Immersion with a foreign language is key to increased motivation, satisfaction, and learning success. However, this can be hindered by anxiety and lack of access to immersive settings. LingoLand will address this by immersing people in foreign language learning environments designed to mimic real scenarios. Using generative machine learning, LingoLand presents players with personalized missions where they can freely interact with game characters, all endlessly patient and supportive of new language learners. Players receive instant feedback through a natural, voice-based interaction. Through LingoLand, players gain an understanding of different cultures while building practical language skills in a fun way.

This paper introduces and studies a design framework for designing human-flora interaction in plant-based interfaces, which could play a prominent role in a world where HCI strives to be less pollutive, more power saving, and humane. It discusses critical considerations (e.g. maintenance, reproducibility) for such interfaces, supported by a user study based on an interactive prototype. The results of our user study show that users' interest in plants varies significantly with past experience. Users may create a strong emotional bond with plants, suggesting that organic interfaces should be used for emotionally strong use cases, such as keeping in touch with loved ones or checking important data.

Digital communication is often brisk and automated. From auto-completed messages to "likes," research has shown that such lightweight interactions can affect perceptions of authenticity and closeness. On the other hand, effort in relationships can forge emotional bonds by conveying a sense of caring and is essential in building and maintaining relationships. To explore effortful communication, we designed and evaluated Auggie, an iOS app that encourages partners to create digitally handcrafted Augmented Reality (AR) experiences for each other. Auggie is centered around crafting a 3D character with photos, animated movements, drawings, and audio for someone else. We conducted a two-week-long field study with 30 participants (15 pairs), who used Auggie with their partners remotely. Our qualitative findings show that Auggie participants engaged in meaningful effort through the handcrafting process, and felt closer to their partners, although the tool may not be appropriate in all situations. We discuss design implications and future directions for systems that encourage effortful communication.

Augmented Reality (AR) can enable new forms of self-expression and communication. However, little is known about how AR experiences should be designed to complement face-to-face communication. We present an initial set of insights derived from the iterative design of a mobile AR app called Wemoji. It enables people to emote or react to one another by spawning visual AR effects in a shared physical space. As an additional communication medium, it can help add volume and dimension to what is exchanged. We outline a design space for AR complementary communication systems, and offer a set of insights from initial testing that points towards how AR can be used to enhance same-time same-place social interactions.

In this paper, we present a method to integrate sensing capabilities into 3D printable metamaterial structures comprised of cells, which enables the creation of monolithic input devices for HCI. We accomplish this by converting select opposing cell walls within the metamaterial device into electrodes, thereby creating capacitive sensors. When a user interacts with the object and applies a force, the distance and overlapping area between opposing cell walls change, resulting in a measurable capacitance variation. To help designers create interactive metamaterial devices, we contribute a design and fabrication pipeline based on multi-material 3D printing. Our 3D editor automatically places conductive cells in locations that are most affected by deformation during interaction and thus are most suitable as sensors. On export, our editor creates two files, one for conductive and one for non-conductive cell walls, which designers can fabricate on a multi-material 3D printer. Our applications show that designers can create metamaterial devices that sense various interactions, including sensing acceleration, binary state, shear, and magnitude and direction of applied force.

Economic use of early stage prototyping is of paramount importance to companies engaged in the development of innovative products, services and systems because it directly impacts their bottom-line [1, 2]. There is likewise a need to understand the dimensions and lenses that make up an economic profile of prototypes. Yet, there is no reliable understanding of how resources expended and views of dimensionality across prototyping translate into value [3, 4]. To help practitioners, designers, and researchers leverage prototyping most economically, we seek to understand the tradeoff between design information gained and the resource expended into prototyping to gain that information [5]. We investigate this topic by conducting an inductive study on industry projects across disciplines and knowledge domains, while collecting and analyzing empirical data on their physical prototyping process [3]. Our research explores ways of quantifying prototyping value and reinforcing the asymptotic relationship between value and fidelity [6]. Most intriguingly, it reveals insightful heuristics that practitioners can exploit to generate high value from low and high fidelity prototypes alike.

Despite variances in contexts and styles of design activity, recurrent patterns emerge in design innovation approaches and processes which lend themselves to analysis and discussion. Using a Design Innovation framework [1] that is built, in part, on the UK Council’s ‘4D’ (Discover, Define, Develop, Deliver) model of design [2], we develop design signatures, graphical maps of design innovation processes. Design signature analyses of four multi-disciplinary industrial case studies illustrate the value of design signatures as useful design activity plots that can be used to plan and manage innovation teams and activities, and to identify critical features for reflection, for clarification, and for further analysis. This work is of interest to design practitioners, managers, researchers, and educators with various motivations, such as to seek a tool to convey and analyze design innovation activity.