Jennifer
Lo☻ong




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VibeBox

As engaging and stimulating as virtual meetings may be, in large meetings it gets difficult to consistently gauge everyone’s vibe. Our solution is a box that sort of resembles a face (only as uncanny as a stick figure, rest assured). 

VibeBox is a tangible user interface that’s designed to make emotional engagement visible in virtual meetings, offering users a subtle, non-verbal way to share how they're feeling and signal when they need support. 


Skills
Programs
Role
Time
Affiliation 3D Modeling, Hardware Tinkering  
Arduino IDE, Figma, TinkerCAD
Product designer in team of 3
Jan-May 2025
Wellesley HCI Lab 


I. Looking for Trouble
 

Recognizing how commonplace remote and hybrid work or study has become, we conducted a literature survey to identify common issues with these settings: that effective interpersonal interactions are hindered by a lack of non-verbal cues, hesitancy to raise questions or comments, and difficulty gauging a meeting’s overall mood. 

Drawing from personal experiences with fidget toys, I sought to incorporate tactile feedback into an otherwise physically understimulating experience. 




II. Conceptualization

Our first sketches sought to allow meeting participants to 1) indicate their comfort or comprehension levels in a meeting and 2) indicate they had a question or comment without Z*om awkwardly booting their faces to the front of everyone’s screens (iykyk). 

The list of features for our 1st prototype included: 
- 3 buttons for a red-yellow-green stoplight system 
- 1 button for questions 
- 1 dial for temperature 
- 5 LED indicators to display the general meeting temperature 

This, we very quicky realized, was far too elaborate. 


III. Iteration: Consolidation, Concision

There were too many buttons. In attempting to account for as many scenarios and meeting sizes our 1st prototype wound up becoming a cognitive burden for users.  

We reduced the board to just 2 input and 1 output indicators: 
- 1 turn dial to indicate personal temperature
- 1 button to raise questions or comments 
- 1 strip of LED lights 





    IV. Horizontal Prototype  

    As proof of concept, we created our first 3D-printed prototype with the following functions:

    1. Red LED to indicate room temperature
    2. Blue LED to indicate user has raised a question/comment 
    3. Implemented an Arduino Modulino with. both a dial and button 







      V. Full Prototype  

      By the 3rd iteration we reduced our container size by 30% by carving a side hole for USB connection rather than enlarging the container to fit a portable battery, enhancing portability. 

      We also leaned into the accidental face-like design, with exploration into accessory personalization.