beyond the Screen: Real-World Accessibility

A few extra thoughts, courtesy of accessibility best practices:

  • Pathway Design: The route from parking spot to station needs a gentle ramp or smooth, level surface (no hidden curbs)
  • Color & Contrast: Color-blind or low-vision users need high-contrast icons and optional haptic or audio cues. Long-press “Touch to Speech” could read aloud on-screen labels.
  • Height Considerations: Remember: 130 cm eye height for wheelchair users vs. 163 cm average standing height. Buttons and screens must accommodate both.
  • Future-Proofing: As self-driving cars roll in, drivers that are visually impaired should also be able to interact with the Charging Station

What’s next? I will turn my sketches from the last post into more mid-to-heigh-fidelity wireframes, then run two rounds of user tests. I’ll watch them scan, tap, and plug in. Their real-time reactions will guide the next iteration: adjusting button sizes, tweaking the cable loop, or even adding voice prompts.

Every scribble, every measurement, and every user test brings me closer to a charging experience that’s not just functional, but truly inclusive, so that plugging in your EV feels as natural as unlocking your phone. Stay tuned for my prototype reveal in the video and my reflection and learnings of this project.

by tobias.schittenkopf -

Can Vibecoding Bring Web Art Back?

Years ago, websites were creative, strange, and full of personality. People built them with love, using simple tools and wild ideas. But over time, the internet became more professional. Web design followed rules, templates, and business goals. Today, many websites look clean — but also the same.

Now, some developers and artists are talking about vibecoding as a way to bring that creativity back.

But what is vibecoding, and is it really a good thing?

What Is Vibecoding?

Vibecoding means creating based on feeling — not rules, not performance goals, not best practices. You go with your instinct and design something that just feels right. It’s fast, personal, emotional, and often a bit messy.

Some people see this as the return of digital creativity. Others see it as the start of bad habits.

Let’s take a look at both sides.

The Pros: Vibecoding and the Return of Web Art

1. It brings freedom

You don’t have to follow every rule or design system. You can experiment and build something that’s totally your own. That opens the door for more creative, original websites.

2. It helps you build faster

Without spending hours on perfect structure or documentation, you can get your ideas online quickly — like sketching with code.

3. It supports digital art

Not every website needs to be practical or profitable. Some can simply express a feeling or mood. Vibecoding encourages this kind of artistic web expression.

4. It feels more human

When you stop worrying about pixel-perfection or clean CSS, your work might feel more personal. Imperfection can be charming.

The Cons: Where Vibecoding Can Go Wrong

1. Performance problems

Vibecoded websites can be slow, unoptimized, or hard to use on mobile. That creates a bad experience for users — especially those with poor internet or old devices.

2. Poor accessibility

Without thinking about screen readers, color contrast, or keyboard use, your site might not work for people with disabilities.

3. Hard to maintain

When you build something quickly, the code might be difficult to read or fix later. What feels fun today might turn into a headache tomorrow.

4. Encourages bad habits

Some developers use vibecoding as an excuse to skip learning good practices. That can lead to careless or even broken websites — especially if they grow in size or audience.

So… Is Vibecoding the Future or a Step Back?

Vibecoding is not perfect — but it’s also not useless. It can be a powerful tool when used in the right context:

  • Great for: personal websites, creative portfolios, digital art, quick ideas
  • Risky for: business websites, public apps, team projects, anything that grows

Maybe the best approach is a balance. Let vibecoding guide the emotion and mood, but also care about the structure, performance, and accessibility. You can be both an artist and a professional.

Final Thought

The web doesn’t have to be boring or broken. Vibecoding reminds us that it’s okay to feel, play, and create — not just optimize. But true creative power comes when we blend freedom with responsibility.

by Selina Allerstorfer -

#2.03 Theoretical Frameworks

In this blogpost I want to explore the ideas, theories and frameworks which shape the concept behind my prototype. I am diving into psychology behind focused work, the design of calm interfaces, and how we might nudge behavior without enforcing strict rules.

