FULLTEXT02

kth royal institute
of technology
Doctoral Thesis in Human-Computer Interaction
Designing for Mindfulness

An Exploration of Interaction Design with Biodata
Inspired by Chinese Aesthetics
BIN (TINA) ZHU
Stockholm, Sweden 2021

BIN (TINA) ZHU
Academic Dissertation which, with due permission of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology,
is submitted for public defence for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy on Tuesday the 14th
September 2021, at 9:00 a.m. in Room 4636, Lindstedtsvägen 5, Stockholm
Doctoral Thesis in Human-Computer Interaction

KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Stockholm, Sweden 2021
© Bin Zhu
© Yanqing Zhang, Xiaojuan Ma, Haibo Li, Paper A
© Anders Hedman, Haibo Li, Paper B
© Anders Hedman,Shuo Feng,Haibo Li, Walter Osika, Paper C
© Anders Hedman, Paper D
ISBN 978-91-7873-915-8
TRITA-EECS-AVL-2021:44
Printed by: Universitetsservice US-AB, Sweden 2021

Preface
Knowing others is intelligence
Knowing yourself is wisdom
~
<Tao Te Ching> Lao Tzu
知⼈人者智自知者明
《道德经》老⼦子
If you are depressed, you are living in the past.
If you are anxious, you are living in the future.
If you are at peace, you are living in the present.
Take a few minutes to appreciate
what you have and how far you have come.
Peace comes from within,
do not seek it without.
安宁来自内⼼心勿向外求
~
In memory of
the coronavirus pandemic and the impermanence of life

Abstract ∣ 2

Abstract
The Quantified Self (QS) movement and self-tracking technologies in personal

informatics are opening up opportunities for users to manage their health and
wellbeing. Until now, researchers have explored how to monitor health and
change people’s behaviors through bio-sensing technologies. From a perspective
of design, interaction design with biodata has many possibilities.
There is an increasing level of interest in mindfulness for its potential benefit
as a wellbeing practice to improve quality of life. The mindfulness movement,
which advocates viewing the body, self and life with an accepting and non-
judgmental attitude, brings a perspective of attentive awareness in the present
moment. Over the last few years, technologies related to mindfulness and
research endeavors in HCI have increased dramatically, as can be seen from the
growing number of academic publications in this field. Moreover, researchers
have started to explore mindfulness integrated with interaction design from
different directions and for different purposes.
In this thesis, I attempted to explore interaction design with biodata from a
mindfulness perspective. By analyzing previous research, I found some
opportunities in 1) a design space of non-judgmental awareness of the body, 2) a
design approach inspired by Chinese aesthetics, 3) a design medium of physical
interactive artifacts. In order to explore workable design tactics for practicing
the concept of mindfulness, I drew on inspirations from Chinese “Wu Hua”
aesthetics and the approaches used in some related artwork. Beyond that, “Wu
Hua” provides a view of seeing the body as an inseparable part from the rest of
the natural world and living with it harmoniously in an aesthetic experience.
These inspirations triggered me to probe into more possibilities of design.
I aimed to investigate the following research question:

How can we design with biodata for m indfulness inspired by
Chinese aesthetics?
In short, my work makes two main contributions. The first contribution is a
conceptual contribution. Specifically, I have integrated mindfulness and Chinese
aesthetics into interaction design to inspire ways of viewing the body and
designing with biodata. The second contribution is a practical contribution. I

Abstract ∣ 3
practiced the idea of Chinese “Wu Hua” aesthetics and the approach of
“externalizing the self to an incarnation” in two design projects. As a result, this
thesis contributes to a design concept of “non-judgmental interaction” and some
design tactics. Non-judgmental interaction means that 1) the representation of
biodata avoids producing subjective judgments of bodily conditions; 2) the
interaction between artifacts and participants avoids provoking strong
emotional reactions. I have formulated three design tactics of designing physical
interactive artifacts for non-judgmental interaction: 1) designing aesthetic
representations to match the properties of sensed biodata, 2) engaging rhythmic
bodily interaction, 3) setting a quiet and proper space.
Based on the Research through Design (RtD) process, in-situ studies and
autobiographical design, I suggest externalizing bodily rhythms in aesthetic
forms and designing non-judgmental interaction with physical interactive
artifacts to hold people’s interest, anchor their attention and increase
engagement, especially for novices to mindfulness practice. I put my designs
into real use in certain settings (e.g. an everyday-use scenario in a home setting
and mindfulness meditation group). This practice was intended to investigate
how the designs could support people in experiencing their lived bodies
mindfully, without conscious judgment, instrumental manipulation or goal-
setting activities. Moreover, I shared the failures and insights from the practice
for reflection and discussion. As a whole, this thesis attempted to explore the
interaction of design with biodata for mindfulness, which might inspire future
research.

Swedish Abstract ∣ 4
Swedish Abstract
Sammanfattning
“Det kvantifierade jaget”-rörelsen och självspårningsteknik inom personlig
informatik öppnar upp möjligheter för användarna att ta hand om sin hälsa och
sitt välbefinnande. Hittills har forskningen studerat hur man kan använda
biosensitiv teknologi för att bevaka människors hälsotillstånd och förändra
deras beteende. Ur designperspektiv har interaktiv design med användning av
biodata många möjligheter.
Det finns ett växande intresse för mindfulness på grund av dess potentiella
värde som en välbefinnandepraktik som kan leda till bättre livskvalitet.
Mindfulnessrörelsen, som uppmanar till en accepterande och icke-dömande
inställning till kroppen, självet och livet, för med sig en attityd av medveten
närvaro i nuet. Under de senaste åren har det skett en dramatisk ökning av
tekniska lösningar som har att göra med mindfulness, liksom forskningsinitiativ
inom människa-datorinteraktion (HCI – Human Computer Interaction), något
som kan ses i det växande antalet akademiska publikationer inom detta område.
Dessutom har forskare börjat arbeta med mindfulness tillsammans med
interaktiv design från olika utgångspunkter och med olika syften.
I den här avhandlingen har jag försökt utforska interaktiv design med
användande av biodata ur ett mindfulnessperspektiv. Genom en analys av
tidigare forskning identifierade jag ett antal möjligheter inom 1) ett
designområde som innebär en icke-dömande medvetenhet om kroppen, 2) en
designansats som är inspirerad av kinesisk estetik, 3) ett designmaterial
bestående av fysiska, interaktiva artefakter. I arbetet med att finna användbara
designtaktiker för att verkliggöra mindfulnessbegreppet fann jag inspiration i
kinesisk wu-hua-estetik och en ansats som använts i en del dithörande
konstverk. Wu-hua erbjuder dessutom ett sätt att se kroppen som en oskiljaktig
del av resten av naturen och att leva harmoniskt med den inom ramen för en
estetisk upplevelse. Sådan inspiration fick mig att söka efter fler
designmöjligheter.
Min avsikt var att utreda följande forskningsfråga:
Hur kan design använda biodata för en mindfulness som är inspirerad av

kinesisk estetik?
Sammanfattningsvis levererar mitt arbete två huvudsakliga bidrag. Det första

bidraget är ett konceptuellt bidrag. Närmare bestämt har jag integrerat

Swedish Abstract ∣ 5
mindfulness och kinesisk estetik med interaktiv design för att inspirera till sätt
att se på kroppen och designa med biodata. Det andra bidraget är ett praktiskt
bidrag. Jag använde kinesisk wu-hua-estetik och ansatsen att ”låta självet få en
yttre form i en inkarnation” i två designprojekt. Denna avhandling bidrar därför
med ett designkoncept som innebär “icke-dömande interaktion” och med vissa
designtaktiker: 1) att designa estetiska representationer som matchar
egenskaperna hos registrerade biodata, 2) att stimulera rytmisk kroppslig
interaktion, 3) att etablera ett stilla och ordnat område.
Jag utgår från en ”forskning genom design”-metodik (RtD - Research
through Design), observationer på plats och självbiografisk design. Min idé är
att externalisera kroppsrytmer i estetiska former och att designa icke-dömande
interaktion med fysiska interaktiva artefakter. Avsikten är att upprätthålla folks
intresse, förankra deras uppmärksamhet och öka känslan av engagemang,
särskilt för dem som är noviser när det gäller utövande av mindfulness. Jag
använde mina designer på riktigt i specifika miljöer (t.ex. ett scenario för dagligt
bruk i hemmiljö och i en meditationsgrupp som använder mindfulness). Denna
praktiska tillämpning avsåg att undersöka hur designen kunde stöda en
mindfullnessupplevelse av personernas levda kroppar, utan medvetet dömande,
instrumentell manipulering eller målinriktade aktiviteter. Dessutom har jag
delat med mig av misslyckanden och insikter från den praktiska tillämpningen
för reflektion och diskussion. Sammantaget har denna avhandling försökt
utforska interaktionen mellan design och biodata till stöd för mindfulness, något
som kan inspirera framtida forskning.

Chinese Abstract ∣ 6
Chinese Abstract
《正念设计——中国美学启示下的⽣生理信息交互设计探索》
朱滨瑞典皇家理⼯工学院
论⽂文摘要
在健康信息领域，量化自我运动及自我追踪技术为个⼈人健康管理提供了⼴广阔
的空间。通过传感等相关技术，研究者们探索如何更准确地监测身⼼心健康，改变
用户⾏行为。从设计的角度，⽣生理信息的交互设计具有多样化的设计可能和⼴广阔的
设计空间。
正念因其帮助身⼼心健康、提升⽣生活品质的潜在益处，备受关注。正念旨在专
注地觉察当下，用开放、接纳和非评判的态度对待身体、⽣生命和⽣生活。近年来，
在⼈人机交互领域，与正念相关的技术和研究发展迅速，从学术发表的数量上可见
⼀一斑。与此同时，研究者们正致⼒力于从不同维度和目标出发，将正念融⼊入交互设
计学科，进⾏行探索性研究与应用。
我的博⼠士论⽂文尝试以正念的视角研究⽣生理信息的交互设计。基于对以往相关研究
的分析总结，我认为在以下研究领域仍有空白，值得深度探索：
1）对身体和⽣生理信息“非评判”态度的正念设计空间
2）受中国美学启发的正念设计⽅方法
3）以实体互动为设计媒介的正念应用实践
为了进⼀一步实践正念的理念，找到可循的设计策略，我引用了中国美学概念
“物化”，并参考了“物化”在艺术创作中的应用⽅方法。“物化” 以审美的态度和谐关
照身体，体现了中国美学“天⼈人合⼀一”、“物我合⼀一”的⽣生命态度。在东⽅方智慧的启
发下，我努⼒力探索和尝试更多的设计可能，结合⼈人机交互的科技⼿手段，应用于现
代⽣生活。
该博⼠士论⽂文主要围绕以下研究问题：
在中国美学启示下，如何正念地设计⽣生理信息？
该研究⼯工作可归纳为两⽅方面的主要贡献。第⼀一层为理念上的贡献。具体⽽而⾔言，
我将正念和中国美学相结合，以审美的态度，非评判地接纳和关照身体，从“控制
管理身体”向“尊重欣赏身体”转变，提出⼀一种新的⽣生理信息设计理念。第⼆二层贡献
体现在设计⽅方法与应用实践。我将“物化”的美学概念和“化身”的艺术⽅方法应用于

Chinese Abstract ∣ 7
两个设计项目中，通过设计实践，创新提出“非评判互动”的设计理念和相应的设
计策略。“非评判互动”是指 1）⽣生理信息的设计表达避免产⽣生⼈人们对身体状态的主
观评价，2）⼈人与物（⼈人机）之间的互动避免产⽣生强烈的情绪反应。具体的设计策
略⽅方法：1）设计审美形象，匹配对应⽣生理信息的属性特征；2）融⼊入有韵律的身
体互动；3）设定安静适宜的交互空间。
我的研究主要通过设计性研究⽅方法、实地测试、自传式设计等⽅方法，用美学
的形式表现⽣生理数据，外化身体韵律，通过实体交互媒介，设计非评判互动，从
⽽而吸引⼈人们的兴趣，稳定注意，增强参与感和体验感，特别是针对正念实践的初
学者，具有重要的研究价值和意义。我的设计已在真实场景中实践，如应用于居
家环境下的个⼈人日常正念练习和正念团体冥想课程等。这些应用实践旨在探讨正
念的设计如何更好的帮助⼈人们不带评判地觉察当下，体验身⼼心感受，从⽽而减少主
观评判、⼯工具化的⼲干预控制和以目标为导向驱动的⾏行为活动。
概括⽽而⾔言，我的博⼠士论⽂文尝试用正念的理念和中国美学的智慧探索⽣生理信息
交互设计，以期打开更丰富的设计空间，启发未来的研究⽅方向。在研究和设计实
践过程中，我记录了失败和成功的经验，反思总结下，在本⽂文中与读者们分享，
望批评指正，待探讨交流！

Acknowledgements ∣ 8
Acknowledgements
This particular thesis has been made possible through the support of many
people, both directly and indirectly. I would like to extend my gratitude to them
here.
Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisors Haibo Li, Anders Hedman and
Kristina Höök for their patient advice and enduring support. I am grateful to
have had them with me during my PhD journey. They introduced me to the
world of research, helped me fulfill new ideas, and encouraged me to conduct
research in a mindful way. I appreciate their supervision very much!
I am grateful to Madeline Balaam for her kind support and review of my

thesis. I would also like to thank to Professors Dag Svanæs, Roberto Bresin,
Henrik Artman, Eva-Lotta Sallnäs Pysande, Jan Gulliksen, Olle Bälter, Daniel
Pargman and Cristian Bogdan for reading early drafts of this thesis and
providing constructive comments. Additional thanks go to Adam Bartley, Katie
Woods and Rocío Ruiz for their help with proofreading and layout. One person I
would like to express special thanks is my friend Qian Chen for her patience and
help with printing the thesis.
I would like to thank my co-authors and good friends Xiaojuan Ma, Celia
Yanqing Zhang and Jingjing Chen for discussing research, writing papers and
sharing life stories together. I learnt a lot from them indeed.
My thanks go to the friends and the master’s students who worked on some
of my projects, shared their ideas, programmed code and commiserated about
student life: Sophie Landwehr Sydow, Victor Guerrero Corbi, Shuo Feng, Tingye
Zhong, Junzhe Tian, Yaoxuan Zhu, Sepehr Amoor Pour, Silu Sun, Jiuwu Sun,
Huiting Wang, Lingyuan Yang, Yuchen Qiu, Chunyu Jiang.
My thanks go to the Centre for Social Sustainability at the Karolinska

Institute, Walter Osika, Maria Niemi, Eva Bojner Horwitz, Fredrik Livheim, etc.
My special thanks go to my mentor Professor Walter Osika for his intelligent
expertise, good humor and all of the medical assistance that he has provided.
I am also extremely grateful to my friends and mindfulness experts Miguel

Quintana, Huiqi Tong, Xiaolan Song and Ting Lou, who encouraged me to probe
more into the possibilities for integrating interactive technologies into
mindfulness practices.

