This paper explores interaction with lighting through a tangible user interface (TUI). In a TUI the physical object and space around it are part of the interface. A subset of tangible interaction called spatial interaction is the main focus of this paper. Spatial interaction refers to translation, rotation or location of objects or people within a space. The aim of this paper is to explore the relation between spatial inputs and lighting outputs based on different design properties. A user test is set up to explore the effect that design properties of a TUI have on the lighting output that participants map to spatial inputs. The results of the conducted user test indicate that communicating affordances to the user is an important factor when designing couplings between spatial inputs and lighting outputs. The results further show that the shape of the interface plays a central role in communicating those affordances and that the overlap of input and output space of the interface improves the clarity of the coupling. / Den här studien utforskar gripbar (tangible) interaktionsdesign med fokus på ljus och belysning. Vid användning av ett gripbart (tangible) gränssnitt används den fysiska miljön som gränssnitt. Detta skiljer sig till stor del från interaktion med ett grafiskt användargränssnitt, där alla interaktioner sker och begränsas av en skärms egenskaper. Denna studie fokuserar på rumslig (spatial) interaktionsdesign, vilket är en del av gripbar interaktionsdesign. Rumslig interaktion refererar till översättning, rotation eller plats av objekt eller människor i ett utrymme. Ett användartest har utförts för att testa vad för effekt olika rumsliga indata och designegenskaper har på förväntad utdata för ljus och belysning. Resultatet från användartestet visar att starka affordances och begränsningar, tillsammans med överlappningen av rumslig indata och utdata för ljus och belysning, är de viktigaste egenskaperna för att designa tydliga övergångar.

My research paper discusses the explorative design process of creating a tangible sentence construction train and the implications of tangible computing in the classroom. For inspiration I looked into learning style methods and tangible computing projects for children. I aimed to follow the methods of Participatory Design and Cooperative Inquiry as part of my design process, but found reasons to explore different methods.My final prototype uses a train to provide digital support and encourage an effective way to support task interest, information retention, and sentence structure, as well as facilitate creativity and team problem solving skills for children of different learning styles and skill strengths. By allowing children to construct their own sentences with responsive train cars, I found that children were able to discuss class material and ideas in a fun way, as well as find explorative ways to bend rules and engage in play.

Many cognitive scientists agree that musical play is beneficial for preschool children. They consider music to be one of the most important means to promote preschool children’s learning potential. From an interaction design point of view, music provides opportunities to engage children in collaborative play which in return is beneficial for their cognitive and physical development.I argue that tangible interaction can facilitate such collaborative and playful musical activities among preschool children and in the scope of this thesis, I explore how this can be achieved. Through the exploration of related projects in this area and my own design experiments at a preschool, I propose a design concept of a modular musical toy for children which I created and then tested in a preschool context with children of different ages. Along the way, I reflect on the peculiarities of children’s behaviors and the aspects of conducting design research with preschool children, since acknowledging these aspects is crucial for working with children as a designer.

This project explores the internet of things (IoT) at home, especially the aspects related to the quantity and the quality of the of data collected by the smart devices and the violation of the users’ privacy this situation represents, since with the help of machine learning algorithms, these devices are capable of storing and analysing information related to the daily routine of each user at home. Therefore, this research enquires new ways to raise the user's’ awareness about the flow of the data within the IoT at home in order to empower them and give them back the status of administrators of this context by designing devices that are capable of obfuscating the data before it leaves the home.During this process, several methods were used together in order to reach the outcomes. From the use of annotated portfolios to evaluate the state of the art related with the field, to video sketching as a useful and quick tool to embrace the user’s perspective in parallel with the use of cultural probes in order to test some conceptual scenarios and find new ways to explore this project based on the experiences of the participants.As a result, this project’s outcome is based on the use of the materialization of the data as the proper way to bring the abstract process that happens in the background closer to the user's reality in order to display how this data is actually flowing through the environment and at the end generate a call­to­action to guide the user into the execution of the obfuscation of the data.This project opens up the discussion within the interaction design field about the way we are communicating with the technology and if it is the proper way to do it when this technology coexist with the user at home. Additionally, it questions the way in which the interfaces should be designed in order to create a transparent dialogue between the users, the objects and the vendors.

The area of healthcare has a lot of challenges and restrictions when it comes to design. There is no access to one of the users. A research on this topic resulted in the creation of Robbi – an interactive toy that supports communication between a child and psychologist during their therapy sessions.Children (patients) as stakeholders are a very vulnerable party of this project and as they were not involved in the process directly; there was no opportunity for intervention, observation or action research. When the therapeutic session is happening, the setting of the environment has to be as comfortable for the client as possible and the presence of a third person at the session would disturb the result in a severe way.I would argue here that the therapists can act as proxies in the projects related to design for MHC clients. Psychology therapists are skilled and experienced observers and area experts. In many cases we actually have to think: who is the real end user of our design? What relationships are there between the stakeholders and the solution are? As the project involves therapists as participatory design actors it is fair to say that the therapists are primary users of the design concept that is to be created. It has to fit all the needs of the doctor, enable them to make the therapy sessions more efficient, engaging and profound. At the same time the concept has to be developed in the framework of interaction for children in terms of visuals, tangibility, emotional content and usability.