The Flow State – The foundation of deep creative work

One of the central concepts driving this project is Flow, a term coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who describes it as “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter” [1] It’s the sweet spot where challenge meets skill, and our attention becomes fully aligned with the task at hand.

Csikszentmihalyi outlines eight components that typically make up these experiences:

  1. The task is something we believe we can complete
  2. We can fully concentrate on the task
  3. The task has a clear goal
  4. It provides immediate feedback
  5. There is a deep, but effortless involvement that blocks everyday worries and frustrations
  6. We feel in control of our actions
  7. Self-consciousness disappears, but paradoxically we feel more ourselves afterward
  8. Our sense of time shifts: hours feel like minutes and the other way round [2]

The interplay of these elements creates a type of enjoyment so fulfilling that people are willing to invest significant effort just to experience it. [2] However, the modern digital environment, especially smartphones, disrupt the conditions needed for flow. Every notification, every swipe, every quick scroll breaks our attention and concentration and makes it harder to return to a state of deep immersion. In his book, Csikszentmihalyi writes: “[…] attention is our most important tool in the task of improving the quality of experience.” [3]

This project is about protecting that attention, not by eliminating distractions entirely (which isn’t realistic), but about creating the right conditions for focus and flow to happen more easily.

Calm Technology – Supporting, Not Distracting

Another concept that influences the project is Calm Technology, which was introduced by Mark Weiser and John Seely Brown (1995) in their paper “Designing Calm Technology”.

It is a design philosophy focused on integrating technology more seamlessly into daily life by using peripheral awareness rather than demanding our full attention all the time.

Today, most digital tools overwhelm us by constantly competing for our focus and attention, creating a sense of stress and distraction. Calm Technology on the other hand is about designing for both our center and periphery of attention, allowing us to shift our focus naturally when needed.

The periphery are things we are aware of without actively focusing on them. For example, when driving, we might not actively think about the engine sound, but we notice if it suddenly changes. Calm technology uses this same principle: subtle, non-intrusive cues that live in the background and only surface when needed. This allows us to stay aware without feeling overwhelmed.

Eventually, they argue that designing for calmness is essential in a world of constant digital noise and distraction. It’s not about removing information but about designing it to fit better with how people naturally divide their attention. [4]

Persuasive Design – Nudging, Not Controlling

My approach is informed by persuasive design, which incorporates principles from psychology, like motivations and cognitive biases, and turns them into practical strategies for designing products.

“Persuasive design can help:

  • Users in decision making
  • Designers communicate more clearly
  • Nudge users in the right direction
  • Help users to develop skills
  • Drive users end or begin new habits” [5]

A key framework here is BJ Fogg’s Behavior Model (FBM) that helps designers and researchers understand how to change human behavior through technology. He sees three factors that need to be there at the same time for the behavior to happen:

Motivation + Ability + Triggers = Behavior

Fogg points out that the goal of persuasive design is not to manipulate or shame users into behaving a certain way. Instead, it’s about gently guiding behavior, ideally in line with what the user already wants to do, like staying focused or being more intentional with their time. [6]

Literature

[1] Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Harpercollins, 1990), 4.

[2] Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Harpercollins, 1990), 49.

[3] Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Harpercollins, 1990), 33.

[4] Mark Weiser, John Seely Brown und Xerox PARC, „Designing Calm technology“, 21. Dezember 1995, https://people.csail.mit.edu/rudolph/Teaching/weiser.pdf.

[5] Eddie Kim, “Persuasive Design: Nudging Users in the Right Direction,” Medium, December 6, 2021, https://uxdesign.cc/persuasive-design-nudging-users-in-the-right-direction-5af4a6f8c06f.

[6] B. J. Fogg, “A Behavior Model for Persuasive Design,” in Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Persuasive Technology, (April 2009): 1–7.

by florian.thausing -

A Room with Nothing: My Boring Prototype

As you can read from my previous blogposts, I have been super into finding out and researching how boredom impacts creativity. There are plenty of studies suggesting that the mind, when left unstimulated, starts to wander, associate, and imagine which in turn spurs creative thinking. Naturally I wanted to test it myself.

