This hands-on class explored the design and prototyping of tangible user interfaces, where physical interactions shape the overall experience. Students explored how materiality and sensory feedback (such as haptics, light, and texture) enhance affordance and discoverability, making interactions more intuitive.
Inspired by the idea of a calmer, more embodied future for technology, students designed artifacts that integrate digital interactions seamlessly into physical space. Moving beyond screen-based interfaces, they created objects that prioritised human presence, touch, and spatial awareness—rethinking how technology can bring us together through meaningful connections and knowledge sharing.
By the end of the class, they had developed practical expertise in crafting sensory-rich, intentional interactions that challenge conventional digital experiences and promote a more human relationship with technology.
Massimo Banzi is the co-founder of the Arduino. He is an Interaction Designer, Educator and Technologist.
He has worked as a consultant on innovation projects for clients such as: Prada, Artemide, Persol, Whirlpool, and Adidas.
He spent 4 years at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea as Associate Professor. Massimo has taught workshops and has been a guest speaker at institutions allover the world.
Before joining IDII he was CTO for the Seat Ventures incubator. He spent many years working as a software architect, both in Milan and London, working on large web projects.
At just 26 years old, he became a pioneer in the commercial internet by serving as the webmaster for Italia Online, Italy’s first major internet provider and web portal.
Massimo is also the author of “Getting Started with Arduino” published by O’Reilly. He has contributed to the Italian edition of Wired Magazine and other publications.
Massimo started the first FabLab in Italy which led to the creation of FabLab Torino and was the first curator of Maker Faire Rome, a large innovation event in Rome.
He currently teaches Interaction Design at SUPSI Lugano in the south of Switzerland and is a visiting professor at CIID.
Pierluigi is a designer and inventor based in Oakland, California. Through his practice, Pierluigi advocates for an alternative approach to technology driven by curiosity, creativity, community, and sustainability.
Through studio LUFF, he creates interactive experiences rooted in physical space and materials, enabled by digital technologies that empower people's ability to sense, learn, and manipulate the world around them. The studio's first product, the Air Quality Sensor, embodies the Six Principles for Sustainable Computing that Pierluigi co-wrote, emphasizing values like cultivating understanding, striving for longevity, and inspiring tinkering.
Having led innovative projects at companies like Airbnb, Humane, Apple, NIO, and Panasonic, Pierluigi brings together a unique blend of artistic vision and technical expertise. As a designer, he combines tools from animation and experimental photography to electronics and computer science to create novel and at times wired experiences. His deep interest in collective and spatial computing drives him to explore the boundaries of computation beyond traditional devices, exploring tangible user interfaces and interactions beyond screens.
Pierluigi shares his expertise by teaching classes on Designing Emerging Technology, Experimental Imaging, Interactive Spaces, and Physical Computing at institutions like the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation at UC Berkeley, and the California College of the Arts. He continues to develop innovative tools and methodologies for prototyping and brainstorming, maintaining his commitment to open-source projects that help designers, artists, and technologists prototype at scale.
He holds a master's degree in Cinema and Media Engineering from Politecnico di Torino, a double degree from the excellence program Alta Scuola Politecnica, and is an alumnus of the Interaction Design Program meat the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design.
Jose Chavarria is an Interaction Designer and Creative Technologist with a background in Industrial Design Engineering. He's a CIID alumni and has been working in the Interaction Design field since 2015.
Jose started as an Interaction Engineer and later became an R&D Lead at a design studio in San Jose, Costa Rica where he created interactive art installations. He then joined CIID as resident faculty, managing the digital fabrication lab and mentoring students.
After that, he worked as a Creative Technologist and Strategist for an architecture firm, designing AR and VR solutions, digital products, and interactive installations.
Jose's work has been recognised by the Core77 Design Awards in 2021 for Speculative Design and Costa Rica Design Week in 2022 for Interactive Design.
Passionate about human perception and Life-Centred Design, Jose aims to create technology solutions that benefit all forms of life, not just humans.
But in short, he builds stuff and wears hats.
