Process
What we did.
Meet us.
We are students in the Master in Human-Computer Interaction and Design (MHCID) program at the University of Washington. We care about designing experiences that make people feel something. Lēlā started as a question in a studio class and turned into something we could not stop thinking about.
From an idea about music to an idea about connection.
We started with a simple question: what if people could create music with the things around them? We wanted it to feel personal, tied to a specific place and moment.
Then the idea shifted. It stopped being about making sounds and started being about feeling connected. About standing near something alive and realizing you are part of it. The question became: how do you design that feeling?
Hypothesis
We started with a hypothesis about how people would naturally interact with a tree if they could hear it respond. What gestures feel right? What does it mean to listen with your body?
Early hypothesis mapping
Storyboarding
We mapped out the full journey. Walking up to a tree. Standing still. The moment the sound begins. Every step needed to feel intuitive, like the tree was meeting you halfway.
Storyboard sketches
Bodystorming
We went to the UW campus and stood in front of real trees. We reached toward them, looked up and down, opened our palms. The most powerful interactions turned out to be the simplest ones. Stillness. Looking. An open hand.
Key interactions
From bodystorming we distilled the gestures that felt natural. Looking is listening. Palm up to isolate. Close your fist to select. Tree to tree to compose. Hand to heart to save.
Distilling key interaction patterns
Prototyping
We built real interactive prototypes in Unity and TouchDesigner. Hand tracking, particle systems, spatial audio. This let us test how sound responds to gesture and how the whole experience actually feels when you are inside it.
Interactive prototype built in TouchDesigner
Interactive prototype built in TouchDesigner
Looking for collaborators
We have not built the final thing yet. We are looking for people who want to help make it real. Researchers, technologists, artists, anyone who believes the relationship between people and the living world can go deeper.
If any of this resonates, we would love to hear from you.