I have been very fortunate to meet many colleagues and friends at the KTH
and Mobile Life Centre during my PhD. We have shared our daily research life,
lunch and fika (the Swedish teatime that I miss).
Marie Louise Juul Søndergaard, Karey Helms, Vasiliki Tsaknaki, Ylva
Fernaeus, Emma Frid, Jordi Solsona, Charles Windlin, Pavel Karpashevich,
Pedro Sanches, Nadia Campo Woytuk, Teresa Almeida, Ozgun Kilic Afsar, Sara
Eriksson, Mario Romero, Elina Eriksson, Filip Kiš, Hanna Hasselqvist, Cecilia
Teljas, Christiane Grünloh, Yang Zhong, Olle Bälter, Leif Dahlberg, Olga Viberg,
Jarmo Laaksolahti, Rob Comber, Andre Holzapfel, Airi Lampinen, Fredrik
Enoksson, Ludvig Elblaus, Pernilla Josefsson, Leif Handberg, Helena Tobiasson,
Kjetil Falkenberg Hansen, Anna Ståhl, Elsa Vaara, Johanna Mercurio, Pedro
Ferreira, Mattias Jacobsson, Maria Holm, Barry Brown, Moira McGregor, Oskar
Juhlin, Vincent Lewandowski, Vygandas Simbelis, Donny McMillan, Annika
Waern, Jinyi Wang, Elena Márquez Segura, Jon Back, Anna Karlsson, Marco
D’Adamo, Ruoli Wang, Sikandar Khan.
Many interesting conversations took place with the people listed above. It
would be hard to list all of their names but I have been grateful to meet them in
Sweden. A sincere thank you goes to Ann Lantz, Henrik Artman, Emanuel Borg
and Yingfang He for their kind support within KTH and our department. I
appreciate their help very much. One person I would like to mention in
particular is my colleague and friend, the excellent researcher Rebekah Cupitt.
She helped me a lot when I was new to the KTH. I would like to express my
heartfelt thanks to her.
I would also like to express my gratitude to KTH Innovation and EIT Digital.
I am grateful to have had the support from: Tom Magnergård, Anjali Virmani
Paul, Lisa Bäckman, Daniel Carlsson, Donnie Lygonis, Lenakim Arctaedius,
Göran Olofsson, Loredana Cerrato. Without them, my projects would not have
been successful and received awards.
Special thanks go to the China Scholarship Council and China Academy of Art
for the support of my studies.
I would like to extend a special note of thanks to Prof. Tony Fang, Ying Cheng
and Qingjie Sun. They supported me with their expertise and wisdom. When I
encountered difficulties in work and life, they gave me advice with patience and

sincerity. They had a great influence on me and I appreciate their help very
much!
I would like to express my kind thanks and appreciation to my friends

Liangjun Song, Yingting Cao, Xintong Zhang, Jie Chen, Jo-Ann Wu, Harry Lu,
Diana Guo, Fang Fang, Rui Xu, Ruiqi, Peng Li, Yuanyin, Sofia He, Ruolan Liang,
Youjia Shi, Wei Gao, Yi Zhao, Meisi Fan, Ping Liu, Zhengfang Zhang, Yuwei Wu,
Laila Fahmi, Royton Nakanyike, Elin Solberg, Anders Solberg, Hanna Shi, Ester
Hedin and the great writer &rartist Claude Kayat for accompanying me through
the ups and downs and supporting me all the way.
Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my big family, my

parents and parents-in-law, for always being there, supporting me and helping
me unconditionally. The most important part of my life, my own family. Thank
you, my husband Luqi and our two kids Lilian and Julian. You are ones that
make me reflect and understand the meaning of life. Without your company, I
would not be able to complete my PhD life mindfully. This thesis is for you, my
dear family! Here I would like to use my mother language to express my
heartfelt thanks to them.
感谢我的爸爸妈妈和公公婆婆，⽆无时不刻给予我关⼼心和支持，感谢你们
的理解，特别是在赶论⽂文的关键时期，⽆无微不⾄至地照顾我和孩⼦子们，这份
⽆无条件的爱让我深刻感受到⽗父母的⽆无私和伟⼤大。特别感谢我的先⽣生卢琦，
和我可亲可爱的宝贝历涟、居涟，你们是我⽣生命中的禅师，陪伴我、修炼
我、考验我，用正念的态度品味⽣生活的意义和价值。没有你们的爱，难以
修成正果。这本汇集了多年⼼心⾎血的博⼠士论⽂文是为你们所作—我挚爱的亲们！
回顾⼏几年来，反反复复修改论⽂文的日日夜夜，是不断反思内省，重新认
识自⼰己的历程。读博⼠士做科研的困难和压⼒力，点亮了我的研究⽅方向，促使
我实验各种减压⽅方法，亲身实践正念，向内探求，由⼰己及⼈人，自利利他。
⼗十年磨⼀一剑，终于盼到了最后写致谢词的这⼀一刻，感恩所有帮助过我的⼈人，
也特别感谢自⼰己的选择和坚持。瑞典的环境⾜足以让⼈人致虚极，守静笃，静
⽣生定，定⽣生慧。以此论⽂文，作为纪念。

CONTENT
Preface ..................................................................................................... 1
Abstract .................................................................................................... 2
Swedish Abstract .................................................................................... 4
Chinese Abstract ..................................................................................... 6
Acknowledgements ................................................................................ 8
Chapter 1 Introduction .......................................................................... 13
Aims and Research Questions ................................................................................ 13
Contributions ............................................................................................................ 17
Thesis Outline ........................................................................................................... 18
Summary of Papers Included .................................................................................. 19
Papers Not Included ................................................................................................. 23
Chapter 2 Background and Inspiration ............................................... 25
Designing with Biodata ............................................................................................ 25
Ambient Displays and Abstract Visualizations ........................................................ 25
Life-like Metaphorical Visualizations ....................................................................... 26
Physical Visualizations ............................................................................................ 27
Somaesthetic Design .............................................................................................. 29
Mindfulness ............................................................................................................... 30
Mindfulness in Interaction Design Research ........................................................... 30
Digital Mindfulness .................................................................................................. 41
Mindfulness and inspirations from Chinese aesthetics ........................................... 43
Chapter 3 Methodology and Research Process ................................. 49

Methodology .............................................................................................................. 49
General Research Process ...................................................................................... 55
Research Process and Methods in Project YU: Rethinking Heart Rate .............. 58
Research Process and Methods in Project HU: Rethinking Breath ..................... 62
Chapter 4 Exploration of the Design with Biodata ............................. 69

Design Exploration Inspired by Wu Hua ................................................................. 69
Design Project YU ................................................................................................... 70
Design Project HU ................................................................................................... 73
Design Implementation with Physical Interactive Artifacts .................................. 76
Design Project YU ................................................................................................... 77
Design Project HU ................................................................................................... 79
Reflection ................................................................................................................... 82
Chapter 5 Conclusions and Discussions ........................................... 90
Review of the Research Question and Contributions ........................................... 90
Reflections on the Design Exploration ................................................................... 93
References ............................................................................................. 97


Bin (Tina) Zhu

Chapter 1 Introduction ∣ 13
Chapter 1 Introduction
Aims and Research Questions
As digital technologies for wellbeing are increasingly applied in everyday life,

people are gaining an awareness of their own physical and psychological
conditions by monitoring their bodies digitally (Hesse, 2010). The Quantified
Self (QS) movement has opened up opportunities for non-expert users to
manage their health and wellbeing. With self-tracking technologies, people can
collect and analyze their behavioral data (e.g. step counts), physiological data
(e.g. heart rate) or psychological data (e.g. subjective stress) for self-monitoring,
self-reflection and behavioural change, etc (Li, Dey & Forlizzi, 2010; Li, Forlizzi
& Dey, 2010). Indeed, many researchers have explored how the Quantified Self
and personal informatics can be developed to benefit people and improve
wellbeing (Skog, Ljungblad & Holmquist, 2003; Jafarinaimi, Forlizzi, Hurst &
Zimmerman, 2005; Consolvo, Everitt, Smith & Landay, 2006; Lin et al., 2006;
Consolvo et al., 2008; Consolvo, McDonald & Landay, 2009; Li, Dey & Forlizzi,
2011, 2012; Stusak et al., 2014; Ayobi, et al., 2017).
From the perspective of design, there are many possibilities for representing
biodata and displaying it to the end-users. Researchers and practitioners have
been exploring a range of means of interaction with biodata and creating a series
of interesting designs. As indicated by some studies, apart from health
monitoring, these designs could consider some other dimensions, such as self-
discovery (MacLeod et al., 2013), self-care (Nunes et al., 2015), the felt
experience of using the technologies (Ayobi et al., 2017) and the inner body
(Turkle, 2011; Calvo & Peters, 2014; Williams, 2015). The human body is
complex and dynamic. Moreover, the socially and culturally grounded body is
particularly difficult to quantify and evaluate through numbers (Höök, 2019).
Thus, techniques for designing with biodata and representing the rich
dimensions of the body is worthy of reflection. With an interest in exploring
further design possibilities, I, as a researcher and a designer, asked myself: “how
can we design interactive technologies with biodata to serve a different purpose?”
It is important to revisit the ideologies embedded in viewing the body. A
mindfulness perspective motivated my research.
There is increasing interest in mindfulness for its potential benefits as a
wellbeing practice to improve quality of life (Grossman et al., 2004; Allen et al.,
2006; Brown, Ryan and Creswell, 2007; Mars & Abbey, 2010; de Frias & Whyne,
2015; Conversano et al., 2020; Behan, 2020). The mindfulness movement,
which advocates viewing the body, self and life with an accepting and non-
judgmental attitude, brings a perspective of attentive awareness on the present

moment. (Kabat-Zinn, 2010). While encouraging people to face the uncertainty

about their future, mindfulness brings them to a centered calm without being
carried away by negative emotions (Kabat-Zinn, 2013). This centered calm is
built on the presently lived moment, rather than past performance and an
envisioned future. In other words, mindfulness allows people to accept life
situation and bodily state with less criticism and judgment.
Over the last few years, technologies related to mindfulness and relevant
research endeavors in HCI have increased markedly, as can be seen from the
growing number of academic publications (Terzimehić et al., 2019; Lukoff et al.,
2020). The different aspects and dimensions of mindfulness have been touched
upon, such as self-regulation of attention (Sas and Chopra, 2015; Niksirat et al.,
2019), recollection and evaluation (Chen et al., 2018), and subjective
experiences, including relaxation, joy and love (Kosunen et al. 2016). Some
researchers have applied various disciplines, such as neuroscience, psychology,
physiology, art and industrial design, to create novel interactions with the
emerging technologies (Vidyarthi et al. 2012; Thieme et al., 2013; Plaza et al.,
2013; Mani et al., 2015; Cox et al., 2016; van Rheden and Hengeveld, 2016;
Akama et al., 2017; Hussien Ahmed et al., 2017; Salehzadeh Niksirat et al., 2017).
In brief, these studies provided the HCI community with diverse perspectives
and foundations for investigating mindfulness.
Based on the previous work, this thesis uses a mindfulness approach to
viewing the body to enrich the design space for the interaction design with
biodata. By definition, the term “design space” refers to the range of possible
design solutions (Westerlund, 2009). According to Westerlund (2005), design
space represents the possible solutions during the design process. In other
words, the different methods and techniques used during the design process will
lead to the knowledge about what the design space could be. Nevertheless, a
design space is an extremely complex multi-dimensional space that contains
multiple solutions and consist of several non-connected spaces (Westerlund,
2005). Due to its complexity, design space has great potential for exploration
through different perspectives and approaches.
Mindfulness has been conceptualized in a broad range of notions and
practices. Different mindfulness practices and techniques have different focal
points, which range from attention (Salehzadeh Niksirat et al., 2017), open
monitoring (Lutz et al., 2008), self-regulation (Masicampo and Baumeister,
2007), non-judgmental awareness (Kabat-Zinn, 1990), the capacity to deal with
stress (Grossman et al., 2004), empathy (Fulton, 2005), automatic self-
transcending (Travis and Shear, 2010), compassion (Decker et al., 2015) and
self-compassion (Neff, 2003) through to a heightened sense of wellbeing. The

focal point of this thesis is to explore interaction design for non-judgmental

awareness of the body. Therefore, the definition of mindfulness from Professor
Kabat-Zinn is used as a basis for the design space. According to Kabat-Zinn
(2003), mindfulness means “paying attention on purpose, in the present
moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by
moment”. This definition has been broadly adopted by many HCI researchers
and designers (Terzimehić et al., 2019). Based on this definition of mindfulness,
I drew on Chinese aesthetics to explore more design possibilities. Chinese
aesthetics, particularly the Taoist aesthetic notion of Wu Hua (Guying Chen,
2009), echo the concept of mindfulness. In addition, Wu Hua provides a way of
viewing the body as an inseparable part of the rest of the natural world and
promotes living with it harmoniously in an aesthetic experience without
judgment. The approaches to practicing Wu Hua used in some Chinese artwork,
such as dissolving the sense of the self by externalizing the body to different
forms of representations, enlightened me greatly. With these inspirations, I
experimented with explorative designs and variants of mindfulness practices.
Through design practice, I was interested to see whether design could bring
people an aesthetic experience and a mindful attitude to viewing their body
without conscious judgment.
In this thesis, I tried to investigate the following research question:

How can we design with biodata for m indfulness inspired by
Chinese aesthetics?
By analyzing previous research, I have found some opportunities in 1) a
design space of non-judgmental awareness of the body, 2) a design approach
inspired by Chinese aesthetics, 3) a design medium of physical interactive
artifacts.
The key words are further interpreted below:
1) Biodata:
My work aims to explore a mindful way to consider biodata and the present
bodily experience by using bio-data as a shared element to connect people and
artifacts. In this thesis, I focus on the physiological data and experiment with
pulse, heart rate and respiratory data to practice mindfulness and non-
judgmental awareness of the body. The reason for choosing these types of data is
to anchor attention to the present moment – “experiencing the bodily rhythm of
heartbeat and breath”.

2) Non-judgm ental awareness of the body:

Non-judgmental awareness of the body means experiencing the body without
conceptualizing or discriminating the bodily condition as good or bad, desirable
or undesirable, healthy or unhealthy through a dualistic stance.
3) Aesthetics and Chinese aesthetics:

In this thesis, aesthetics is regarded as an ability to appreciate the world and our
experiences that is more than merely the surface beauty or sensual pleasure.
Chinese aesthetics have very rich traditions. The notion of “Wu Hua” from
Taoist aesthetics and the practice of art (e.g. the approach of “externalizing the
self to an incarnation” applied in some Chinese artwork) have particularly
influenced my design exploration. More explanation in details will be presented
in Chapter 2 and 4.
4) Physical interactive artifact:

The term physical interactive artifact refers to the interactive technologies
designed in physical and tangible forms. In my design cases, the artifacts are
devices or systems lacking a screen. For example, I used bio-sensing
technologies to develop the interactive fish bowl, lamp, breathing device, etc,
which served as medium of my design practice.
In this research, I generally used methodological approaches called ‘Research
through Design’ in two experimental projects, YU and HU. To be specific, I
documented the design process with the details of important design decisions in
this thesis together with the published articles. My work was based on 1) a
perspective of mindfulness, 2) inspirations from Chinese aesthetics and related
art practice, 3) a personal experience of mindfulness practices, 4) design
practices involving experimenting with physical interactive artifacts. I employed
autobiographical design in my work, by acting as a researcher, a designer and a
user from the first-person perspective. I also conducted the in-situ studies in a
real-life setting (e.g. an everyday-use scenario in a home setting) and tested
particular settings (e.g. mindfulness exercise). In-situ studies provided a deeper
understanding into how people make sense of designs, create meanings and
interact with the artifacts. Additionally, the incorporation of autobiographical
design and in-situ studies allowed me to gain a detailed and subtle
understanding of my research questions from both of the first-person and the
third-person perspectives so as to avoid ego-oriented judgments.

Contributions
The contributions of my research can be divided into a conceptual level and a

practical level.
Contribution 1: Integrating mindfulness and Chinese aesthetics into

interaction design to investigate viewing the body and designing with biodata.
The first contribution is a conceptual contribution. My thesis explores a
mindfulness perspective for viewing the body and designing with biodata.
Despite growing evidence of the potential positive effects of mindfulness for
some people, there is less research on integrating mindfulness into interaction
design when my work started. Based on the definition of mindfulness from
Kabat-Zinn, I drew on Chinese aesthetics to enrich the design space with more
design possibilities. Meanwhile, introducing aesthetics to interaction design for
wellbeing is in line with the growing interests in aesthetics in the HCI
community (Tractinsky, 1997, Lim, 2007). Chinese aesthetics have very rich
traditions. I have applied the notion of Taoist aesthetics from Wu Hua and
further explored the design space by adopting the artistic approach of
“externalizing the self to an incarnation” that has been applied in some Chinese
artwork. This resulted in more design possibilities and concrete design input to
guide the design practice. For example, I suggest externalizing bodily rhythms in
an aesthetic representation to support mindfulness. Thus, the first contribution
is integrating mindfulness and Chinese aesthetics into interaction design to
create more options for viewing the body and designing with biodata.
Contribution 2: Formulating design concept and tactics of designing with

biodata based on physical interactive artifacts
The second contribution is a practical contribution, which concerns how we
can design with biodata from a perspective of mindfulness, namely one of living
in the present moment with non-judgmental awareness of bodily conditions.
Beyond that, I practiced the inspirations from Wu Hua in two design projects
that displayed biodata (pulse, heart rate and respiratory data) and mirrored it to
the end-users. The practice contributes to the design concept of non-judgmental
interaction and the related design tactics resulted from a ‘Research through
Design’ process through design cases.
One of the design projects is called YU (meaning fish in Mandarin Chinese).
YU is an interactive aquarium intended to cultivate mindfulness, in particular,
non-judgmental awareness of the body. The design presents the invisible
rhythm of life (heart rate and pulse) through a life-like incarnation – a virtual
“fish” avatar. Another project HU (meaning breathing out in Mandarin Chinese)

is a hand-held interactive device to support mindful breathing for individuals

and groups. More specifically, the sense of transience, temporality and the
beauty of breathing in the present moment is communicated by the rhythm of
vapor. As pointed out by some participants in this research, rhythmically tuned
vapor that synchronizes with one’s breath frequency anchored their focus on
breathing and kept their interests focused on the practice of mindfulness. With
an aesthetic form and a similar sensual form for the airflow, the vapor was
adopted as a suitable design material to represent respiratory data.
The design practice results in the design concept of non-judgmental
interaction. Non-judgmental interaction means that 1) the representation of
biodata avoids producing subjective judgments of bodily conditions; 2) the
interaction between artifacts and participants avoids provoking strong
emotional reactions. I formulate three tactics that I have explored in designing
physical interactive artifacts for non-judgmental interaction: 1) a design
aesthetic representation to match the properties of sensed biodata, 2)
engagement of rhythmic bodily interaction, 3) establishing a quiet and proper
space.
Thus, the second contribution of this thesis is to draw on the inspirations
from mindfulness and Chinese aesthetics in concrete design cases and formulate
the design concept using tactics from my design practice. I suggest designing
non-judgmental interaction with physical interactive artifacts to hold people’s
interest focused on mindfulness, anchor their attention and increase
engagement, especially for novices to mindfulness practice.
Thesis Outline
This thesis is a compilation thesis (“kappa” in Swedish), which is based on a

series of research papers. In this thesis, I introduce my PhD work and
summarize the results by putting all the research papers into a coherent whole.
Since the entire thesis focuses on the design, rather than the philosophy or
aesthetics, the design process and reflections are emphasized throughout the
thesis. I choose a mindful way of writing when presenting the tactics that I have
explored from my experiences and failures. Additionally, the style of writing is
that the research process is introduced to the readers in the same way as when
telling a story. I will briefly introduce the structure of this thesis and the related
research papers in the following.
In Chapter 1, I not only present the aim of this thesis and the research context,
but also introduce my thesis by describing my motivation, the research question
and its contributions.
In Chapter 2, the inspirations and background of this thesis, such as the

designs using biodata, mindfulness and related research in HCI, inspirations

from Chinese aesthetics and art practice are introduced. Furthermore, I analyze
some challenges and opportunities when investigating mindfulness-related
interactive technologies and interaction design with biodata.
In Chapter 3, the methodology and the research process are described in
detail. To begin with, I position my work in relation to the research carried out
so far and introduce the methodology for this thesis. In addition, I tell the story
behind my research process, including why I am carrying out this research, what
I have done and how I do it. Details that have not been published in the research
papers are set out in this section, such as the process for formulating my
research questions and the selection of methods. Lastly, two projects (YU and
HU) are included in this thesis as design examples.
In Chapter 4, I describe how I use inspirations from mindfulness and
concepts from Chinese aesthetics to guide my design. At the same time, some
tactics from mindful interaction design using biodata and physical interactive
artifacts are proposed as practical contributions. In addition, I share the design
process for two design projects (YU and HU), including reflections on them in
greater detail. The failures and lessons I have learnt from my research process
are set out for further discussion in Chapter 5.
In Chapter 5, I revisit the research question and contributions, discuss the
results and reflect on the insights during my research journey.
Summary of Papers Included
Paper A
Zhu, B., Zhang, Y., Ma, X., Li, H.(2015). Bringing Chinese Aesthetics into
Designing the Experience of Personal Informatics for Wellbeing. In Proceedings
of the Conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM
2015). 289-298.
This paper aims to provide a perspective on designing the experience of
personal informatics, which is inspired by Chinese aesthetics: designing with
biodata from the perspective of body appreciation. I also make some reference
to the concept of naturalization and harmony in Chinese aesthetics, especially
the thoughts of Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi (i.e. ups and downs, stress and
depression, are as natural as the four seasons, which should not be judged as
positive or negative things). The human body is a good example of such a
harmonious and dynamic system. Complementary forces interact to form a
harmonious and dynamic system in which the whole is greater than its parts.