Designing the Prototype: A minimalistic Approach

My setup was intentionally simple:

  • A section in a quiet neutral room
  • A lined block of paper and a pen
  • Windows to look out of
  • A 15 minute timer

I held this test with a single participant who was instructed to remain in the room for 15 minutes with no access to digital devices or other forms of stimulation. Though instructed to try not to plan out all the things they needed to do, there were no explicit tasks. Just to “be with yourself or the materials in front of you”. They could draw, write, look out of the window, or nothing at all. The idea was to simulate a situation of controlled boredom. Low stimulation, low task demand, but enough autonomy to allow for spontaneous engagement.

This prototype was based on boredom induction methods used in studies like those by Mann and Cadman (2014), who asked participants to complete monotonous tasks before measuring their creativity through established assessments like the Alternative Uses Task.

The Method

The prototype consisted of two sessions held three days apart.

Session 1: Intentional Boredom
The participant was placed alone in a quiet, naturally lit room. No phone. No music. They were given no tasks except to be alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes.
Immediately afterwards they were given an Alternative Uses Task, a common test of divergent thinking that asks participants to name as many unconventional uses as possible for a common object. In this session the object was a brick.

Session 2: Digital Stimulation
Three days later the same participant was asked to play Block Blast, a mobile puzzle game, for 5 minutes. Right after this short period of digital stimulation, they again completed an Alternative Uses Task. This time the object was a plank of wood.

Each set of answers was then evaluated with the help of ChatGPT, which provided a standardized scoring of each AUT across four dimensions:

  • Fluency (number of ideas)
  • Flexibility (range of categories)
  • Originality (unusualness)
  • Elaboration (level of detail)

Results after 15 minutes of boredom

When asked to list alternative use cases for a brick the following responses were recorded:

  • Wall
  • Pavement
  • Stairs
  • Many different kinds of walls
  • Towering walls, scary and cartoony ones
  • Walls in a house, in an industrial one but also in an aesthetic farm house
  • Brick Bricks Bricks the song from Phineas and Ferb
  • A super red cartoon brick
  • You can hit someone
  • Break through a window with a note on it
  • Lay patterns
  • I wanna build my house with bricks partly
  • The saying “to be stupid as a brick”
  • I feel like a brick

Fluency (good overall)
14 answers in total. Even though some ideas revolve around similar themes (e.g. walls) we treat them as separate if they introduce different contexts, emotional tones, or conceptual shifts.

Flexibility (moderate)
The answers can be sorted into 4 distinct categories:

  • Structural Uses (Walls, Pavement, Lay patterns, Building a House)
  • Aesthetic/Cartoon Imagery (Towering/cartoonish walls, super red brick, phineas and ferb reference)
  • Violence/Action (Hitting someone, breaking a window)
  • Linguistic Metaphorical (I feel like a brick, “stupid as a brick”)

Originality (high)
ChatGPT marks 5-7 medium-highly original responses:

  • Towering cartoon wall (Adds mood and genre which is unusual)
  • Walls in house/factory/farmhouse (Nuanced thinking across domains)
  • “Bricks bricks bricks” song (Cultural reference and playful)
  • Super red cartoon brick (Specific and stylized)
  • Breaking a window with a note attached (Narratively imaginative)
  • “Stupid as a brick” (Linguistic/metaphorical use – clever)
  • “I feel like a brick” (Reflective and metaphorical – unusual)

Elaboration (good)
Several responses go beyond one-word answers and include:

  • Emotional tone (towering walls = scary and cartoony)
  • Specific stylistic categories (“aesthetic farmhouse”, “cartoony”, “super-red”)
  • Personal reflection (“I feel like a brick”)

Results after 5 Minutes of Block Blast

Alternative Use Cases for a Plank of Wood as stated by the participant:

  • A jumping thing
  • Pirates when they send people to jump
  • Hit someone
  • Cut it and make thin planks
  • Make a wall
  • Put hot water to make it flat again when it’s bent
  • Scratch yourself
  • Put a nail in it
  • Drill holes and put shot glasses in there
  • Hang pictures on it
  • Put it on my table

Fluency (solid)
11 answers in total.

