Designing touch as a language between humans and systems

When touch becomes the interface

Touch is one of the most intuitive forms of interaction, but most digital systems ignore it or reduce it to a simple input. This project explores how touch can become expressive, and how pressure, movement, and presence can directly shape light and create a responsive environment.

The result is a tactile installation where users don’t need instructions. They touch, and the system answers.

Why most interactions feel distant

Most interactive systems feel distant. Screens control interaction, but I wanted to understand:

  • What happens when interaction is immediate, physical, and visible?

  • How can a system translate something as subtle as pressure into something perceptible and engaging?

Touch already carries meaning. The challenge was to design more than a complex interface. I wanted to build a system that responds to humans in the simplest way.

Building something you don’t have to explain

  • I started by mapping the interaction as a system:

    • Approach → sound draws attention

    • Touch → pressure captured

    • Output → light responds

    This framed the project as a feedback loop.

  • The core challenge was translating pressure into readable data.

    I built handmade force sensors using:

    • Foam substrate

    • Graphite-coated conductive surface

    • Copper tape traces

    When pressure is applied, resistance changes and produces an analog signal.

    This approach was:

    • Low-cost

    • Highly customizable

    • Imperfect, but expressive

    That imperfection became part of the interaction.

  • The visual system uses a 4×6 grid of WS2812B LEDs, each individually addressable through a single data line.

    • LEDs were cut and reassembled into a grid

    • Wired with ~¾ inch spacing

    • Controlled through an Arduino Mega

    The goal was localized responsiveness, where each touch corresponds to a specific region of light.

  • The behavior of the system is driven through analog mapping:

    • Sensor values (0–1023)

    • Mapped to brightness (0–255)

    • Constrained for stability

    • Applied equally to RGB → white light

    Each LED behaves differently:

    • LED 0: single sensor input

    • LED 1+: averaged values between neighboring sensors

    This creates approximated zones, allowing degrees of intensity instead of stark divisions.

  • The system didn’t work at first, but that’s what shaped the final design.

    Key issues:

    • LEDs only responding at the start of the strip

    • Reversed pressure behavior

    • Short-circuited Arduino due to overload

    • Signal inconsistencies from copper tape connections

    At one point, the board failed entirely from too much input/output load.

    This forced a shift:

    • Simplifying the system

    • Reducing redundancy

    • Rethinking sensor distribution

    The final version is more stable because of these insights.

  • The physical layer became just as important as the electronics.

    I tested materials that could:

    • Deform under pressure

    • Return to shape

    • Diffuse light

    Explored:

    • Silicone

    • Gel-like materials

    • Soft rubber compounds

    The final direction uses a soft, malleable top layer of clear slime encased in thin plastic to mimic water. This invited touch while diffusing the LEDs beneath.

Light that responds to you

  • Development Map

  • Layered System Visualization

  • Input/Output Sketch

  • Component Mapping Plan

  • Failed LED Prototype

  • Final Code

Where technical systems meet human instinct

This project sits at the intersection of:

  • Interaction design

  • Physical computing

  • Material exploration

It’s not just conceptual. It’s built, tested, broken, and rebuilt. It shows:

  • Systems thinking

  • Iteration through failure

  • Understanding of input/output relationships

  • Ability to translate abstract ideas into physical form

What happens when more than one person joins

This project changed how I think about interaction.

At first, I focused on making everything work perfectly. But the most interesting moments came from failure, from pressure variations, imperfect sensors, and subtle shifts in light.

If I continued this project, I would:

  • Expand the grid for multi-user interaction

  • Introduce color variation for more expressive feedback

  • Improve durability of sensor connections

  • Explore spatial audio tied to touch

Read Final Documentation
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