The project YU is my first attempt at exploring the design using physiological

data with inspiration from Chinese aesthetics. YU is an interactive system that
displays pulse and heart rate data. In this design case, I attempted to present
bodily rhythms through artistic visualizations, so as to create experiences for
appreciating life. Thus, a virtual “fish” avatar was created as a lens for users to
view their own body. The heart rate is presented in an aesthetic way, so that
people can appreciate their body from a non-judgmental perspective.
In addition, YU is compared with other forms of visualizations. For example,
Fish‘n’Steps is a fish tank-like virtual pet social game that displays pedometer
data. It uses a similar representation of fish, but with different motivations and
goals. By comparing two wellbeing-related design cases (the goal-oriented
design Fish‘N’Steps and the experience-oriented design of YU), I proposed some
design implications inspired by Chinese aesthetics that can be employed in
designing with biodata. These design implications and the lessons learned from
the design process will be elaborated on later in Chapter 4.
In this paper, I was responsible for the concept, the study setup, the design of
YU and the writing. As for the theory, I discussed with my supervisor, Haibo Li,
and co-authors Yanqing Zhang and Xiaojuan Ma. Meanwhile, Xiaojuan Ma read
and revised the text.
Paper B
Zhu, B., Hedman, A., Li, H. 2017. Designing Digital Mindfulness: Presence-In
and Presence-With versus Presence-Through. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2017). ACM, New
York, NY, USA (Received the SIGCHI Honorable Mention Paper Award, top 5%).
In this paper, I provide a framework for considering how digital mindfulness
apps can be classified and developed according to four levels of interaction. The
existing commercially available apps are classified into three levels: 1)
“digitalized mindfulness apps”, where the existing face-to-face mindfulness
instructions are recorded and made available; 2) “personalized mindfulness
apps” that provide personalized mindfulness programs to suit different users
and their preferences; 3) “quantified mindfulness apps” with more emerging
technologies, such as wearable sensors, to create innovative interaction. Based
on the three levels, we have proposed a fourth level: a non-instrumental design
of digital mindfulness. One crucial aspect of the fourth level is that the artifacts
at this level allow for “presence-with” and “presence-in”, as opposed to
“presence-through” in the first three levels. Levels one to three can be useful for
reaching a state of presence. However, at the fourth level, we have the possibility

of being present-in or present-with the artifact, which is analogous to how we

can be present-in nature or present-with nature or some aspect of nature (e.g. a
tree or a flower). Being present at this level is, in these forms, unmediated and
non-instrumental. We do not have to follow any directions or engage in any
action to become present. We simply allow for it to happen – this is “mindful
being”.
To understand and further explore digital mindfulness, we conducted the
study in two phases. In the first phase, we reviewed the existing apps and
inductively synthesized a three-level scheme for classifying current digital
mindfulness applications. In the second phase, the design space of future digital
mindfulness apps was explored. Furthermore, mindfulness adopters and
coaches were interviewed in order to understand the possibilities for designing
technologies for mindfulness. Based on the insights from the interviews, we
invited HCI researchers and designers to a design workshop, where they
generated sketches and prototypes of future possibilities through design fiction
(Blythe, 2014). Overall, these two phases of the study allowed us to formulate
some design qualities for an additional, unexplored level of digital mindfulness.
Then, the previous work YU was used as a working design case to further
illustrate the possibilities of “presence-with” and “presence-in”. The design
approaches and the process will be described in detail in Chapter 4.
The contribution of this paper is intended to raise the question of how we can
design digital artifacts for mindfulness. This paper is based on app reviews,
interviews and a design workshop. I co-authored this with my supervisors Haibo
Li and Anders Hedman. With his expertise and intellectual focus on the
understanding mindfulness, Hedman has played a fundamental role in
articulating higher-level insights.
Paper C
Zhu, B., Hedman, A., Feng, S., Li, H., Osika, W. 2017. Designing, Prototyping
and Evaluating Digital Mindfulness Applications: A Case Study of Mindful
Breathing for Stress Reduction. Journal of Medical Internet Research 2017; 19(6)
e197.
The textual context of this paper is that we learned from the first design
experience and took these lessons into the next design exploration. We decided
to explore the design and evaluation approach for mindfulness applications in
the area of stress reduction.
Some western stress reduction methods, which are oriented towards
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), emphasize behavioral changes. By contrast,

eastern meditative approaches focus more on present-centered attention and

awareness, namely what has been termed mindfulness in the West and non-
judgmental acceptance of life situations encountered. Nowadays, there is an
increasing interest in designing and evaluating digital mindfulness-facilitating
technologies to cope with stress. Most of the existing digital mindfulness
applications are software-based. There is room for further exploration and
assessment of mindfulness applications/systems that make more use of physical
qualities. This is also the motivation of this paper.
This paper focuses on designing digital technology for MBSR (mindfulness-
based stress reduction), particularly mindful breathing. Inspired by the previous
studies and our own design practice, we investigated how to design interactive
physical artifacts based on visual and sound feedback to support mindful
breathing for stress reduction. Furthermore, we designed, developed and tested
HU (meaning “breathing out” in Mandarin Chinese), a physical digital
mindfulness prototype designed for stress reduction that is based on vapor, light
and sound. One contribution is to investigate how interactive visual and sound
feedback can be used to support mindful and relaxing deep breathing. Our study
indicates the potential of interaction design based on vapor, light and sound to
support mindful breathing and stress reduction. Furthermore, the feedback
from user explorations of HU in their homes and from interviews could help us
understand more about the subjective experiences of using this type of device.
Another contribution is that this paper compares two different methods in
testing physical mindfulness prototypes. To be specific, we deployed a package
of probes (e.g. photos, diaries and cards) to collect data from users who explored
HU in their homes. Then self-assessed stress levels, heart rate (HR) and heart
rate variability (HRV) measures were used to test our device. Lastly, we
performed semi-structured interviews to reflect on HU and investigated the
design of digital mindfulness applications for stress reduction.
As this is the pilot phase of research on physical digital mindfulness systems,
future work on a larger-scale study is expected. Due to the limitation of paper
length, we did not elaborate on the design process of HU and demonstrate how
we applied the design approach for designing digital mindfulness apps.
For my part, I contributed to the design of HU. Shuo Feng and I carried out
the user study and performed data analysis. The writing and framing of the
paper was divided between Anders Hedman and I. In addition, Walter Osika
advised us on the methodology and commented on the manuscript.

Paper D
Designing Mindful Interaction for Direct Presence (Plan to submit to a journal)

Zhu, B., Hedman, A.
In recent years, the digital health and wellbeing movement has the promoted
development of digital mindfulness applications. How to design mindful
interaction is a question that needs further research. A key component of
mindfulness is presence. In this paper, we (1) articulate our concept of direct
presence as an affordance of artifacts. Direct presence artifacts are characterized
by how they are designed to support presence in and/or with the artifacts
designed. Then, we (2) show how we have designed artifacts for direct presence.
Finally, we (3) suggest design sensitivities for direct presence. We not only rely
on the feedback from workshop participants and test subjects, but also draw
inspiration from mindfulness practices and aesthetics. The work in this paper
illustrates our design process as an example of how affordances for direct
presence can be designed.
Three modes of interaction may be worth considering in designing for direct
presence: “the aesthetic mode, the mode of individual intentionality and the
mode of shared intentionality”. These modes can neither necessarily exclude the
others nor force direct presence. However, we suggest that the predominance of
the aesthetic mode and/or the mode of shared intentionality is the indicator of
direct presence. Designers who design for these modes of interaction and
succeed in their designs have managed to design for direct presence by offering
affordances of aesthetics and/or shared intentionality.
Indeed, the design qualities of the artifacts have been introduced in Paper B.
Thus, the focus here is on our three interactive modes, rather than the
properties of the artifacts. This complements our earlier sets of sensitivities.
This paper is based on my design research, as well as the design cases YU and
HU. I co-authored with Anders Hedman, who promoted an understanding of
direct presence and intentionality with his expertise.
Papers Not Included

1. Chen, J., Zhu, B., Balter, O., Xu, J., Zou, W., & Hedman, A., et al. (2017).
FishBuddy: Promoting Student Engagement in Self-Paced Learning
through Wearable Sensing. IEEE International Conference on Smart
Computing (pp.1-9). IEEE.

2. Zhu, B., Hedman, A., Li, H. (2016). Design digital mindfulness for
personal wellbeing. In Proceedings of the 28th Australian Conference on
Computer-Human Interaction (OzCHI '16). ACM, New York, NY, USA,
626-627.
3. Zhu, B. (2015). Appreciation of the body: aesthetics of interaction design

for health information based on Chinese culture (pp. 104-112) Journal of
the National Academy of Art. V.36, Number 4. 2015
4. Zhu, B., Ma, X., Zhang, Y. (2015). Appreciation of Living: Bringing

Chinese Aesthetics into Personal Informatics Design. Presented in the
SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2015)
Workshop on Beyond Personal Informatics: Designing for Experiences
with Data
5. Ma, X., Zhu. B. (2015). The Art of Engagement: From Calligraphy to

Interaction Design. Presented in CHI 2015 Workshop on Leveraging and
Integrating Eastern and Western Insights for Human Engagement
Studies in HCI.
6. Zhu, B., Li, H. (2014). Designing Finger Movement On Mobile Phone

Touch Screen For Immersive Experiences Of Emotional Expression.
Annual Summit and Conference. APSIPA, 2014.
7. Zhu, B., Kürth-Landwehr, S., Corbi, VG. (2014). YU: an artistic

exploration of interface design for home healthcare. In Proceedings of
the 8th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied
Interaction (TEI '14). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 332-334.
8. Zhu, B. (2013). Explore Chinese Aesthetics in Interaction Design of

Body-Awareness System. Presented in Chinese CHI 2013 in the SIGCHI
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2013).
9. Zhu, B. Höök, K. (2013). Using Mobile Phone Cover to Extend Twitter

with Gesture-Based Emotional Expressions. Presented in the SIGCHI
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2013)
Workshop on Explorations in Social Interaction Design.

Chapter 2 Background and Inspiration ∣ 25
Chapter 2 Background and Inspiration

The inspirations for and background of this thesis, including designs involving
biodata, mindfulness and related research in HCI, will be introduced in this
chapter. To begin with, I analyzed some opportunities for investigating
mindfulness-related interactive technologies that motivated my research work.
At the same time, a framework for considering how digital mindfulness apps can
be classified and developed according to four levels of interaction was presented.
Lastly, I introduced Chinese aesthetics and related art practice, on which the
fourth level design of digital mindfulness is based. Moreover, these inspirations
were used to explore the design space of interactive technologies with biodata.
Designing with Biodata
The research on Personal Informatics (PI) and the Quantified Self (QS)
movement drives the development of related applications, allows users to
monitor bio-data and make self-assessment (Choe, N.B. Lee, B. Lee, Pratt &
Kientz, 2014), and provides opportunities for common users to manage their
health and wellbeing (Li, Dey & Forlizzi, 2010; Li, Forlizzi & Dey, 2010). As
mobile and wearable technologies are increasingly applied in daily life, users can
learn about their physical and psychological conditions through biosensors and
body monitors. When my work started, numeric meters, bar charts and graphs
were commonly used, especially in commercial bio-sensing products (Khot et al.,
2015). As users’ self-assessments depend largely on how biodata are presented,
a question of how to design biodata displays arises. Some researchers have, for
this and other reasons, explored various design approaches of tracking and
using data in more engaging ways.
Ambient Displays and Abstract Visualizations
Mark Weiser and John Seely Brown (1997) pioneered calm technology and
ambient display techniques for behavioral change. Ambient displays were
designed to communicate information in the periphery of our attention,
cultivating a design paradigm that does not require focused attention or
interaction. According to Jafarinaimi et al (2005), aesthetics are a primary
property in the design and use of ambient information visualization.
Furthermore, Rogers et al. (2010) found that playful ambient displays could
nudge people to change their behaviors. They designed three representations of
people’s choice of taking the stairs or the elevator in an aesthetically pleasing
and playful manner. Then, the results of a six-month in-the-wild study indicated
that such abstract displays could evoke non-prescriptive, non-judgmental

reflection and suffer less from ‘display blindness’ effect (Müller et al., 2009) in
the long term.
Some ambient displays exploit abstract art to visualize behavioral data, such
as physical activities. For example, Fan, Forlizzi and Dey (2012) found that
abstract visualizations that supplement traditional graphs could increase
enjoyment and engagement with their data displays. In addition, abstract
displays are impersonal, non-prescriptive and nonjudgmental (Rogers et al,
2010). However, it may be difficult for users to understand the meaning of
abstract visualizations. Reminders or hints are needed to help keep the displays
comprehensible (Skog et al., 2003). One alternative is to adopt metaphors for
the body or the bodily activities, especially life-like ones, enabling users to build
emotional connections with the representations.
Life-like Metaphorical Visualizations
Some researchers have adopted life-like metaphors and avatars to visualize

physical activity data. Consolvo, McDonald, and Landay (2009) depicted
physical activities and goal attainment as an animated garden in the UbiFit
Garden system (Figure 1). Each different type of flowers represents an individual
physical activity (e.g., a 22-minute walk is represented by one sunflower).
Beyond that, butterflies represent recent goal attainments, serving to reward the
user and remind them of past performance. As shown by their study, this kind of
aesthetic and glanceable display was well received by users. The metaphorical
representation of flowers and butterflies on the background screen of a user’s
mobile phone afforded reflection on and encouragement for behavioral change.
Figure 1. UbiFit Garden’s display (Consolvo, McDonald and Landay, 2009)
“a) At the beginning of the week – small butterflies indicate recent goal
attainments; the absence of flowers means no activity this week; b) a garden
with workout variety; c) the display on a mobile phone – the large butterfly
indicates that this week’s goal has been met”

Another example is Fish ‘N’ Steps (Figure 2), a fish tank-like, virtual-pet
social game for displaying data of pedometer (Lin et al., 2006). This application
calculated an individual’s daily step number and compared it with a personal
goal that had been established for each individual during pre-study phase. The
daily step counts were mapped to the growth of an animated fish avatar. The
appearance and emotions of the fish reflected user progress in meeting daily
walking goals. In addition, the fish smiled if its user achieved a predetermined
goal, and cried otherwise. By playing this social game, people could compete to
see who owns the “healthiest and happiest” fish in the tank. According to the
Transtheoretical Model of Behavioral Change (Grimley et al., 1994), this type of
intervention should support the achievement of desirable behaviors by
increasing users’ awareness of existing behaviors. The study found that a
cooperative and competitive social context was beneficial to behavioral change.
However, some users who failed to conduct desired behavior felt discouraged
and lost their sense of attachment to their virtual avatars (Lin et al., 2006). The
goal-oriented incentive can be a cause of stress and negative emotions (Zhu et
al., 2015). Some researchers have explored alternative approaches, such as
physical visualizations, to communicate biodata and enhance interactive
experience.
Figure 2. Fish ‘N’ Steps (Lin et al., 2006)

Top: The virtual characters - the growth levels and examples of facial expressions
Bottom: The fish tank contains the virtual pets that belong to the participant and their team
members
Physical Visualizations
Data physicalization employs physical artifacts for communicating biodata.