Flexibility (good)
6 distinct categories could be noticed:

  • Play/Physical Interaction (Jumping thing, Pirates plank)
  • Violence/Defense (Hit someone)
  • Construction/Modification (Make thin planks, Make a wall, Put a nail in it, Drill holes)
  • Restoration/Repair (Flatten it with hot water)
  • Body related Use (Scratch yourself)
  • Home Decoration (Hang a picture, Use as part of table, shot glass tray)

Originality (average)
ChatGPT marked 3 medium-highly original replies:

  • Pirate plank (Fun, narrative-based, less common)
  • Flatten bent plank w/ hot water (Repair idea – unusual and clever)
  • Shot glass tray (Very original, social and visual)

Elaboration
Several responses include implied or explicit detail:

  • Pirate Plank (evokes a full narrative scene)
  • Flattening a bent wood (shows process awareness)
  • Shot glass tray (strong visual and functional specificity)
  • Table extension & picture hanger (clear spatial ideas)

Conclusion

Comparing the two Alternative Uses Tests reveals a clear shift in the participants creative output depending on their activity before. After 15 minutes of quiet stillness their responses were more associative, playful, and metaphorical, hinting at a more open, explorative state of mind. After just 5 minutes of playing Block Blast, the ideas were quicker, more functional and anchored in conventional uses.

This contrast supports the claim that creativity is positively stimulated by spaciousness, not stimulation. Boredom, when given structure and permission, acts like a mental rest. It opens doors to thoughts we don’t usually have time to notice. Designing for creativity might mean not giving people more to do but more space to let the mind breathe. More silence. More pause.

QnA

After the first session, which was preceded by 15 minutes of rest, I asked the participant several questions to understand their mental state during the rest. The answers and reflections were strikingly calm and therapeutic.

  • How easy or difficult did it feel to come up with ideas
    “Pretty easy. The thing is I kind of wanted to do the task right, so if I was hesitating it was because of that. But it felt quite easy.”
  • Did your thoughts wander to a specific topic?
    “I was thinking about the future… imagining a farm and imagining life whether I have a corporate job or not. And then I had to push away thoughts of what I need to do right now. But that was kind of easy.”
  • Do you feel more or less creative now than before?
    “Difficult to say about creativeness. But I do feel more relaxed. Less stressed. I’m eager to begin one of my tasks.”
  • Any surprising or enlightening thoughts?
    “Not really… but I got a sense of calmness. I’ve been stressing a lot about leaving. I got a moment to exhale.”
  • Did you fell bored?
    “I tried to think if I was bored. But I felt comfortable. Maybe I wasn’t bored. I was very content.”
by leila.orynbayeva -

15. Setting up the chatbot: Final tweaks

After trying several tools and platforms for building a WhatsApp-based booking assistant, I decided to go with n8n, a powerful automation platform that gave me more flexibility and control over the workflow.

I started by uploading a simple website template from Framer.com, which allowed me to embed the chatbot directly into a webpage. This gave me a smooth front-end experience where I can test the interaction with the assistant as if it were part of a real business website.

Then, I configured ChatGPT within n8n to act like a helpful assistant. I trained it to ask and collect key pieces of information needed for scheduling an appointment:

  • Preferred date and time
  • Full name
  • Email address
  • Final confirmation

For now, the assistant is connected to my personal Google Calendar, which I’ve labeled with a mock clinic name. Eventually, I plan to replace it with a real calendar once I find a doctor or clinic to partner with.

One important technical note: this chatbot setup also works perfectly with Google Calendar, so appointments are created automatically without the need for manual input.

At this stage, everything is functioning smoothly. The next step is finding professionals who could benefit from this tool.

