* pixel synthesis *

Skills: Interaction Design, Electronics Prototyping, Serial Communication

Tools: Arduino (C++), Processing (Java), Makey Makey

Collaborator: David Shin

January - March 2024

How we can encourage human collaboration through our design of technological & artistic interfaces? In pixel synthesis, participants must coordinate their behavior in order to unlock new features of the display, opening new channels for embodied human-human-computer interaction.


Left: Interface view | Right: LED display output


Participants each wear a glove with conductive finger pads, connected to a circuit board and computer. If the participants aren't touching, the LED display flashes randomly in a rainbow of colors. Once the participants start to work together, the lights coalesce into delightful patterns.

Depending on which two fingers they touch, new animations reveal themselves: pixels of light bounce against the boundaries of the display, or face tracking activates and becomes a reflection of the pair.

As the users familiarize with each other and the interface, the lights respond, illuminating moments of human connection in an infinitely random universe.




- process -

the technical bits

Project repo on GitHub

Makey Makey is a circuit board which allows you to transform everyday objects into input devices for your computer. In the image below, a fork, carabiner, key, and wallet become buttons for up, down, left, and right, functioning as inputs for a colorful etch-a-sketch program I wrote as I learned to use Makey Makey.

It took 3 tries to find a microcontroller that was compatible with both the LED pixel library and Processing's serial communication library.

As you interact, you will become "synthesized" and "synchronized" with both the other user and the technology through intuitive, playful physical touch.