Breakaway (Jafarinaimi et al., 2005) is a small sculpture placed on office desks
(Figure 3) and its shape and movement not only mirror the human body, but
also remind users to go for a walk. Stusak et al (2014) demonstrated the impact

of physical visualizations by representing running activity in the form of a figure,

a necklace, a lamp and a jar (Figure 4). They argued that such “data sculptures”
contribute to a playful and reflective view of user activity data. Khot, Hjorth and
Mueller designed a system called SweatAtoms, transforming the heart rate data
associated with specific physical activities into 3D printed artifacts (Khot, Hjorth
& Mueller, 2014). The research group also experimented with ingestible
representations in the design of TastyBeats (Khot et al., 2015), a fountain-based
interactive system that transforms heart rate data into mixed sport drinks
(Figure 5). They found that after exercising, users consumed the prepared drink
as a reward, which motivated them to share social experience through having
the refreshments together. These designs use physical visualizations to promote
people’s engagement and immersion in the interaction.
Figure 3. Breakaway (Jafarinaimi et al., 2005)
Figure 4. Activity sculptures of running activity: a figure, a necklace, a lamp and a jar
(Stusak et al., 2014)
Figure 5. TastyBeats (Khot et al., 2015)

Somaesthetic Design
Somaesthetic design is fueled by growing interests in aesthetics in the HCI

community (Lim, Stolterman, Jung & Donaldson, 2007; Schiphorst, 2005, 2009;
Shusterman, 2011; Höök et al., 2015; Höök, 2018). It focuses on the awareness
of internal bodily experiences, rather than external sensory interactions
(Bardzell, J. & Bardzell, S., 2015; Höök et al., 2015). Based on the idea that the
human body is an experiential and cultural body (Höök, 2008), somaesthetic
design as a design approach leads to body-oriented interaction design. Khut and
Muller (2005) employed multisensory presentation of real-time heart and
breathing rates based on biofeedback to enable knowing the self through
experience. Vidyarthi, Riecke, and Gromala (2012) created a meditative display
by connecting respiration to a peaceful soundscape and developed a theoretical
framework for the psychology of media immersion in mindfulness. Separately,
Höök et al. (2016) translated experiential insights from the long-term practice of
Feldenkrais exercises into the design of a soma mat and a breathing light (Figure
6). These designs engage people by increasing their awareness of internal
sensations.
Somaesthetic design originated from the philosophy of Somaesthetics
proposed by Shusterman. Shusterman’s idea of Somaesthetics is inspired by
Eastern philosophy and aesthetics (Shusterman, 2008). He argued that the
western aesthetic tradition has blinded people from seeing a fact that is
obviously visible to non-western minds: “since we live, think and act through
our bodies, their study, care and improvement should be at the core of
philosophy” (Shusterman, 2008). Eastern philosophy and aesthetics have also
influenced my research. Here, I will introduce a perspective of mindfulness to
view the body and design with biodata.
Figure 6. Soma Mat and Breathing Light (Höök et al., 2016)

Mindfulness
At present, the definition of mindfulness has not achieved a clear consensus in

academic literature (Bishop et al., 2004). Depending on the working definition
used, different mindfulness practices are implied. As indicated by multiple
studies, mindfulness practice has positive effects on issues such as stress
syndrome (Grossman et al., 2004; Shapiro et al., 2005) and other mental health
issues (Williams et al., 2007; Piet and Hougaard, 2011; Davis and Hayes, 2011).
However, whether mindfulness practices have any proven effects on health
conditions is beyond the aim of this thesis. This thesis aims to engage with some
particular forms of mindfulness to see whether we can deepen or support those
experiences through design work. In that sense, it is similar to designing for
game experiences or playfulness (those experiences are interesting in
themselves). From the perspective of mindfulness, the design space could
embrace various ways according to designers’ interpretations and experience of
mindfulness. Initially, I will introduce the related work of mindfulness in
interaction design research. Then, I will convey an understanding of the
particular forms of mindfulness (digital mindfulness) and inspirations from
Chinese aesthetics that influenced my research.
Mindfulness in Interaction Design Research
With the development of interactive technologies, mindfulness practice is

moving to digital devices to fulfil people’s needs. Over the last few years the
number of interactive technology-based applications for mindfulness has
increased dramatically in the market (Zhu et al, 2017; Lukoff et al, 2020).
Meanwhile, there is a growing interest in mindfulness in interaction design
research, as can be seen from the increasing number of academic publications
(Terzimehić et al., 2019). In short, these studies provide us with various
perspectives and foundations for grounding the research of mindfulness within
HCI.
Initially, many mindfulness-related applications focus on teaching or training
conventional mindfulness techniques. These applications transform
mindfulness techniques (e.g. sitting meditation, body scan) or existing
mindfulness programs (e.g. mindfulness-based stress reduction1, mindfulness-
based cognitive therapy 2 ) to software and screen-based text/audio/video
1
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is broadly used for stress relief and wellbeing as “a
2
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a group-based clinical intervention program
designed to reduce relapse or recurrence of major depressive disorder (MDD) utilizing systematic
training in mindfulness meditation combined with cognitive-behavioral methods (Piet and
Hougaard 2011). It was created as a relapse prevention treatment aiming for decentering and

guidance. Mani et al (2015) systematically reviewed mindfulness-based mobile

apps and used the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) to rate the quality of
23 mindfulness apps. They found that most apps involved guided meditation
and very few apps had high ratings on the MARS subscales for visual aesthetics,
functionality, engagement or information quality. Roquet and Sas (2018)
investigated 16 popular mindfulness meditation apps based on an auto-
ethnographic and expert evaluation study. As indicated by the results, these
apps mostly focus on guided meditation, with limited support for measuring the
effectiveness of these apps. The researchers suggested developing new tools to
foster the bodily kinetic aspect and support intrinsic mindfulness meditation
processes. Moreover, Lukoff et al (2020) conducted an exploratory review of
370 mindfulness-related apps and interviewed 15 mindfulness teachers. Their
study reported that stress reduction and relaxation are the primary focus of the
current commercial mindfulness apps. Overall, these studies mostly focused on
mindfulness-based mobile apps.
VR for mindfulness practice
By leveraging the advantages of emerging interactive technologies, some

researchers have designed new ways of mindfulness practice. For instance, Virtual
Reality is developed as a medium to support mindfulness practice. Virtual Reality
(VR) refers to a computer-generated digital environment that can be experienced
and interacted with as if the environment were real (Sherman and Craig, 2003).
In the simulated setting delivered by VR devices (e.g. head-mount-displays),
people can generate a feeling of immersion and “presence” and experience a sense
of presence in the virtual environment (VE) (Diemer et al., 2015). At present, a
growing number of researchers are taking an interest in leveraging VR
technologies and providing a sensory-augmented environment to support the
mindfulness practice. Bio-sensing and bio-feedback technologies are used to sense
the particular pattern of people’s performance (behavior or physiological signs)
and feedback with real-time multi-sensory stimuli (e.g. audio-visual biofeedback).
For example, Kosunen et al. designed the RelaWorld, a neuroadaptive virtual
reality meditation system (Figure 7). This system measured the brain activity via
EEG in a VR environment with neurofeedback to support concentration,
relaxation and presence in mindfulness meditation (Kosunen et al., 2016). The
researchers found that, the neuroadaptive and immersive virtual reality
technology could support novice meditators to attain deeper levels of meditation
disengaging from self-criticism and negative thinking patterns through the modification of
dysfunctional thinking (Piet and Hougaard 2011).

compared to a similar setup without neurofeedback or head-mounted display.
Figure 7. The RelaWorld (Kosunen et al., 2016)

Bottom Left: Body scan practice Bottom Right: Focused attention practice
Life Tree is a breathing exercise game that uses a VR head-mounted display

and a breathing headset (Figure 8) (Patibanda et al., 2017). The players control
the growth of a tree by practicing pursed-lip breathing. In addition, the blurring
of the game’s view on breathing nudges players to become aware of their
breathing and pushes them to breathe rhythmically. The researchers found that
the immersive and non-interruptive breathing feedback during gameplay could
support self-awareness of the body and inner experiences. At the same time,
their research suggested an engaging way to help people learn proper breathing
techniques and support them in practicing mindfulness meditation.
Figure 8. Life Tree (Patibanda et al., 2017)
Langford et al (2018) developed a mindfulness training tool Fovography

(Figure 9) to broaden attention and awareness. Their research was drawn from
the four qualitative dimensions of attention (“aperture, clarity, stability and
effort”) from the Phenomenological Matrix of Mindfulness-Related Practices
(Lutz et al., 2015). The researchers investigated how to manipulate these four

dimensions of attention and affect the distribution of attention across the visual
field by altering image properties and modifying linear perspective in the VR
environment. As shown by the results, the tool increased the participants’
perception of awareness and provided a more spacious perspective.
Figure 9. Fovography (Langford et al., 2018)
Some other work focused on creating compelling audio stimuli by connecting

respiration (Vidyarthi et al., 2012) or using brain-computer interface via
adaptive neurofeedback systems (Amores et al., 2016; Sas and Chopra, 2015).
The applications covered more specific contexts and populations, such as for
passengers in moving vehicles (Paredes et al., 2018) and for chronic pain
patients to learn Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (Gromala et al., 2015).
Due to their own advantages, VR technologies have been developed as the
promising tools to train mindfulness. Firstly, VR technologies create an
engaging and immersive environment, in which mindfulness can be practiced
under control. Natural environments, such as a seaside scene (Figure 7)
(Kosunen et al., 2016) and a forest (Figure 10) (Gromala et al., 2015) are often
presented to create calm and mindful experiences. Additionally, a controlled
anchor of focus can be designed in a virtual environment. For example, a
glowing ball in RelaWorld was designed as the anchor of focus to direct the
attention away from other unpredictable distractions in the real-world
environment (Kosunen et al., 2016). Secondly, VR technologies can modify the
view perspective to gain a broader awareness of the viewer’s own viewpoint. This
capacity has the potential to evoke empathy and promote “executive control” in
the brain for emotional acceptance (Teper and Inzlicht, 2013). As revealed by
recent study, VR may aid with decentering, a capacity of mindfulness to take a
step back from one’s own experience and instead observe from another
perspective (Chandrasiri et al., 2020). Third, VR can provide personalized
experience according to individual preference and biofeedback. A sensory-rich
virtual environment has the potential to meet user’s preference through various

visual, auditory and haptic stimuli. Furthermore, the stimuli could be modified
adaptively according to the user’s reaction and experience. For example, in
Fovography, the image of the candle became wider as the user focused on it
(Figure 9) (Langford et al., 2018). In the Virtual Meditative Walk (Gromala et al.,
2015), the weather was modified with the patient’s changing arousal levels
tracked by the GSR (Galvanic Skin Response) sensors. As the patient’s arousal
levels increased, the fog became thicker (Figure 10 Left). When patients
approached a meditative state, the fog dissipated (Figure 10 Right).
Figure 10. The Virtual Meditative Walk (Gromala et al., 2015)
Although the above affordance of VR supports mindfulness practice in a

beneficial way, VR has some disadvantages and limitations that may increase
the barrier. The frequently reported disadvantages are the discomfort due to the
headset and simulator sickness caused by a discordant set of sensorial inputs
(Davis et al., 2014; Gonzalez-Franco and Lanier, 2017; Chandrasiri et al., 2020).
To overcome the barrier of practicing VR-based mindfulness training, Gromala
et al (2015) chose to use the DeepStream stereoscopic viewer, given that some
participants could not afford the weight and pressure of a head-mounted display
like the Oculus Rift. Furthermore, as claimed by some researchers, the audio
feedback can be distracting when people wear neuro-sensor-headsets and
earphones (Sas and Chopra, 2015). These limitations in equipment motivated
me to rethink how to provide simulated settings and sensory-augmented
environment, so that people can experience a sense of presence with less
distraction from the outside. Embodied interaction through physical artifacts
could be an alternative approach.
Physical artifacts for mindfulness practice
Some researchers designed physical artifacts and embodied interaction to

support mindfulness practice. For instance, Thieme et al (2013) designed a
mindfulness sphere for women with a dual diagnosis of a learning disability and
borderline personality disorder (Figure 11). Due to the fundamental lack of
motivation to engage in therapy, the mindfulness sphere was intended to
supplement the treatment as a meditation tool to help the patients increase
awareness of their body. Based on the heart rate, this sphere made of resin can

change color, frequency and intensity through six multicolor LEDs. Meanwhile,
soft pulsating vibrations would respond to the heartbeat when people held the
sphere. The user study showed that the interaction between people and the
physical artifact facilitated the learning of mindfulness capability by lowering
the motivational barriers and increasing engagement in mindfulness therapeutic
treatment. The sphere played an important role as a companion of practicing
mindfulness and helped novices enhance their self-identity (Thieme et al., 2013).
Figure 11. The Mindfulness Sphere (Thieme et al., 2013)
Physical artifacts afford a sense of presence in daily life. Similar work based
on physical artifacts to support mindfulness has been explored, for example, the
Sprite Cacher (Figure 12), a handheld interactive tool for treating depression
through self-reflection (Barker and Van Der Linden, 2017); Lotus, a plant-like
device to guide mindful breathing exercises for reducing stress (Figure 13)
(Chinareva et al., 2020); the Soma Mat and Breathing Light (Figure 6) for
increasing the awareness of internal sensations through somaesthetic design
(Höök et al. 2016). Overall, these designs increased interactivity and afforded
presence through bodily engagement in practice. In particular, the haptic
feedback from physical artifacts helped people to maintain a high level of
concentration in the present moment (Thieme et al., 2013; Jonsson et al., 2016).
Moreover, the physical artifacts could act as a companion for mindfulness
practice or a tool for memory recall for mindful reflection (Akama et al., 2017).
Other researchers found that people were likely to build stronger emotional
relationships with physical mementoes compared with digital ones (Petrelli and
Whittaker, 2010; Barker and Van Der Linden, 2017). These findings supported
me to explore the physical artifact as the medium in my design context for
mindfulness.

Figure 12. Sprite Catcher (Barker and Van Der Linden, 2017)
Figure 13. Lotus (Chinareva et al., 2020)
Learning from previous work, I made three proposals of opportunities for

mindfulness practices, which motivated me to explore further design
possibilities: 1) Design focal points and approaches; 2) Sensing technologies and
display technologies; 3) Theories and research methods.
1. Design focal points and approaches
Different mindfulness practices have different focal points, such as attention

(Sas and Chopra, 2015; Niksirat et al., 2019), recollection and evaluation (Chen
et al. 2018) and relaxation and presence (Kosunen et al., 2016). With their own
interpretations of being mindful, designers have designed different approaches
to mindfulness. For example, Niedderer proposed mindful interaction through
artifacts that “stimulate the user’s behavior employing their function, thus
causing mindful reflection and interaction” (Niedderer, 2007). In her study,
mindfulness refers to the attentiveness and consciousness of the user towards
the social consequences of actions performed with the object. Based on this

concept, she communicated mindfulness by redesigning artifacts and modifying

their function to disrupt people’s preconceptions. Cheng et al (2016) focused on
attention regulation when designing a mobile app PAUSE (Figure 14). Through
the slow and continuous movement of the fingertip across the screen, users were
allowed to stay mindful in the present moment. In the design case for PAUSE,
Cheng et al (2016) introduced an interaction style, Mindful Touch, which aimed
to anchor attention in slow, continuous finger movements on smartphone
touchscreens. Indeed, they were inspired by the movement practices from Tai
Chi to reduce stress and improve concentration. As indicated by their results,
Mindful Touch could be more broadly integrated with the existing range of
touch gestures and smartphone interactions to support mindful interaction
(Cheng, Lucero, and Buur, 2016).
Figure 14. The mobile app PAUSE (Cheng, Lucero, and Buur, 2016)
Slowness is widely used as an approach to achieve mindfulness (Hallnäs and

