We explored designing technology to support everyday mindfulness activities for people with varying levels of experience. Through 9 magic machine workshops, 30 mindfulness practitioners explored and reflected on their personal experiences of everyday mindfulness, and generated designs that support their daily practice. I facilitated the workshops, conducted data analysis, as well as contributed in writing the paper.

Our findings identified six categories of designs conceptualized by our participants: everyday objects, physical spaces, wearables, metaphorical art, companions, and toys. We further analyze the practitioners’ thought processes and considerations for designs that support everyday mindfulness, such as eliciting and regulating emotion and associating mindfulness with routine daily activities. Finally, we discussed the implications of designing individualized mindfulness products and the potential of using co-design magic machine workshops to explore a practical design space.

We conducted 12 2-hour co-design workshops with 13 neurodivergent or sensory processing disorder (SPD) individuals to reimagine the dental experience to reduce dental anxiety. We explored the environment-based interventions within the dental visit experience for our participants. The study focused on finding the overarching design guideline that could support the neurodivergent / SPD individuals regarding sensory experiences. I facilitated the workshops, conducted data analysis, as well as contributed in writing the paper.

We are currently developing an AR prototype with a physical interaction device to enhance the sensory experience.

In EAGER, I worked with Professor Susan Fussell in the communication & collaborative technologies lab to explore how VR could utilize nonverbal communication in educational and collaborative workplace settings. I initiated the project by writing the VR Psychophysiology guide, which informed biosensor and VR setup protocols.