by genovefa.zourkou -

3.5 IMPULSE #5

It’s been a while since my last blog post, and in that time, my thesis has taken a much more concrete shape. At its core, my research is about social anxiety and emotional tension, and how these inner states can be expressed, explored, and softened through interaction, technology, and tangible experience.

I’m interested in how design can create environments of social comfort rather than pressure. Spaces where people don’t have to perform, explain themselves, or be “good” at interacting. Instead, they can approach their emotions through doing, touching, moving, and experimenting.

Even though the topic sounds serious, play is still at the heart of it. Not play as entertainment, but play as a method. A way to interact with uncertainty, vulnerability, and anticipation in a gentle and non-judgmental way.

That’s why I thought it was a good idea to watch the episode “Cas Holman: Design for Play” from Netflix’s Abstract: The Art of Design. Cas Holman is a play designer who creates open-ended tools and environments for children. Watching her work again felt surprisingly close to what I’m trying to do in my own practice. She doesn’t design toys with instructions, but situations and possibilities.

One sentence from the episode really stayed with me:
“We don’t design the play, we design for the circumstances of play to arise.”

This is exactly what I’m trying to do in my thesis.

My goal is not to tell people how to feel or how to behave. It’s to design the conditions in which certain interactions and emotions can appear on their own. Cas Holman does this with wood, plastic, and other physical materials. I do it with technology, interaction, and systems. Different kinds of materials, but a similar intention.

Her work creates spaces where children feel free to explore without being judged. In my case, I’m interested in creating environments where people can engage with their own tension, vulnerability, and uncertainty, especially in relation to social anxiety. I don’t want to design “solutions” to emotions. I want to design spaces where those emotions are allowed to exist and be explored.

Even though my thesis is not about children, play is still my method. For me, play means:

  • not having to be right
  • not having to perform
  • not having to explain yourself immediately

It’s a way to approach difficult feelings gently, through interaction rather than conversation.

AI was used for corrections, better wording, and enhancements.

by genovefa.zourkou -

3.3 IMPULSE #3

Growing up as a shy kid, I often wished that people, whether peers, teachers, or other adults, would just let me process things in my own way and on my own time, but that rarely happened. Because of this, I’ve become interested in exploring topics for my thesis, like anxiety and social anxiety, which feel closely connected to who I am and how I move through the world. It also makes me wonder: how might playful interactive experiences help ease feelings of anxiety or make social situations feel safer?

For this blog post, I wanted to expand on the previous impulse about inclusivity. So I listened to three episodes of the podcast Speaking of Psychology, which broadly explore the topic of anxiety.

Here are my thoughts:

Episode: “Why are some kids shy? with Dr. Koraly Pérez-Edgar”
In the episode, Koraly Pérez‑Edgar explains that shyness is a natural temperament that shows up early in life and affects how kids interact with the world. Shyness isn’t something that needs to be fixed; it’s just a different way of engaging with people and activities.

Episode: “Anxiety and Teen Girls with Dr. Lisa Damour”
In the episode, the conversation questions the way society frames anxiety: as something abnormal or in need of fixing. Dr. Damour emphasizes that anxiety is a natural part of being human, yet the growing expectations placed on girls today can turn it into something harmful. Many feel pressured to excel academically, maintain a perfect appearance, and stay kind and composed, while social media intensifies those expectations.

Episode: “How to help with math anxiety, with Dr. Molly Jameson”
In this episode, Dr. Molly Jameson talks about math anxiety, a common fear that affects how people feel and perform when doing math. It often begins with negative school experiences or strict teaching methods that make students associate math with embarrassment or failure. Over time, this fear can block people from accessing knowledge they already have, and it’s sometimes reinforced by cultural stereotypes like “boys are better at math.

My Reflection
Listening to these episodes made me think about how deeply anxiety connects to the environments we grow up and learn in. It isn’t always about the person themselves, but often about how expectations, pressure, or fear of judgment shape how we act and feel. That makes me wonder: if anxiety is such a natural part of being human, what would it mean to design for it rather than against it? Could design create spaces that accept anxiety instead of trying to remove it?

For my thesis, I’m curious about how play might offer a way to do that. What if playful experiences could make social or learning situations feel safer: less about performing and more about exploring? How could interaction design give people permission to engage at their own pace, to choose how visible they want to be, or to participate quietly without pressure? Maybe play can become a tool for inclusion, helping people connect and express themselves in ways that feel natural to them.

AI was used for corrections, better wording, and enhancements.