Redström, 2001; Grosse-Hering et al., 2013). Hallnäs and Redström (2001)
proposed slow technology to promote reflection on the present moment and
mental rest. According to them, slow technology exposes technology in a way
that invites reflection and is reflective in its expression. Based on slow
technology, some researchers used a time-centric approach to slow down
interaction and gave people time to think and reflect. For example, Van Rheden
and Hengeveld (2016) redesigned the traditional kitchen blender to support
mindful cooking through fluent task transitions, the rhythmic pacing of task
actions, appropriately challenging activities, etc. Likewise, Grosse-Hering et al
(2013) developed a series of mindful juicers based on Slow Design Theory
(Strauss and Fuad-luke, 2008). It was found that slowing people down during
the interaction process promotes mindful use. Although mindfulness practice is
not necessarily slow, slowness offers people more time to experience the present
moment.
As pointed out by Kabat-Zinn (2003), the practice of mindfulness means “the
actual engagement in the discipline that takes a variety of forms, from a range
of formal practices that are undertaken for varying periods of time on a
regular basis, to informal practices that are aimed at cultivating a continuity

of awareness in all activities of daily living.” The practice of mindfulness is not

limited to the particular forms, but is open to inviting alternative approaches
with varying focal points. To date, stress reduction and relaxation have been
reported as the primary focus in the commercial market of mindfulness-related
apps (Lukoff et al., 2020). The design space beyond the instrumental purpose
(e.g. stress relief and relaxation) remains to be explored further.
2. Sensing technologies and display technologies
Interactive technology-based mindfulness practices depend on the current

sensing technologies. The data from people’s behavior and their physical
performance (their physiological and psychological state) is gathered to support
tracking, intervention and validation. At present, electrocardiography (ECG),
electroencephalogram (EEG), galvanic skin response (GSR), respiration and
movement are often measured and analyzed. Although an increasing number of
projects offer biofeedback or neurofeedback based on users’ sensations through
sensing technologies, they track users’ physical performance as an indicator of
their mental state. Only a few projects examine users’ physical indicators of
mindfulness (Terzimehić et al., 2019).
The design for involving sensing technologies depends on the understanding
of mindfulness. Brown and Ryan (2003) conceptualized two aspects of
mindfulness, namely as a state and trait. In the fundamental psychological study,
a trait is considered to be a relatively stable and enduring quality within a
person, whereas a state is a short-lived capacity, which varies between different
situations (Steyer et al., 1999). Mindfulness could be considered to be a state in
a particular moment of time. From the sense of trait, mindfulness, as a stable
quality in a person in a long term, refers to enduring changes in one’s capacity
(Brown and Ryan, 2003). HCI studies primarily examine mindfulness as a state,
since it is easy to evoke through some approaches and evaluate the short-term
effect (Terzimehić et al., 2019). Researchers often measure the state of users
directly after use. Only a few studies investigate both the state immediately
induced by the application and the trait over a long term (Roo et al., 2017).
Another challenge arises from the limitation in equipment. The current
sensing technologies, more or less, have intrusive and disruptive effects on users’
states (Niksirat et al., 2019). Some works using real-time audio and visual
biofeedback for training mindfulness need dedicated apparatus (Amores et al.,
2016; Long and Vines, 2013; Vidyarthi et al., 2012; Yu, 2016). Biosensors and
other accessories on the body sometimes make people uncomfortable and
unfocused (Sas and Chopra, 2015). With the restrictions from the equipment,

such applications are difficult to use widely in everyday settings. In this regard,
researchers have been exploring strategies without using any dedicated add-on
accessories. Niksirat et al (2019) exploited continuous finger movement on
smartphone touchscreens to detect attention without attaching any dedicated
sensors. In future, advanced sensing technologies will be designed to provide
people with better user experiences.
Display technologies offer opportunities to practice mindfulness in different
kinds of media: from the screens of desktop computers through to mobile
devices, from on-screen displays to VR head-mounted displays, from 2D to 3D,
from screen-based interaction to peripheral interaction, from the virtual to the
physical environment. Based on the different types of media, rich interactions in
visual, audio, haptic and other modalities have been explored to display and
augment information. Although rich interactions may enhance the sense of
presence and increase engagement, interactions with overloaded information
could also be regarded as distractions and a hindrance to mindfulness. As
argued by Laurie and Blandford (2016), interactive technology-based
interventions might become distractions of mindfulness without the
considerations of individual need, situation and preference. The balance
between minimalism and richness in the interaction design for mindfulness
should be taken into account (Terzimehić et al., 2019).
Sensing and display technologies bring more possibilities for designing novel
mindfulness practices. Nonetheless, one limitation is that some sensing and
display devices should be set in a specific environment (e.g. a lab setting) and
people need special access to use them. With this consideration in mind, some
researchers designed physical artifacts that could be used in everyday life to
create more present experiences, such as the kitchen blender (Van Rheden and
Hengeveld, 2016) and mindful juicer (Grosse-Hering et al., 2013). Besides, some
researchers regarded the body as a resource of design and placed the body at
both ends of the interaction experience as a sensor and actuator (Höök, 2019;
Alfaras et al., 2020; Daudén Roquet and Sas, 2020). The design medium and
material for a lower barrier to practicing mindfulness is worthy of further
exploration.
3. Theories and research m ethods
As pointed out by Hekler et al (2013), integrating theory into design practice

can help 1) inform the design of technical systems, 2) identify shortcomings in
current theories and 3) outline ways in which HCI researchers can not only

interpret and utilize theories but also contribute to improving them. Beyond that,
theories from HCI and other disciplines help enrich the design space.
PAUSE, the mindfulness mobile app (Cheng, Lucero, and Buur, 2016), was
designed based on two physiological theories – Relaxation Response (Benson,
Beary, and Carol, 1974) and Attention Restoration Theory (Kaplan, 1995). The
researchers drew on these theories to inform how to detect user’s attention
through slow and repetitive finger movement on touchscreen and provide
meaningful feedback without interrupting the meditative state of users
(Salehzadeh Niksirat et al., 2017). Meanwhile, Attention Restoration Theory
(Kaplan, 1995) guided their design of single audio-visual stimulus as an anchor
for effortless reflection. For example, amorphous bubbles, the sound of ocean
waves and bird songs with a repeating and soothing loop trained people to be
mindful through slow, mindful interactions.
Laurie and Blandford (2016) adopted the Reasoned Action Approach
(Fishbein and Ajzen, 2011) as a conceptual framework for guiding data gathering
and analysis in their study of Headspace (the mindfulness mobile app). The
Reasoned Action Approach describes how environmental factors, skills and
abilities affect the possibilities for intentions becoming actions. It contributes to
synthesizing research on thought processes and deepening the understanding of
the behavior change in using mindfulness-related apps.
Theories are helpful for guiding design for mindfulness. In addition,
intermediate-level knowledge plays an important role in building a bridge
between theory and design practice. Höök and Löwgren (2012) emphasized the
importance of intermediate-level knowledge in interaction design research.
Furthermore, they argued that the knowledge constructed from design-oriented
research practice is more abstract than particular instances, but does not need to
be within the scope of generalized theories. Designers and researchers can
appropriate the intermediate-level knowledge in the creation of new design
instances. The combination of mindfulness and interaction design is a relatively
new field. In this research area, intermediate-level knowledge (e.g. design tactics)
is needed to fill the gap between general theories and design instances. In
addition, the construction of intermediate-level knowledge will help researchers
and designers communicate better and, in turn, generate more knowledge.
Meanwhile, diverse research methods might contribute to more design
possibilities. Apart from in-situ studies (Thieme et al., 2013; Chen et al., 2018),
some researchers used design fiction when designing technologies for
mindfulness (Cox et al., 2016). The science fiction writer Bruce Sterling coined
the term “design fiction” and defined it as “the deliberate use of diegetic
prototypes to suspend disbelief about change” (Blythe, 2014). Through design

fiction, researchers experiment with their design concepts by making sketches

and prototypes of future possibilities. In order to study mindfulness, Akama,
Light and Bowen (2017) proposed using artifacts and sharing them with others.
Indeed, they have done some pioneering work, such as documenting
mindfulness practices and material traces through video, photography, written
vignettes and gardening to evoke a state of mindfulness. As the experience of
mindfulness is personal and implicit, bodily experience-oriented research
methods could be investigated and used in the design context with biodata. For
example, first-person perspectives that are often adopted in soma-based design
and movement-based interaction place the lived bodies at the core of the design
process (Höök et al., 2018). Researchers’ own bodily experiences and
subjectivity were regarded as important analytical processes (Höök et al., 2018).
The first-person perspective has been used, for example, in designing artifacts
with thermal stimuli for increasing body awareness (Jonsson et al., 2016; Höök
et al., 2016) and biofeedback artworks for relaxation (G. P. Khut, 2016).
Based on the above insights and opportunities, a framework for digital
mindfulness is proposed. In the following section, I will explain the concept of
digital mindfulness and the framework for considering how digital mindfulness
can be classified according to the level of interactivity.
Digital Mindfulness
Digital mindfulness, a term proposed in Paper B, refers to the digital

technologies designed for mindful being in the present moment. In Paper B, I
propose a framework to classify and interpret the current digital mindfulness
applications with my supervisors Anders Hedman and Haibo Li (Figure 15).
Here, I briefly summarize the categories of digital mindfulness applications and
the classification is based on existing mindfulness technological products (see
more details and examples in Paper B).
Figure 15. Four levels of digital mindfulness (Zhu, Hedman and Li, 2017)
The first level of digital mindfulness, “Digitalized Mindfulness,” refers to the

digitalization of conventional face-to-face mindfulness guidance. In the
applications of digital mindfulness 1.0, the guidance-based instruction is the

primary content. This level of digital mindfulness does not utilize any interactive
possibilities. Apps at this level may contain introductory texts, guides, video
clips, illustrations, and so on.
Apps at the second level, “Personalized Mindfulness,” refer to a class of apps
that provide personalized mindfulness programs to suit different users and their
preferences. Apps on this level can allow users to make choices or customize. In
this way, they fit the user’s needs depending on the user’s age, available time
and the setting when using the app (e.g. at home, at work, travel and dining).
Apps on the third level, “Quantified Mindfulness,” leverage natural qualities
of digital devices and more emerging technologies, such as wearable sensors, to
create innovative interaction. One of the significant distinctions is the real-time
sensing capability of user performance and adaptive feedback. On the one hand,
they support the user, not only through customizations, but also with progress
reports and various quantifications of the user’s bodily states and behaviors. To
be specific, they might measure the user’s physiological performance (e.g. ECG,
breathing pattern, GSR and EEG), as well as how often a person has meditated
in a day, and provide visualizations of such data. In this way, the users can gauge
how much they have engaged in mindful activities.
Applications on the above three levels are designed as tools for reaching a
state of mindfulness through some mediated forms. As mentioned above, the
current applications market their benefits, such as stress reduction and
relaxation. Mindfulness becomes a tool that fulfills needs on the market. In
essence, mindfulness is a way of “being” rather than “doing”. It is not goal-
driven and does not have an instrumental purpose. Instead, the use of
instrumental tools and goal achievement could hinder true mindfulness (Zhu,
Hedman, and Li, 2016).
Based on the above three levels, a fourth-level design of digital mindfulness is
proposed in our paper Designing Digital Mindfulness: Presence-In and
Presence-With versus Presence-Through (Paper B)3. The fourth-level design of
digital mindfulness is that artifacts at this level are beyond goal orientation and
instrumental orientation, but afford a mindful state that is analogous to nature
(a gateway to mindful being). Thinking about a mindful walk in nature, we allow
ourselves to become present through the aesthetic experience of being one with
nature. Nature, or some part of nature, such as a tree, is not a tool, but
something more like a gateway to mindfulness, since it allows for experiences
beyond instrumentality. At the fourth level of digital mindfulness, people have
the possibility of mindful being in/with the artifact, which is analogous to how
3
This full paper received Honorable Mention (top 5%) in the SIGCHI conference on Human
factors in computing systems – CHI 2017.

they can be present-in nature or present-with nature. In other words, people

simply need to be present and allow direct and unmediated experience, instead
of setting any goals or doing any tasks to perform mindfulness. How can we
design digital mindfulness at this level? Can we design aesthetic artifacts to
mimic the power of nature for direct and unmediated experiences of
mindfulness? Chinese aesthetics and related art practice have inspired my
research work in the design exploration. Here, I introduce my understanding of
mindfulness and inspirations that the fourth-level design of digital mindfulness
is based on.
Mindfulness and inspirations from Chinese aesthetics

Mindfulness has its conceptual roots in Eastern philosophy, particularly
Buddhism. In the discourse of Buddha, Sammā Sati (right mindfulness) is the
seventh factor of the noble eightfold path that has come to be known as a
particular discipline at the heart of all classical systems of Buddhist meditation
(Bodhi, 2011). The word “mindfulness” is originated from the Pali4 term sati. In
general, sati or mindfulness can be interpreted as “to remember,” “to recollect”
or “the moment-to-moment lucid awareness of whatever arises in the mind”
(Sharf, 2014, pp. 941-942).
Drawing on thought from Buddhism and Eastern meditative traditions,
Professor Jon Kabat-Zinn5 at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center
(USA) articulated mindfulness in a context that is decoupled from religion and
ideological factors associated with its Buddhist origins. Specifically, he described
mindfulness and the association with Buddhism in this way:
“It is neither a belief, an ideology, nor a philosophy. Rather, it is a coherent
phenomenological description of the nature of mind, emotion, and suffering
and its potential release, based on highly refined practices aimed at
systematically training and cultivating various aspects of mind and heart via
the faculty of mindful attention…It should also be noted, being about attention,
is also of necessity universal. There is nothing particularly Buddhist about it.
We are all mindful to one degree or another, moment by moment. It is an
inherent human capacity. The contribution of the Buddhist traditions has been
in part to emphasize simple and effective ways to cultivate and refine this
capacity and bring it to all aspects of life.” (Kabat-Zinn, 2003, pp.145-146)
4
Pali is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely
studied as the sacred language of Theravāda Buddhism.
5
Kabat-Zinn introduced mindfulness into a Western society context by pioneering a practice he
named mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). The MBSR program applied mindfulness to
medicine, health care and other domains.

Based on the Eastern philosophical teaching of mindfulness, Kabat-Zinn

defined mindfulness as “paying attention on purpose, in the present moment
and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment.”
(Kabat-Zinn, 2003) As stated by Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness is the observing
power of the mind and open-hearted moment-to-moment, non-judgmental
awareness. Unlike awareness in our usual mode of consciousness, the type of
awareness involved in mindfulness is a state of mind that notices what is present
without judgment and interference (Goldstein, 2003). From the perspective of
Kabat-Zinn, non-judgment means setting aside the judging mind and letting go
of the automatic judgments that arise in the mind. In other words, with non-
judgmental awareness, people do not have to “do” something immediately to
react to their experience, but simply be present to it (Figure 16). Simply being
allows a person to awaken to the present moment and see the essence of things
(Kabat-Zinn, 2013).
My thesis was inspired by the definition of mindfulness by Kabat-Zinn. In
particular, the non-judgmental awareness of the present influenced me in how I
view the body and well “being”. However, when attempting to apply mindfulness
into design practice, I found it challenging. The concept of non-judgmental
awareness of the present is difficult to apply to design practice directly. Thus, it
is necessary to develop workable design tactics to guide the practice. Therefore, I
turned to the conceptual roots of mindfulness in Eastern culture and Chinese
aesthetics to seek inspiration.
Figure 16. Our judgmental mind and non-judgmental awareness (from the internet)
Mindfulness is translated in Chinese as “ 正念 ”. The character “ 正 ” is

composed of 一 “oneness” and 止 “stop or focus”. The character “念” is

composed of 今 “now” and 心 “heart or mind” (figure 17). The composition

indicates the similar interpretation of mindfulness that is focusing and living
here and now. How can we become mindful, in particular, non-judgmentally
aware of our body? What approaches should we use? When I looked at Taoist
aesthetics and related Chinese artwork, the concept of “Wu Hua” particularly
influenced my design exploration.
Figure 17. The Chinese characters for mindfulness are “正念”: “正”is composed of the top part
“一”(means “oneness”) and the bottom part “止” (means “stop or focus”). “念”is composed of the
top part “今” (means “now”) and the bottom part “心”(signifies “heart or mind”)
Taoist aesthetics communicates the concept of non-judgmental awareness

through an aesthetic thinking – “Wu Hua”. Wu Hua refers to the state that
embodies “the dissolution of the boundary between self and object and all
creatures are unified into one” (Guying Chen, 2009). “Wu Hua” allows people
to let go of judgments by blurring the boundaries between oneself as a human
being and other creatures, so as to achieve unity of the body and nature (Roth,
2010, pp. 202-207). In doing so, a person can be with and in nature without
conceptualizing, thinking about or controlling nature. The butterfly dream of
Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi (Möller, 1999) is a good example of “Wu Hua”
(Figure 18). Zhuangzi once engaged in a well-known thought experiment called
the Butterfly Dream 6 . In the dream, he pondered being either Zhuangzi
dreaming of a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of Zhuangzi. As he said, “I do not
know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am
now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.”
The point of the story has been discussed widely. One interpretation is that
Zhuangzi wished to let go of the judgments through “Wu Hua” by: 1) fitting into
the context of the dream, 2) blurring the boundary of the self and the butterfly
and 3) loosening his sense of being separated from nature7. In other words,
Zhuangzi suggested a way of being mindful: connecting with nature beyond the
conceptualization of the self and other things by non-judgmental acceptance of
all encounters. As he proposed, “one should take an aesthetic, contemplative
6
The story of the Butterfly Dream in short:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dporter/sampler/Zhuangzi_trans.html
7
It can link to one of the most important and influential propositions in Chinese aesthetics as
“Tian-ren-he-yi” (Original text in Chinese:天人合一). Tian-ren-he-yi means the harmonious unity of
nature and humans.

