Dahoon Lee

Breath as Tangible Aesthetics

Date

23 MAY 2025 29 MAY 2025

Week

Week 5

Unit

Micro UX

Team

Group JJED — Dahoon Lee, I-lin Chang (Ellen), Jiayi Zheng, Jin Wang

Brief

Design a way to make brain activity responding to aesthetic experiences visible, tangible, or interactive.

In short

Designed the Breathcapes workshop to visualise breath and explore sensory immersion through co-creation.
While analogue methods were engaging, their limits in amplifying breath led us to explore digital extensions.
Using TouchDesigner, we aimed to translate breath into audiovisual patterns, making internal states perceptible.

Defining the Key Concept

Based on four weeks of research, experiments, and feedback, we defined a shared direction for the final outcome. Our key concept became “Breath as Daily Aesthetics,” with the goal of designing a playful group activity. We also needed to consider key factors that had been raised repeatedly—context, scenario, audience, and the purpose of the design.

Starting from last week’s Crazy 8 session, each of us proposed an idea, and we combined them to form a workshop concept within this shared direction.

Ideation: a breath-based team game to keep a ball afloat the longest. Image Credit: Author

Due to the overflow of ideas, each member proposed only one. Image Credit: Group JJED

Test: Breathcapes

“What if we created something together with our breath?” “Could breath shape a landscape?”

Building on our focus on the sensory aesthetics of breath, we designed a workshop where participants blew paint through straws to make a shared painting. We also tested sound-making straws to add an auditory layer to the experience.

Structural diagram outlining the Breathcapes workshop process. Image Credit: Group JJED

The idea was for participants to create a tangible output—a physical image that holds a visible trace of their breath. However, the sound straws only worked under specific conditions, making it difficult to create sound comfortably while painting. The sound component was partially successful, but we decided to remove it in this workshop to maintain immersion and flow.

Making process of a straw instrument that produces sound through breath. Photo Credit: Author

It wasn’t used in the final workshop as it required too much focus to produce sound. Photo Credit: Author

Test of a creative activity using straws. Photo Credit: Author

Participants collaboratively drawing using breath. Photo Credit: Author

Participants used straws to blow soap bubbles and make drawings. Video Credit: Author

We ran two activities. In the first, participants blew watercolour ink across water in a shallow plate, mixing colours through breath. In the second, they used coloured bubbles to create patterns on paper.

Workshop 1 – Releasing paint into water. Video Credit: Author

Workshop 2 – Releasing paint into water without bubbles. Video Credit: Author

Workshop 3 – Creating drawings on paper with soap bubbles. Video Credit: Author

Workshop 4 – Creating drawings on paper with soap bubbles. Video Credit: Author

While some initially thought three minutes felt long, they later said it felt too short once they got into the activity. This suggests that they were engaged and enjoyed the experience. Feedback included comments like “It was fun” and “I loved the moment the colours merged.” Several participants said they’d like to try it with friends or family. Suggestions included more colour options and faster-drying paper.

Some limitations also came up. Participants noted that they focused more on the drawing than on breathing, and that they couldn’t easily notice others’ breath while concentrating on their own.

Feedback & Reflection

Through the “Breathcapes” workshop, we found that visualising breath through a shared sensory activity can be both immersive and enjoyable. It revealed new potential for breath-based design.

From a design research perspective, we received feedback that this could go beyond representing breath alone and explore how it relates to emotional states or neurological patterns.

Moving to the Final Stage

After the workshop, we began to consider the balance between analogue and digital approaches.

On the analogue side, we discussed ways to enrich the co-creation experience with clearer guidance, explore materials like clay or jelly to support self-awareness and breath synchronisation, and develop breath-based games.

However, analogue methods have clear limits in amplifying and conveying breath. This led us to consider digital extensions. Using tools like TouchDesigner, we could translate breath into an interactive audiovisual experience. For example, by mapping breath patterns to colours and sound waves, sharp, contrasting visuals could reflect fast or irregular breathing, while soft, blended tones could express calm and steady breath—making internal states perceptible through sensory design.

Once again, we found ourselves facing a wide range of possibilities—and new design decisions to make.

Reference

Hanington, B. and Martin, B. (2012) Universal Methods of Design: 100 Ways to Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, and Design Effective Solutions. Beverly, MA: Rockport Publishers.
Howes, D. (ed.) (2005) Empire of the Senses: The Sensual Culture Reader. Oxford: Berg. https://doi.org/10.1177/0268580907074550
Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (1980) Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226470993.001.0001