This paper investigates how physical prototyping modules can be designed to facilitate for interactiondesigners to visualize their ideas early on in a design process. As technology is getting cheaper andeasier to use, it has opened up the possibility for others than just engineers to build with technology.We see technology being more and more used by designers for building prototypes and testing ideas.A setback with using technology is that it is time consuming and error occurs easily. By testing a set ofthree prototypes I will investigate the problems at hand for interaction designers and come up with adesign solution to facilitate their design process. I will come to conclusion about making the modulesflexible, functional and user friendly to meet the user’s demands.

This paper describes the creative process of "hidden layers of embroidered stories". It shows the process of searching for answers to the questions of how to translate elements of folk culture into measurable units and how to place traditional Slavic embroidery in the context of algorithms and the digitalised world of today. It shows the process of giving meaning to a newly constructed symbol through the search for an aesthetic form, verbal designation and placement in a composition in folk crafts with seemingly rigid, well-established conventions. The final project of the project - a composition made with the use of cross-stitching encourages recipients to actively find the symbols contained within the embroidery, asking them to solve the puzzle hidden within; the solution of which carries the message of the project's author.

Human olfaction is significantly linked to memory, emotion, and learning. As the global population ages, subsequent physical and cognitive decline substantiates a need for more accessible technologies that improve quality of life for older adults. Olfactory disfunction, known to increase with age, is indicative of depression and loneliness, afflictions already prevalent among older communities. Reminiscence therapy presents a unique opportunity to combat loneliness utilizing olfactory cues. Calling on theories of embodied and tangible interaction, this thesis proposes the design of an olfactory radio, leveraging the strong connection between smell and memory to prompt reminiscence while reducing loneliness through the exchange of ‘scent-stories’. Results of the study highlight the potential of olfactory interaction to create meaningful, embodied experiences for older adults while promoting social connection. The paper concludes with a call for more multimodal and tangible approaches to human-computer interaction that better address the bodies for whom we design.

This thesis presents a new 3-dimensional (3D) user interface system for a Cave Automated Virtual Environment (CAVE) application, based on Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Tangible User Interface (TUI). We explore fundamental 3D interaction tasks with our user interface for the CAVE system. User interface (UI) is comprised of a specific set of components, including input/output devices and interaction techniques. Our approach is based on TUIs using ARToolKit, which is currently the most popular toolkit for use in AR projects. Physical objects (props) are used as input devices instead of any tethered electromagnetic trackers. An off-the-shelf webcam is used to get tracking input data. A unique pattern marker is attached to the prop, which is easily and simply tracked by ARToolKit. Our interface system is developed on CAVE infrastructure, which is a semi-immersive environment. All virtual objects are directly manipulated with props, each of which corresponds to a certain virtual object. To navigate, the user can move the background itself, while virtual objects remain in place. The user can actually feel the prop's movement through the virtual space. Thus, fundamental 3D interaction tasks such as object selection, object manipulation, and navigation are performed with our interface. To feel immersion, the user is allowed to wear stereoscopic glasses with a head tracker. This is the only tethered device for our work. Since our interface is based on tangible input tools, seamless transition between one and two-handed operation is provided. We went through three design phases to achieve better task performance. In the first phase, we conducted the pilot study, focusing on the question whether or not this approach is applicable to 3D immersive environments. After the pilot study, we redesigned props and developed ARBox. ARBox is used for as interaction space while the CAVE system is only used for display space. In this phase, we also developed interaction techniques for fundamental 3D interaction tasks. Our summative user evaluation was conducted with ARDesk, which is redesigned after our formative user evaluation. Two user studies aim to get user feedback and to improve interaction techniques as well as interface tools' design. The results from our user studies show that our interface can be intuitively and naturally applied to 3D immersive environments even though there are still some issues with our system design. This thesis shows that effective interactions in a CAVE system can be generated using AR technique and tangible objects. / Master of Science

This project investigates how embodied interaction and stress reduction methods can work together to reduce students’ stress at Malmö University. Furthermore, it explores how this project can contribute to the field of interaction design. Various research methods were used to gain insight into stress levels, coping mechanisms and how students relax at the university through desktop and field research. In addition, students explored different room settings and created their own “perfect” relaxation space. A low-fidelity prototype was developed using the "Wizard of Oz" method and tested with users. The results of this work show that both the concept of a relaxation space and a tangible artifact can reduce students' stress levels. Moreover, they open up possibilities for further research to develop these topics further. Keywords: Interaction design, embodied interaction, stress relief, mental health, tangible