attitude towards life as a whole, one should discount gain and loss, success and
failure, right and wrong, merit and demerit; forget the self and things, subject
and object, the self and others, and thereby let the self and the whole universe
blend into one” (Li, 1995, p.155). From the perspective of Zhuangzi, nothing is
particularly good or bad if the context is excluded. “Ups and downs”, “Yin and
Yang”, are as natural as the four seasons. According to him, it is not always
necessary to discriminate between the good and the bad, the positive and the
negative, the right and the wrong, even the self and other things. By diminishing
the distinctions from the judgmental mind, people have the chance to pay
attention to the present moment, get in touch with direct experience and open
up to more beauty in life.
The scholar Peimin Ni interpreted Zhuangzi’s butterfly dream: “When
Zhuangzi enjoyed watching fish or dreamed that he was a butterfly, he was
having direct aesthetic experiences. In them, forgetfulness and directness
transcended time and space and overcame the dichotomy between the subject
and the object.” (Cheng Chung-Ying, 2002, p.300). According to this reading,
this story suggests stopping thinking and conceptualizing and, instead, being
present with direct aesthetic experiences.
Scott Cook interpreted Zhuangzi and his philosophy from another
perspective: “Zhuangzi’s philosophy (Taoism) offers us the chance to learn how
to live our lives aesthetically, to appreciate that all we encounter are simply
themes and variations upon the ever-changing melody (...) For they exclude
nothing and embrace all things as equal members of a diverse and intricate
orchestra.” (Cook, 2003, p. 76) “Wu Hua” and Zhuangzi’s example echo the
concept of mindfulness.
Chinese painting adopts “Wu Hua” by seeing and depicting human beings as
being merged in part with natural scenes (Poškaitė, 2017). Some artists practice
“Wu Hua” through an aesthetic approach of “externalizing the self”. This
aesthetic approach uses living beings or objects from the natural environment,
such as animals, plants, flowers and stones, as incarnations to externalize one’s
body and personality (Figure 19). By externalizing the body and projecting the
body onto natural scenes in the context of mindfulness, the body can be viewed
in three ways. Firstly, the body can be viewed as an aesthetic object of
appreciation. People may come to accept their bodily states by enjoying the
beauty of natural scenes and feeling the rhythms of the body. Secondly, the body
can be viewed as a part of the natural environment. People may build a friendly
and interdependent relationship between the environment and the body, instead
of showing a detached attitude. Third, the body can unify with the external
world into one. As mentioned above in Chinese aesthetics “let the self and the

whole universe blend into one”, people may live in harmony by blurring the
boundaries between the self and other things. It can be seen that the person
achieving oneness with all things may manifest the highest realm of beauty and
reach a state of mindfulness (Li, 2010).
The famous early work of art criticism, A Record of the Famous Painters of
all the Dynasties, describes this kind of art practice as the true way (Tao) of
painting78 (Acker, 1954). The artists act Tao of painting through establishing a
particular “ecological” relationship with nature (Poškaitė 2017). They act
without acting, that is, without imposing the will or judgment on nature and
others. Poškaitė (2017) interpreted this concept from a western perspective and
named this ecological relationship “unity in separateness”.
Figure 18. A Chinese painting depicting Zhuangzi’s butterfly dream

created by Chinese painter Lu Zhi (c. 1550)
8
“Object and self forgotten …departing from forms and leaving knowledge behind…It is what can
be called the true way (Tao) of painting”. Original text in Mandarin Chinese: 物我两忘,离形去智…
所谓画之道也 -《历代名画记》

Figure 19. Four paintings created by Bada Shanren (born as Zhu Da, 1626-1705), a well-known
Chinese painter and calligrapher during the Ming Dynasty.
All in all, “Wu Hua” and the aesthetic approach of “externalizing the self”
from the practice of Chinese artwork enriched my understanding of mindfulness.
Based on these inspirations, I tried to explore more possibilities for interaction
design with biodata.

Chapter 3 Methodology and Research Process ∣ 49
Chapter 3 Methodology and Research Process

In this chapter, the methodology of this research, the position of my work and
my role will be introduced. Then, I will introduce my research process, including
the reason for conducting research in this area, the research content and
research methods. Further details will also be provided in this section, such as
the development of my research questions and the selection of methods.
Methodology
The main methodological approach in this study is “design research”. By

definition, “design research” in the field of HCI is not only a study of design to
improve the process, but also the analysis of design artifacts to generate theories
that unite related methods for addressing design challenges (Zimmerman,
Forlizzi, and Evenson, 2007). As pointed out by Edelson (2002), an important
characteristic of design research is that it eliminates the boundary between
design and research (Edelson, 2002). The design process is regarded as an
opportunity for learning, rather than the implementation of the theory. Here,
the design research can be understood as an exploratory and process-oriented
approach of studying a particular design space. This particular design space is
about designing with biodata for mindfulness through physical interactive
artifacts. According to Westerlund (2009), the design space represents the
possible solutions arising during the design process. Beyond that, many
different methods and techniques could work simultaneously and result in
mapping out what the design space could be. Thus, research on the design space
does not aim to refine a single path, but more importantly, to invite alternative
solutions and perspectives. Gaver (2011) claimed that designs occupy a point in
design space or create a design space around themselves. As he indicated,
“designers can explore the implications of a given design by moving around
the point it inhabits to explore new design possibilities, or even by jumping
away from it along understood dimensions, whether to apply some of the same
decisions to new domains or to react against them.” (Gaver, 2012)
The aim of using “design research” as the methodological approach is not to
solve an existing problem or to give one single answer to the research question.
Rather, my thesis explores new design possibilities. More specifically, design is
used as an active element in my research process to explore a new space,
reframe problems, raise design proposals, build systems, explore engineering
tools, conduct user studies and promote iterative design work. At the same time,
the designed artifacts are built to examine the knowledge generated from the
design exploration.

Fallman proposed a triangle model for interaction design research (Figure 1).
In this model, design exploration was presented as “a statement of what is
possible, what would be desirable or ideal, or j us t show alternatives and
examples, or a contribution to an ongoing societal discussion to criticize a
current state of affairs… Design exploration provides what we see as a
necessary space for aesthetic concerns in interaction design research. The
artifacts coming out of design exploration are often societal in character, and
sometimes even subversive” (Fallman, 2008).
Personally speaking, my work is a design exploration that aims to explore new
possibilities outside of the current paradigms, investigate appropriate
approaches and experiment with design practice.
Figure 1. The position of my work in Fallman’s interaction design research triangle model
(Fallman, 2008)
Some researchers have compared design research with scientific research and
pointed out the differences. For one thing, design research focuses on non-
existence and the creation of an ultimate particular, while scientific research
focuses on existence and the universal (Stolterman, 2008). According to a
different viewpoint, design research concerns on practicality, ingenuity,
appropriateness and realness, whereas scientific research emphasizes on
rationality, objectivity, neutrality and truth (Ståhl, 2014). Also, the design

research is different from design. As argued by Löwgren (2013), the essence of

design is to produce artifacts, while the essence of research is to produce
knowledge. By comparing the contributions from design and research (Blackwell,
2004, Zimmerman and Forlizzi, 2014 p167), Blackwell stated that the
contributions from design must be good, but not necessarily novel. However, the
contributions of design research must be novel, but not necessarily good. The
discourse of design and research triggers the reflection on my role and work.
There are three roles in design and research (Ståhl, 2014): 1) design
researchers who focus on studying designers and the work of designers,
although they may not have a background of design education, 2) design
practitioners who focus on producing products instead of knowledge in the first
place and 3) design research practitioners who aim to produce knowledge
through doing design work and practicing design research. As for me, I place
myself in the third role – a design research practitioner.
In this thesis, Research through Design (RtD) has been chosen for carrying
out the design research (Fallman, 2003, 2007; Zimmerman, Forlizzi and
Evenson, 2007; Fallman and Stolterman, 2010; Gaver, 2012). This term, which
was first proposed by Frayling (1993), has been used in diverse contexts. As
stated by Zimmerman et al. (2007), RtD refers to the methods for interaction
design research in HCI. More specifically, it is described as “an approach to
conduct scholarly research that employs the methods, practices and processes
of design practice with the intention of generating new knowledge”
(Zimmerman and Forlizzi, 2014). The model of design research proposed by
Zimmerman et al (2007) expanded the focus on methods and the analysis of
artifacts to include making as a method of inquiry. Moreover, researchers could
integrate knowledge from other disciplines, such as behavioral science,
engineering and anthropology, to generate a holistic research contribution that
reveals the framing of a problem through an active process of ideating, iterating
and critiquing potential solutions. Regarding the knowledge contribution,
Zimmerman et al (2007) argued that the design research should be ended up
with ‘agreed upon form of practice, evaluation, and outcome’ through the
development of ‘extensible, systemic approaches’ to theory development. In
contrast, some other researchers hold different opinions (Stolterman, 2008;
Gaver, 2012). As stated by Stolterman (2008), design research should respect
design towards an “ultimate particular”, rather than developing generalizable
theories. What kind of outcome can RtD contribute as knowledge and how can
we present the work using RtD? With RtD development, researchers have
proposed a different set of specific ways and perspectives for producing a
knowledge contribution through different levels of abstraction. For example,

concepts (Stolterman and Wiberg, 2010), patterns (Horchers, 2001), strong

concepts (Höök and Löwgren, 2012), experiential qualities (Löwgren, 2009) and
annotated portfolios (Gaver and Bowers, 2012) are proposed as intermediate-
level knowledge between particular artifacts and general theories in a design
research context. Based on the extensibility of the knowledge, others can use
and build on the outcome of the research. The abstraction level of result is one
kind of knowledge contribution. Another knowledge contribution could be the
non-abstract results that describe a practice-based design process for a specific
artifact and design judgments. This type of result is just as crucial as abstracted
ones (Löwgren, 2013). As Carroll and Kellogg have argued:
“A designed artifact is a 'theory nexus': the choices made by designers
reveal both the issues they think are important and their beliefs about the right
way to address those issues. The implicit theories embodied in objects, from
this perspective, range from the philosophical (what values should designs
serve?) to the functional (how should those values be achieved in interaction) to
the social (what will the people who use this be like?) to the aesthetic (what
form and appearance is appropriate for the context?)” (Carroll and Kellogg,
1989; Gaver, 2012)
Designed artifacts represent the designer’s judgment on how to address the
particular configuration of issues in question (Gaver, 2012). It is noteworthy
that in the process of RtD, design decisions can be made based on various bases,
such as theories, inspirations from the work of others, empirical work and the
judgment of the designer. The judgment of the designer is considered to be one
of the important bases for design decisions which rely on the designer’s own
experience, aesthetic judgment, their ability to imagine future interactions and
so on. For example, the First-Person Perspectives, which are adopted in soma-
based design and movement-based interactions, place the lived experience from
designers at the core of the design process (Höök et al., 2018). Sketching and
form-giving based on designers’ own bodily experiences and subjectivity become
important analytical thinking process (Höök et al., 2018). The empirical user
test or end-user evaluation is not always taken as the dominant way to make
decisions on design choices. Instead, the design process involving designers
making their design judgments through setting user tests and analyzing the
results becomes important as the evidence for creating meaning. Furthermore,
Nelson and Stolterman considered good judgment to be wisdom. Judgment is
not like a method that could be learnt or followed. As they described it:
“Judgment is knowing based on knowledge inseparable from the knower”
(Nelson and Stolterman, 2003, p185). Thus, judgment cannot be separated from
the designers and the design process adapted to a specific context. However, it

can still be reflective and accessible to other researchers and designers.

Researchers working under the general umbrella of RtD have different ways
of going about it. My thesis lays more emphasis on the design process itself. In
order to make the knowledge accessible and inspirational to readers, I
documented the design process with details of important design judgments and
the published articles. As shown in Figure 1, the design space is opened up and
narrowed down during the iterative process of discovering research questions,
defining contexts, developing concepts, refining research questions, discovering
a new applicable area, building artifacts, evaluating, reflecting and delivering.
The research drew on design’s advantage as a reflective practice for
reinterpreting phenomena through the design process of making and critiquing
artifacts (Schön, 1983). The aim of my research is not to evaluate a finished
prototype through final user testing, but to learn through design judgments and
decisions made during the design process. Gaver and Höök et al (2018), who
stressed the significance of learning in making a good design research paper,
argued that it is important to explain the lessons learned by producing a design
outcome. Since it is rare to produce a perfect piece of design work, one of the
hallmarks of research is the ability to learn from failures. Meanwhile, learning
can be equally communicated through many forms, ranging from high-level
theories through to mid-level frameworks, strong concepts, annotations, design
tactics and detailed design processes for an artifact. Through clearly reporting
the learning and identifying the specificity, researchers bring knowledge
contributions to the HCI community.
Figure 2 documents how the research question evolved to the final question
of the thesis: “how can we design with biodata for mindfulness inspired by
Chinese aesthetics?” My research process and the methods used in each phases
are also presented in this diagram.
Instead of staying in the lab for experimental studies, I conducted in-situ
studies in a real-life setting. Before starting the design experiments, I surveyed
the existing biodata displays by collecting data from self-tracking app users and
analyzed the challenges encountered by them. For example, I interviewed eight
people who lived in Stockholm (four men and four women with ages ranging
from 18 to 60) about their experiences of heart rate displays. They had used
heart-rate monitors on an Apple Watch, a Samsung Gear Watch, a Withings
Pulse Wristband or a W/ME Wristband for more than one month. As shown by
the results, the reason why some participants lost interest in using the self-
tracking devices was mainly due to the design of biodata displays. The
alphanumeric and diagrammatic displays were not engaging. Moreover, some
interviewees indicated that displays in numbers sometimes caused them anxiety

and stress. The findings triggered my reflections on the existing design of

biodata and motivated me to explore more design possibilities.
In-situ studies were conducted throughout my design practice. The
prototypes of YU and HU were installed at people’s homes and workplaces in an
everyday-use scenario, so that I could observe how people lived with them. To
understand the current state of mindfulness practices, I involved potential target
groups. For example, stress therapists, yoga and mindfulness coaches, people
with stress symptoms and mindfulness practitioners were involved in the
research process. The purpose was to look into some specific situations and
explore suitable situations in order to contextualize the design. N addition, I
chose to incorporate the in-situ approach for a deeper understanding of how
people make sense of the designs, create meanings, communicate with them,
enjoy and ‘live’ with them.
Figure 2. My research journey: the development process of the final research question
and the methods overview
Another research method – autobiographical design (Neustaedter and

Sengers, 2012) – was used throughout my research. It is appropriate for use in
innovation, where proof of generalizability is less important (Gaver and Hook,
2017). Neustaedter and Sengers articulated the autobiographical method as an
important design method in HCI and defined “autobiographical design” as
“design research drawing on extensive, genuine usage by those creating or

building the system” (Neustaedter and Sengers, 2012). Here, genuine usage is
based on researchers’ true needs, rather than pretending to have the needs
expected of targeted users. In other words, researchers learn about the design
space, build and apply the design, evaluate and iterate the work based on their
own experiences.
Since the experience of mindfulness is personal and implicit, my own
experiences were embodied in the iterative design process. From the first-
person perspective, I involved myself as a researcher, a designer and a
mindfulness practitioner. The reflections on my personal inner experiences
allowed me to rethink the design for user experience, especially for bodily
experience. Meanwhile, autobiographical design helped me choose the
appropriate design context through testing the prototype on my own. In-situ
studies and autobiographical design, going hand-in-hand, played an important
role particularly in investigating mindfulness and non-judgmental awareness of
the body. More specifically, the third-person person perspective through in-situ
studies that incorporated the first-person perspective through autobiographical
design allowed me to gain a detailed and subtle understanding of my research
questions from a holistic point of view with fewer ego-oriented judgments.
In the following sections, I will describe the research process
comprehensively and explain how the above-mentioned approaches were used
in my work. Moreover, the design process for two artifacts (YU and HU) is
presented here in detail. The process for formulating the research questions and
the selection of methods are set out in Figure 2.
General Research Process
In 2012, I moved from my hometown of Hangzhou in China to Stockholm to

start my PhD life. At that time, wearable bio-sensing technology was a hot topic.
With the emergence of more wearable devices onto the market, researchers and
practitioners focused on technology-driven Quantified Self (QS) and data
analysis. Due to my background in interaction design, I showed an interest in
the interaction between users and their biodata. Therefore, I began my research
with the question – “how can we design the display of physiological data and
present it to people for personal use?” At the same time, I performed a literature
review and carried out a field study to understand the state-of-the-art
interaction design for biodata. Firstly, different kinds of popular fitness and
wellness products in the market, such as Fitbit, Jawbone, Withings and the
W/Me wristband, were used to obtain first-person experience. Moreover, I
observed and interviewed QS users about their experience in interaction with
self-tracking data and the device. During this process, one of the important

