HOLD.on

ROLE

Interaction Designer

CLIENT

MFA Design Studio Project

TIMELINE

2024

OVERVIEW

HOLD.on is a speculative wearable that explores emotional connection through physical touch.

In a future where human interaction is increasingly mediated by screens, the device detects anxiety and responds by gently gripping the user’s hand.

The experience spans a wearable, a companion app, and a physical publication, connecting body, interface, and archive as one system.

RESULTS

3

Connected Touchpoints

1

Physical Prototype

PROBLEM

How might a wearable offer reassurance through touch instead of another screen notification?

Anxiety support is usually delivered through visual or audible prompts. HOLD.on reframes that moment as a private, bodily interaction that can be felt without demanding attention.

RESEARCH

I used speculative design to explore how emotional states, touch, and digital mediation might intersect, then translated the concept into physical form, interaction flows, and visual narrative.

BRAND & STYLE

A restrained visual system keeps the technology quiet and lets the hand, the grip, and the emotional relationship remain central.

LOW FIDELITY

Hand sketches established fit, wrist position, grip direction, and the relationship between device and hand before digital modeling.

HIGH FIDELITY

3D models, companion-app screens, and the publication developed one coherent experience across physical and digital surfaces.

PROTOTYPE

A physical prototype and animation made the gripping behavior tangible and helped test how the concept communicated without explanation.

IMPLEMENTATION

One idea across body, screen, and print.

I learned 3D modeling and animation, built the wearable form, designed the app experience, and art-directed the publication as a connected system.

LAUNCH

The final studio presentation combined the wearable, app, and publication so viewers could understand both the proposed future and its emotional implications.

WHAT I LEARNED

Speculative design taught me to use “what if” as a rigorous design tool. Moving between physical and digital media also sharpened how I maintain one idea across very different formats.

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