Initially, I was planning to pitch the idea to doctors, but I’ve realized the potential goes far beyond the healthcare field. This kind of chatbot could be incredibly useful for any entrepreneur or small business owner who books appointments manually, like:

  • Lawyers
  • Therapists
  • Beauty salons
  • Coaches
  • Freelancers
  • Small companies offering services

To test the waters, I recently showed the prototype to a beauty practitioner, and she’s already interested in buying it. She told me she spends a lot of time answering basic questions from clients, things like availability and pricing, which the chatbot could easily handle. She loved the idea of freeing up that time to focus on her actual work.

I’m excited about this pivot. Over the summer, I plan to stick with this idea, improve the product, and start selling it to service providers who need smarter scheduling tools.

Let’s see where this journey leads next.

by genovefa.zourkou -

2.3. Exploring Technology for My Lo-Fi Phygital Prototype

In my previous post, I explored phygital experiences that connect visitors to cultural content through tactile and digital storytelling. Now, I’m moving into the prototyping phase, and to bring these kinds of interactions to life, I’m turning to microcontrollers.

At the same time, I’ve been thinking more about the story I want my prototype to tell. Since my focus is on history and cultural heritage, and because I’m still fairly new to Graz, I saw this project as a unique opportunity to explore the city through this design challenge. My initial idea was to highlight the city’s well-known landmarks, but that felt too predictable. Instead, I want to uncover the hidden, quirky, and lesser-known places that give Graz its unique character. My goal is to create a lo-fi prototype that invites people to touch and listen, triggering short sounds or spoken fragments linked to unusual locations and landmarks in Graz.

Why Microcontrollers?

Microcontrollers offer a way to bridge physical input (like touch or proximity) with digital output (like sound, light, or video). They’re lightweight, flexible, and ideal for low-fidelity prototypes, the kind that let me quickly explore how interaction feels without fully building the final experience.

For a museum-like experience or an interactive city artifact, microcontrollers allow subtle, intuitive interactions, like triggering a sound when you place your hand on a surface, or activating a voice from an object when you stand near it. They’re perfect for phygital storytelling rooted in emotion, mystery, and place.

What My Prototype Needs to Do

To support this narrative direction, I want to create an experience that allows people to uncover hidden details about Graz through sound. Each interaction will trigger a short audio response that reveals something unexpected or overlooked.

Technically, it needs to:

  • Input: Detect touch or proximity
  • Output: Play short audio clips
  • Interaction: Simple, screen-free feedback
  • Portability: USB- or battery-powered
  • Expandability: Easy to add more spots and sounds

Why Sound?

For this project, sound will serve as the main storytelling layer. 

Each interaction might trigger:

  • A whispered story or urban myth
  • A short audio poem or phrase
  • Field recordings from that specific location
  • A strange or surreal audio cue (like an echo, animal noise, or machine hum)

Unlike visuals or text, sound allows for immediacy and interpretation. People don’t just hear, they imagine. And that makes it ideal for revealing the hidden soul of a place like Graz.

Microcontroller Options

Arduino UNO
+ Compatible with sensors and DFPlayer Mini, well supported.
– Requires extra components for audio, more setup.

Touch Board (Bare Conductive)
+ 12 built-in capacitive touch sensors, MP3 playback from microSD, perfect for touch-based sound triggers.
– Slightly bulkier and more expensive, fewer I/O pins.

Makey Makey
+ Very fast and beginner-friendly.
– Needs a computer, limited interaction types, not standalone.

Raspberry Pi
+ Great for future audio-visual expansion.
– Too complex for lo-fi prototyping, more fragile.

What’s Next

After this research, I’ve decided to use the Touch Board for my first prototype. It’s specifically designed for sound-triggered, touch-based interactions, making it ideal for what I want to create: a playful and poetic interface that reveals hidden stories through sound. Its built-in MP3 playback and capacitive touch support mean I can keep my setup compact and focus on designing the experience, not just wiring the tech.

My first test setup will include:

  • Input: Touch sensor (built into the board)
  • Output: MP3 sound through speaker/headphones
  • Feedback: A single LED to show when a sound is playing
  • Goal: When someone touches a marked location on the map, a sound plays, revealing part of Graz that’s normally overlooked.

This early version will help me test the feeling of the interaction before I scale up to a full map or multi-point layout.