findings was that the display biodata in commercial bio-sensing products was
repeatedly in the same form: using numerical meters, bar charts and graphs. In
the interview, I found that although the numbers and graphs could be displayed
and read easily, some people did not easily understand such data
representations. Faced with the numbers that indicate their unhealthiness, some
users felt discouraged and stopped using those systems. When people
encountered undesired displays and could not find any solution from the device,
they would experience negative emotions and decrease their engagement. The
weakness might derive partly from the limitation of sensing technology, but
largely from the way of displaying the biodata.
Together with the field study, the literature review opened my mind and
provided me with new insights. At that time, some scholars in HCI realized these
issues in QS and investigated different design possibilities. Additionally, two
studies exerted a great impact on me: the reflection of Boehner et al. (2007) on
measurement and designing for emotions and the research of my co-supervisor
Kristina Höök (2008, 2009) on affective loops. Their studies explored an
alternative perspective of the body: one that is ‘dynamic, culturally mediated,
and socially constructed’. Furthermore, they argued that it was important to
support people in understanding, interpreting, and experiencing their own
bodies. The focus thus moved from the body as an objective, externally
measurable unit to the lived body as the core of experience in the interaction
design. Based on the initial exploration using methods such as literature review,
observation and interview, the research space was opened up and then narrowed
down to experience-oriented design. Meanwhile, the research data ranged from
general biodata to physiological data (e.g. cardiovascular signals and
respiration). Accordingly, the research question evolved from the general initial
question to a more specific question: “how can we design the display of
physiological data to achieve an experience-oriented interaction?”
From the literature review, I found that some researchers, designers and
artists had been pioneers in designing for bodily experience. Artistic
visualizations, ambient displays, physical visualizations, somaesthetic design
and many different forms had been adopted to communicate biodata. Unlike the
conventional numerical meters, bar charts and graphs, the experience-oriented
displays were more engaging and reflective, allowing users to increase their
bodily awareness and enhance the experience. In addition, the literature review
was a good start to open the design space by providing the alternatives of the
experience-oriented design in terms of technologies, materials and modalities.
I started my design experiments through the process of Research through
Design. The motivation came partly from the research aim, but more from my

personal situation. At that time, I was diagnosed with thyroid disease and
needed to measure my heart rate and blood parameters regularly to adjust the
dose of medication. With this opportunity, I gained a deeper understanding of
biodata measurement and how the data was displayed. In addition, I tried
different ways of measuring my heart rate, such as calculating my pulse with
professional heart rate monitors and personal wearable devices. Based on the
long-term personal experience and empirical studies, I found some
opportunities in: 1) designing the display of biodata that would enable people to
focus on the present bodily experience as it unfolds in real-time, 2) translating
biodata into an aesthetically pleasing sensation to balance the bodily experience
and the comprehensiveness of the visual encoding, 3) building physical artifacts
that would take us differently from what is offered by software-based and
screen-based interactions.
These opportunities motivated me to explore more design possibilities for
displaying the heart rate. After exploring different visualization forms and
representations (e.g. using plants, flowers and weather), I realized that it was
not sufficient to focus only on the visual experience by translating heart rate
data into an aesthetically pleasing interface. More importantly, the design with
biodata should be motivated by a particular way of viewing the body, instead of
merely focusing on visual appeal.
At that point, my main supervisor, Haibo Li, suggested that I combine
Eastern philosophy, Chinese aesthetics and my cultural background with my
research endeavor. Under his encouragement and advice, I investigated
aesthetics and started explorative design work. Later on, he invited Anders
Hedman to co-supervise me. Exerting a great influence on me, Anders Hedman
advised me to go beyond the instrumental stance of designing with technologies.
The investigations opened design space and possibilities for designing with
biodata from a perspective of mindfulness. Personally, I have practiced Tai Chi
and meditation for years, which provided me with a way to balance the stress of
my PhD life. Mindfulness attracted my interest to seek an alternative way to
balance work and life.
To gain a deeper understanding of mindfulness from a scientific perspective,
I took an eight-week mindfulness training program at the Karolinska Institute,
Sweden. The training was mainly focused on mindfulness-based stress reduction
(MBSR) and embodied practices. Maria Niemi, an assistant professor in the
Department of Public Health Sciences (PHS), served as the instructor. She is a
professional mindfulness coach, also conducted research on mindfulness and
health. Thanks to her support and inspiration, my understanding of mindfulness
was deepened. In the years that followed, I practiced mindfulness and

participated in many different kinds of trainings, retreats and workshops.

Luckily, I met experts such as Jack Kornfield, Trudy Goodman, Huiqi Tong,
Walter Osika and Miguel Quintana, who encouraged me to investigate more
possibilities for integrating interactive technologies into mindfulness practices.
Under their influence, I explored the design space further.
Based on the mindfulness stance and aesthetic experience-oriented
perspective, Hedman and I proposed the ideas for “Digital Mindfulness” and
suggested the four-level scheme of Digital Mindfulness (see details in Paper B
and Chapter 2).
During the design exploration, Chinese philosophy and aesthetics had a great
influence on me. This drove me to interview artists in the Chinese tradition and
related researchers. In a design workshop based on these interviews, the invited
HCI researchers and designers generated sketches and prototypes for future
possibilities (Paper B). In addition, my supervisors, colleagues and master’s
students conducted many design experiments, workshops, pilot tests, user trials
and interviews, resulting in several low-fi and high-fi prototypes targeted at
various contexts. Through the design process, we investigated the modalities of
artifacts and for whom this kind of design would be suited for. In the following
section, I will briefly describe the projects YU and HU, as well as the methods I
used during the research process to arrive at these two systems. More details
related to the reflections on the design decisions will be described in Chapter 4.
Research Process and Methods in Project YU: Rethinking Heart

Rate
(Papers A B D)
YU is an experimental project for displaying the heart rate data. I led this project
and worked with Sophie Landwehr Sydow and Victor Guerrero Corbi (master’s
students at that time). We designed and developed a working prototype named
YU, which means fish in Mandarin Chinese. We named it YU, as it displays an
interactive fish whose movements reflect the heart rate of users. We
experimented with displaying YU in various everyday settings. For example, YU
was integrated into a lamp, a smart watch and a mobile phone. It could also be
hung on the wall in a living room as an interactive painting. The final prototype
displayed the virtual fish that was projected onto a real aquarium. We imported
real-time heart rate measurements from the user to Unity 3D to generate a live,
animated, swimming red fish displayed in the real water.
The design ideal was to avoid setting goals and displaying any distinction
between “good” or “bad” indicators of the heart rate measurements. Through the
YU project, I explored the research question of how we can design artifacts that

communicate biodata for experiencing the body without the potential stress of
achieving goals.
Research Research Method Outcome

Process Question
Survey of the 1) Participants

1) How do Target group interview:
existing reported that most
commercial bio-
biodata 8 participants: of apps display
sensing
displays biodata in a similar
products display 4 Chinese (2 male and 2
female subjects aged from manner: using
biodata?
18 to 60) and 4 Swedish (2 numerical meters,
2) How do bar charts and
male and 2 female
people perceive graphs.
subjects aged from 20 to
the numerical 2) Some people
55)
display? were discouraged
when facing
numbers that
showed unhealthy
or undesired states.
When people
encountered
undesired displays
and could not find
any solution from
the device, they
would generate
negative emotions
(e.g. stress and
anxiety) and
decrease their
engagement (e.g.
stop using the
tools).

What kind of Interview: 1) Choosing a red

Selection of
life-like fish as the
representatio 20 participants:
visualization representative
ns
could serve to 10 Chinese (5 female and 5 metaphor of heart
represent the male aged from 13 to 65) rate.
human body? and 10 Swedish (5 female
2) Using abstract
and 5 male aged from 18
forms, simple
to 60)
textures,
minimalist lines
Observational survey: and red color tones
to draft the fish
128 instances of fish
and its pond in the
images were collected
Chinese ink
painting style that
frequently appears
in the examples of
fish
representations.
Creation of
How can we User testing and 1) Mapping heart
data-
design the interviews rate to the speed of
representatio
mapping the fish movement
n mappings 8 participants:
between heart
2) Designing the
rate data and 4 Swedish (2 female and 2
range of speed
the male subjects aged
carefully, so that
metaphorical from18 to 60) and 4
the difference in
representation? Chinese (2 female and 2
the changing heart
male subjects aged from
rate could be
20 to 42)
noticed.
Empirical user trial Identifying four

through observation, user experience
The first trial What is the user
think-aloud method, themes:attachment
of the YU experience with
diary/self report, video , relaxation,
system YU?
analysis, and semi- empathy and body
structured interview awareness

13 participants:
6 Swedish (3 female and 3

male subjects aged from
22 to 65) and 7 Chinese (3
female and 4 male
89)
Details of setting the user

trial are presented in
Chapter 4
Design workshop Implementing

three high-fidelity
Prototyping How do people 24 participants:
prototypes
the YU integrate YU in
12 male and 12 female
system their daily life? 1) YU as an
interactive painting
45, 6 Swedish, 1 French, 1
Pakistani, 16 Chinese 2) YU on a lamp
3) YU as an
aquarium
Table 1. The empirical user study of YU
The research process for YU consisted of several phases. Here, I will present
some important phases: 1) surveying existing physiological data displays, 2)
choosing representations for physiological data (pulse and heart rate), 3)
creating mappings between physiological data and representations, and 4)
prototyping of the YU system (Table 1). The corresponding research questions,
methods and outcomes are indicated in Table 1 to show how these in-situ
studies took place. In Chapter 4, I will describe the details of the RtD process
and my reflections.
Apart from empirical user trials, I used autobiographical design and involved
my personal experience in the research. When I experienced the interaction with
YU and used it on a daily basis, the interaction became an enjoyable routine. I
took more care of YU and consequently took more care of myself, which met the
design intention to some extent. However, it was still difficult to avoid a goal
orientation – measuring the body for wellbeing. Especially when the fish swam
faster and faster, some people felt anxious and concerned about their bodily

conditions. Obviously, such a result could not achieve my design ideal. The
reasons could be the life-like representation and the inappropriate context of
involving biodata. More analyses and reflections on the design process will be
presented in Chapter 4. Taking the lessons from the project YU, I went on to
start another experimental project – HU.
Research Process and Methods in Project HU: Rethinking Breath

(Papers C D)
The aim of the project HU was to rethink breath in the context of mindful
breathing. This project was named HU (meaning exhalation in Chinese), as it
was designed for supporting breathing mindfulness. How could the sense of
fleeting, temporality and beauty of breathing in the present moment be
represented and communicated for mindfulness? Inspired by the ancient
Chinese incense furnace, I designed a physical device that could mirror human
breath through vapor, light and sound. There is no screen on this device. To
mirror respiration patterns, I experimented with different materials and
modalities, such as vapor, sound and light. The prototype was built based on a
humidifier and the rhythm of vapor. Beyond that, I also experimented with the
prototype emitting light and breathing-synchronized sounds (ocean waves and
human breath) to mirror one’s respiration according to breath frequency. When
people exhale, HU expels vapor and its light dims. When people inhale, its light
brightens. Overall, the process of making and testing the prototype helped me
understand how different materials and modalities could support mindful
breathing. In this project, Tingye Zhong and Shuo Feng (master’s students at
KTH at that time) contributed their creativity and assisted with prototyping, as
well as the user study.

Research Research Method Outcome

Process Question
Could the Empirical user trial The participants were

The first
interactio through observation, interested in HU and
prototype
n with diary/self-report, video enjoyed engaging with HU
HU
vapor and analysis and semi- to practice mindful
1st Stage light based structured interview breathing.
on a
25 participants used HU in 22 out of 25 participants
Exploration physical
a quiet room for ten to (88%) thought that vapor
Study device
twenty minutes. could support mindful
support
breathing as a beneficial
mindful 12 male and 13 female
component.
breathing? subjects aged from 23 to
60: Swedish (10), Chinese
(7), Spanish (2), American
(2), British (1), Italian (1)
and Australian (1). They
all lived in Sweden with a
range of occupations
including teachers,
students, engineers,
doctors, office workers
and mindfulness coaches.
5 experienced mindfulness
meditators, 5 beginners
and 15 people lacking
experience of mindfulness
or meditative practice.
How could Empirical user trial 1) Subjective stress levels

The first
silent HU through observation, were improved with both
prototype
(vapor diary/self-report, video silent and sonified HU.
HU
without analysis, mental stress test
2) There was much inter-
2nd Stage sound) and semi-structured
individual variability in
and interview
terms of preferred settings

sonified 5 participants: 3 male and and modes and perceived

Experiment
HU (vapor 2 female subjects with the stress reduction.
together mean age of 23, from
3) The discrepancy was
with universities in Sweden.
found between
sound)
Details of setting the user physiological measurements
support
trial are presented in and the subjective
mindful
Paper C experience.
breathing
and stress 4) The everyday-use
reduction? scenarios were indicated.

For example, some
participants used HU in the
How could evening and before going to
HU, a bed. One preferred the
physical morning and one chose the
artifact, be afternoon for relaxation.
integrated They used HU for 10-20
into daily minutes at a time. Most of
life to them installed HU in their
support bedrooms and living rooms
mindfulne for mindfulness and
ss? relaxation. One used HU on
a desk beside her while
working. The bedroom was
the most popular location
for HU. Some found that
HU could serve as a
humidifier, with the
additional benefit of
furthering calmness and
relaxation.
The second
What is Empirical user trial 1) According to the
prototype
the user through observation and participants, HU, especially
HU
experience semi-structured interview the vapor, created a nice
(compared
of HU? atmosphere for mindfulness
with the 14 participants used HU in
with an aesthetic
first a quiet room for 30
experience.
prototype, minutes, and then

the second attended an interview for 2) Some users emphasized

one is more 30 minutes. with the connection
advanced in between HU and
6 male and 8 female
the themselves through
rhythmic breathing together. The
50.
vapor and interaction with vapor
the Swedish (6), Chinese (4), helped them focus on the
interaction Norwegian (1), Spanish respiration and increase
with users) (1), Greek (1) and their body awareness.
Australian (1). All lived in
3) The vapor provided more
Sweden and represented a
information than visual
wide range of occupations
signals. Some users could
including teachers,
sense the humidity and
students, engineers,
temperature. The tactile
doctors, office workers,
experience made it possible
and mindfulness coaches.
when people closed eyes.
3 people with experience
4) The cue of changing light
of mindfulness, 5
and sound together with the
beginners, and 6 people
emitting vapor might
lacking experience of
distract people and bring
mindfulness or meditative
stress. The multisensory
practice.
feedback should be
Details of setting the user coordinated to avoid
trial are presented in information overload and
Paper D potential ambiguity.
Table 2. The empirical user study of HU

The first and second prototypes were investigated through empirical user
trials (Table 2). The evaluation process of the first prototype consisted of two
stages (Figure 3). Specifically, the first stage was an exploration study, in which
we tested whether the visual interaction (vapor and light) could support mindful
breathing. Furthermore, 25 participants were invited through snowball
sampling. As indicated by the results, 22 out of 25 participants (88%) thought
that vapor and light can be supportive ways to promote mindful breathing.
Vapor was found to support mindful breathing better than light, especially for
mindfulness beginners. The second stage was an experiment, in which
interactive sound was added. A package of probes (e.g. photos, self-reports and
diaries) had been deployed to collect data from five users who used HU in their
homes. Thereafter, we tested HU using not only self-assessed stress levels
through Visual Analogue Scales8 (Lesage, Berjot and Deschamps, 2012) but also
heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV)9 measurements through the
Actiheart device10, in order to investigate the stress resilience effects (the self-
healing capacity of individuals, particularly when they confronted with stress).
Then, we compared the effect of silent HU (using light and vapor without sound)
and sonified HU (with the sound of rhythmical ocean waves) on five participants.
The results showed that there was much inter-individual variability in the
preferred settings and modes, perceived stress reduction as well as HR and HRV
measures. Subjective stress levels were statistically improved with both silent
and sonified HU. The mean value of HR using silent HU was significantly lower
than the resting baseline and sonified HU. The mean value of RMSSD using
silent HU was significantly higher than the resting baseline. After the
experiment, we performed a semi-structured interview to reflect on HU. The
goal of involving this study in my thesis is not to prove the efficacy of improving
health but to present how the results of the study helped us explore different
materials to portray the respiratory data.
8
Visual analogue scales (VAS) are often used for assessing subjective stress levels. Our
participants marked how stressed they felt on a 10 cm long line where 0 distance from the left =
No stress, 5 cm = Neutral, and 10 cm = As bad as it could be.
9
Heart rate variability (HRV) is the variability of intervals between consecutive heartbeats. It is
regarded as a performance indicator of autonomic heart rate regulation and autonomic nervous
system balance. High HRV is associated with a well-balanced autonomic nervous system, while
low HRV is associated with chronic stress.
10
The Actiheart device was used for data sampling and primary data analysis in our study. It is a
compact, chest-worn monitoring device that records HR, HRV and physical activity in one
combined, lightweight waterproof unit. For more details: Camntech. (n.d.). Actiheart-overview.
URL:https://www.camntech.com/products/actiheart/actiheart-overview. Accessed: 2016-6-12.
(Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/6lyJqZ3jT).

Figure 3. The evaluation process for HU (from Paper C)
Walter Osika and Malena Ivarsson supported the work related to stress and
biomarkers by providing professional advice and support. Dr Osika deserved a
special mention for all of the medical assistance he has provided. He is the
director of Center for Social Sustainability in Karolinska Institute, associate
professor in clinical neuroscience and senior medical advisor at the Stress Clinic
of Sweden. With his expertise, he supervised me and suggested methods to test
the HU device. This study was published in the Journal of Medical Internet
Research (JMIR), in the domain of Medical Informatics and the Health Services
Research (Paper C). In this paper, we focused more on describing the evaluation
process, including the comparison of different evaluation methods and the
analysis of the results. During the long period while the paper was reviewed and
revised, we realized the challenge of applying RtD in the domain of health
informatics. RtD aims at opening a novel space and producing knowledge about
‘what’ can be designed and ‘how’ the design can be carried out. Therefore, the
research process, design thinking and implications for other design practices are
emphasized. Conversely, the health informatics domain focuses on proving a
hypothesis or solving an existing problem, and emphasizes systematic methods,
convincing results and validity. Thus, studies using RtD are rarely published in
the health informatics domain. Reflecting on our research journey, we realized
the opportunities and challenges involved in interdisciplinary study. It is
essential to consider appropriate methods first according to the aim and focus of
the study. Meanwhile, cooperation and partnerships among HCI researchers,
designers, engineers, neuroscientists, clinicians and social scientists are needed

in order to better understand the design of technologies and applications for

mindfulness and wellbeing.
Based on the feedback for the first prototype, we improved the design and
built the second prototype. The second prototype was more advanced in terms of
the rhythmic vapor and the overall interaction design. In the user study for the
second prototype, HU supported people in anchoring their attention on their
breath and increasing body awareness. Participants reflected that during the
practice of mindful breathing, no strong emotional reaction was evoked.
According to some people, HU even had a life of its own. Some meditation
beginners regarded HU as a reminder of being mindful in daily life. In addition,
they reported that HU made their breath mediation easier, in particular that
vapor could help maintain their focus and engagement. I also tested HU in some
group meditation. The feedback from a mindfulness coach indicated that HU
not only offered a visual way to mirror different patterns of breathing techniques,
but also helped him illustrate his breathing while coaching students. I
documented some important findings in Table 2. More user feedback is reported
in Paper C and D. In Chapter 4, I will not only describe how I practiced the
inspirations from mindfulness and Chinese aesthetics through the RtD process,
but also reflect on the design tactics that I have explored in the design projects
YU and HU in greater detail.

Chapter 4 Exploration of the Design with Biodata ∣ 69
Chapter 4 Exploration of the Design with Biodata

Design researchers often ‘borrow’ theories or concepts from other disciplines to
inspire new designs (Gaver, 2012). As mentioned above, I started with quite a
broad question and explored how to portray biodata and mirror it to end-users.
At that point, my explorations were inspired by the concepts of mindfulness and
“Wu Hua” from Chinese aesthetics. Thus, I came to articulate the question more
in terms of mindfulness aims and, in particular, non-judgmental awareness.
Through the two projects YU and HU, I practiced design possibilities and
developed some design tactics based on the design medium of the physical
interactive artifacts. This chapter illustrates how I employed “Research through
Design” (RtD) in 1) the design exploration inspired by Chinese aesthetics “Wu
Hua” and 2) the design implementation with physical interactive artifacts.
Meanwhile, the failures and lessons I have learned were reflected in the details.
Design Exploration Inspired by Wu Hua
In Chapter 2, I introduced inspirations from mindfulness, “Wu Hua” and the

practice of art. “Wu Hua”, as a concept from Chinese aesthetics, advocates
letting go of the judgments by blurring the boundaries between 1) the good and
the bad and 2) the self and the external world. In my design practice, I aimed to
explore a mindful way to consider biodata and focus on the present bodily
experience.
My design exploration then turns to the aesthetic approach of self-
externalization adopted in Chinese ink paintings (Figure 3). To exemplify “Wu
Hua”, artists attempted to establish a particular ecological relationship with the
natural environment by externalizing the self and projecting the self (tenor) onto
natural scenes (incarnation) (Poškaitė, 2017). The incarnation could be in the
shape of 1) life forms, such as animals and plants, or 2) non-living objects, such
as water and stone. The aesthetic approach of externalizing the self to an
incarnation is intended to eliminate the boundaries between the self and the
external world, which is in line with “Wu Hua”. Consequently, through the
aesthetic approach of externalizing the self, they pursue a mindful awareness
and are free from the judging mind.
I experimented with the representation of biodata as a way of externalizing
the self to practice “Wu Hua”. Pulse and respiratory data were used to let users
anchor their attention on the present moment of the bodily rhythm – heart beat
and breath. Apart from that, I experimented with two forms of representations,
in which one is the life form – the fish in the design project YU, and the other is
the abstract non-living form – the vapor in the design project HU. In the

following section, I will describe the design process and the insights from the
exploration.
Design Project YU
To allow people to anchor their attention on awareness of the body and

appreciate their bodily rhythm (pulse), I practiced the approach of externalizing
the body through life-form representations from nature in the style of Chinese
ink painting. Sophie Landwehr Sydow, Victor Guerrero Corbi and I
experimented with an interactive digital simulation of a life form to see how
people looked at their bodies and their changing pulse in an alternative way
(Figure 1). This would involve choosing a life form and then designing the
interaction with an interactive artifact (simulation). After trying different
animals11, we finally chose a fish to represent the body. It is based on three
considerations: 1) we focused on reducing affective judgments towards the bio-
data. Fish and butterflies (without facial expressions) have relatively less
emotion than a cat. 2) Fish and butterflies can easily be depicted in a simple but
aesthetically pleasing manner. 3) Fish not only have symbolic meanings in
aesthetics, but also have positive connotations in Eastern traditions. For
instance, the fish symbolizes good fortune and peace in many Zen stories. To be
specific, we made the real-time animations for the fish and created it in the
game engine Unity 3D to render it. The pulse measurements were mapped to the
movement and velocity of the animated, swimming red fish in a pond. Every
movement of the swimming fish (sometimes rapid, but sometimes slow) was
designed to anchor the attention and awareness on the constantly changing
moment of the body. Further distractions, such as frequent notifications,
relatively complex functionality and interfaces, were avoided in the interaction
design to maintain attention. Meanwhile, based on “Wu Hua”, the design was
intended to avoid explicitly presenting a distinction between positive and
negative states in order to reduce judgment and goal-oriented mindsets. Thus,
there was no built-in desirable state for goal setting in YU.
11
We interviewed 20 people in China and Sweden (12 female and 8 male subjects between the
age of 13 and 60) to collect ideas for possible metaphors. Participants mentioned butterflies,
dogs, cats, fish, chameleons, leopards, insects and bulls, with fish (6 persons), butterflies (4
persons) and cats (3 persons) on the top of the list.

Figure 1. A virtual fish is designed using real-time animation

to represent the constantly changing pulse
In the design process, I have tried four alternatives for mapping pulse to:
1) The size of the fish
2) The color of the fish
3) The velocity of the fish
4) The twinkle frequency (pulsating glow) of the fish.
I implemented these mappings in YU and tested them in an open-ended user

study. Different representations, such as a big fish or a small fish, a black fish or
a white fish, are not positive or negative in themselves, but the viewer’s common
patterns of experience and preconceptions may produce subjective judgments.
In interviews, some participants expressed confusion and sadness when the fish
shrunk or acquired a darker color. As pointed out by some people, when the fish
twinkled with a frequency close to their pulse, they felt anxious. Moreover, we
found that in comparison with mappings 1, 2 and 4, mapping 3 – between the
pulse and fish velocity – was less likely to induce distinctions between the
positive and the negative states. To make the fish more authentic and engaging,
I designed virtual ripples and bubbles in the real water, added water lilies that
moved slowly in the scene and applied lighting and dynamic shadows. Beyond
that, I introduced splashing sounds that could be heard when the fish moved
and added ambient sounds of crickets. The richness of the scene provided an
aesthetically pleasing experience to increase the interactivity and engagement.
More details about the design and the results from the user study have been
provided in Papers A and D.

Figure 2. YU displayed in a fish aquarium
The design experiment was meant to explore whether the display could offer
a different perspective of experiencing the bodily rhythm by externalizing the
pulse into an incarnation – the fish. Thus, in the user study, I observed how
people identified the fish and how they attempted to establish the connection
between the fish and their bodily experience. Thirteen participants, who were
selected through snowball sampling, took part in the user study to interact with
YU (Goodman, 1961). The participants came from Sweden (three female and
three male subjects aged from 22 to 65) and China (three female and four male
subjects aged from 22 to 89), with a range of occupations, including teachers,
designers, students, doctors, and office workers. YU was installed in places at
the choice of the participants, including their homes (six participants) and
workplace (one participant). The remaining participants came to our studio with
simulated home and office environments. The duration of testing varied
according to the installation place of the system. For those who used it at home,
the study was conducted over one week and was followed by a one-hour
interview. Those who visited our studio space spent one hour interacting with
YU and then attended a half-hour interview. In the workplace setting, the study
was carried out in the participant’s office for one day and then followed by a
one-hour interview. By analyzing the data from video materials, observations
and interviews, we summarized four thematic user experiences: attachment,
relaxation, empathy and body awareness (see more details of the findings and
reflections in Papers A and D).
The user study indicated that people’s reactions differed as the engagement
with the interaction deepened. For example, some participants expressed the
feeling of relaxation and appreciation of the fish. Some people generated a
feeling of empathy and took the fish as their pet. Meanwhile, they expressed a
willingness to take more care of the fish and appreciated the interaction as a new
way of experiencing their bodies. Their feedback met our design intention to
some extent. For some participants (one female and three male subjects who
were inexperienced mindfulness practitioners), reducing subjective judgment of
their bodily condition was difficult. Especially when the fish swam faster and
faster, these participants expressed concern and anxiety. Indeed, the results
could not achieve the design ideal. One of the reasons might be the life-like

representation and another reason might be the inappropriate context of

involving the biodata.
Paper D discussed how the patterns and rhythms of the fish exert an
isomorphic effect on the viewer’s physiological-psychological responses, which
contributes to the production of an aesthetic experience (Arnheim Rudolf, 1956).
The rhythms of the incarnation stimulate human emotional experience, such as
empathy through such relations (Li and Cauvel, 2006). Due to this kind of
emotional experience, people might judge the incarnation as a representation of
their bodily condition. In addition, the result of the user study indicated that, for
some participants, the design of the fish did not support non-judgmentally
experiencing their bodily rhythm as I expected. This could be the limitation of
using a life-like representation to display biodata. However, in addition to that,
this failure might also be ascribed to the inappropriate context of involving pulse
data. On the one hand, the pulse and the fish had a very different external form.
It was difficult for some participants to externalize their pulse into a fish and
dissolve the boundary between the pulse and the fish through their imagination.
On the other hand, people habitually had a goal of measuring their pulse and
judging their body to be in good or bad condition. Without being offered an
appropriate context or informed of the mapping rules, some people reacted with
concern and anxiety to the movement of the swimming fish, instead of
experiencing the constantly changing moments of their pulse. In this sense, the
design intention of non-judgmental awareness of the body was hard to be
fulfilled in the project YU.
Design Project HU
The HU project aimed to support mindful breathing, which is often exercised in

the mindfulness practice (Kabat-Zinn, 1990; Williams and Penman, 2011). It
requires people to focus their attention on the sensations of breathing, such as
noticing the sensations of breath entering and leaving the nostrils as the breath
flows in and out, observing the length of each respiration, and feeling the
contraction and expansion of the body without judging or controlling the breath
in any way. In this design project, I intended to investigate what kind of
representations could be suitable for respiratory data and how to design physical
artifacts without any screens to support mindful breathing. Light and vapor
were explored as the design materials for affording mindfulness in this context.

Figure 3. Different color combinations tested in the design process
Figure 4. User tests in the design project HU
In the design process, light was experimented with in order to represent the
heart rate data (Figures 3 and 4). A warmer color indicated a higher heart rate,
while a cooler color reflected a lower heart rate. As shown by the results, the
connection between the light color and heart rate was ambiguous and confused
the participants. Meanwhile, the color of the light triggered the participants’
emotional responses and judgment of their bodily condition. For instance, the
red color, which was associated with an unhealthily high heart rate, made people
feel stressed. In fact, a high heart rate is not necessarily a problem. However, the
red color signaling the high heart rate may be associated with danger or
something people fear. The color of the light distracted people’s attention from
experiencing the body to thinking about the meaning of the color. In the study,
people easily judged their heart rate and health condition by interpreting the
color of light. Thus, using the color of light as the representation of the heart
rate in this context was not a suitable choice.
The color and brightness of the light were also experimented with to
represent respiratory data. Two mappings were tested: 1) a warmer color
indicating a higher frequency of breathing and a cooler color indicating a lower
frequency of breathing, 2) a higher brightness of white light indicating a higher
frequency of breathing and a lower brightness of white light indicating a lower

frequency of breathing. The feedback was similar to the previous study. The
changing color evoked participants’ emotional responses and judgment of their
breathing as desired or undesired.
The results were contrary to the design intention. In addition to the displays
using light, I explored other modalities and mapping alternatives, such as sound
and vapor, to present the respiratory data (see Papers C and D).
In the user study, some participants reported that the rhythmically tuned
vapor, which was synchronized with their breath frequency, helped anchor their
focus on breathing (Papers C and D). This finding was aligned with the design
intention and motivated me to further investigate vapor as a design material for
representing respiratory data. After experimenting with vapor repeatedly in
different settings on myself and with other participants, I found that vapor was a
suitable material in the design context of mindful breathing. There are several
reasons:
1) Rhythmic vapor is reminiscent of human breathing.
2) Vapor is mild and less likely to trigger strong emotional reactions, in

particular strong negative emotions.
3) Fleeting vapor reflects the fleeting present.
4) Vapor is subtle and non-distractive.
5) Vapor can be experienced through not only vision but also the skin receptors.
It can communicate rich information such as humidity, temperature and smell.
6) Vapor has a similar sensual form to the airflow that connects the inside and
outside of the body when we breathe. Using vapor to represent respiratory data
brings a sense of blurring the boundary between the body and the outside world.
From this sense, it is aligned with “Wu Hua”, a state that allows oneness
including oneself and the external world.
The first prototype was tested for individual use in the home setting to
examine how HU could support mindful breathing in an everyday-use scenario.
To be specific, 25 participants aged from 23 to 60 (12 male and 13 female
subjects) were selected through snowball sampling (Goodman, 1961). They
originally came from Sweden (10), China (7), Spain (2), the USA (2), the UK (1),
Italy (1), Australia (1) and Kenya (1) and currently all live in Sweden. They
represented a range of occupations, including teachers, students, engineers,
doctors, office workers and mindfulness coaches. Meanwhile, fifteen
participants lacked experience of mindfulness or meditative practice, five were
beginners and the remaining five participants were experienced mindfulness
meditators. HU was set in a quiet place at home. Under guidance, the

participants used HU for ten to twenty minutes and then attended a semi-
structured interview. Afterwards, the participants were invited to freely install
and use the device as they wished for two days. During this stage, they described
their experiences through diaries, photos and short videos. The diaries recorded
the use conditions, including the time, place, duration and the experiences
before and after use. In this study, 22 out of 25 participants (88%) claimed that
vapor could help them focus their attention and conduct mindful breathing. As
indicated by the results, vapor was able to support mindful breathing for some
people, especially for mindfulness novices. The interaction with a physical
artifact emitting the vapor kept their interests and attention. In the view of the
participants, HU was interesting because the vapor could imitate their breath
and accompany them to breathe together. Apart from providing a visual cue, the
vapor brought a unique experience with its moisture and temperature. As some
participants reported, “I sense the humidity somehow from the vapor. It was a
very nice feeling.” Some participants also mentioned the temperature and smell
of the vapor. At the same time, some of them closed their eyes to experience the
vapor while breathing. Vision, as the dominant sense in human cognition, is
easy to distract us from the other senses. In some mindfulness practices,
beginners are required to close their eyes and remain silent to reduce
distractions. In our design context of practicing mindful breathing, rhythmic
vapor was found to relate to breathing more easily for some participants. Based
on the above-mentioned findings, vapor was finally used as a design material to
represent respiratory data in the prototype of HU.
Design Implementation with Physical Interactive Artifacts
The previous session has described how I drew on inspirations from the Chinese
aesthetics of “Wu Hua” and the practice of art in designing YU and HU. This
section illustrates how I implemented the design possibilities based on the
medium of the physical interactive artifacts.
There are many mindfulness related apps and various forms of mediated
mindfulness exercises. When my work started, screen and verbally oriented
apps predominated. I found opportunities to explore physical interactive
artifacts for more design possibilities.
Udall (1996) and Langer (1989) proposed an approach to being mindful by
using external agents to break through the established patterns of perception
and preconceptions. On this basis, Niedderer (2007) explored design as a means
of creating mindful interaction through a physical form in social contexts. In her
study, the concept of mindfulness referred to the attentiveness and
consciousness of the user towards the social consequences of actions performed

with the object. As she claimed, “we can design artifacts that communicate and
cause mindfulness of others in the context of social interaction by means of a
modification of function” (Niedderer, 2007). In other words, through the
modifications of function, the physical artifacts became “performative objects”
(Niedderer, 2007) that could afford mindful awareness of the interaction and
the reflection on it. Figure 5 is an example. Niedderer redesigned cups that
require attentiveness and collaboration during drinking.
Figure 5. “Social Cups,” Kristina Niedderer (1999)
“The shape of the cups resembles a champagne glass without a stem and
base. Instead, the cups each have a little connector that enables them to be
connected and thus stand. When at least three cups are connected, they form a
stable unit. In this way, people are encouraged to explore their interactions
when using the cups.” (Niedderer, 2007)
In her research, mindful interaction was facilitated through a physical form
in a certain social context. Within the social context, she designed mindful
interaction through physical artifacts capable of disrupting consciousness in
order to break common patterns of experience and preconceptions. Inspired by
her research, I designed interactive artifacts in physical forms and let them
become more present in our daily life to afford mindfulness.
Design Project YU
In this part, I present some outcomes from the experiments and valuable
feedback from participants in the YU project. I tried to build different physical
interactions and made prototypes to understand interactive physical artifacts as
the design media (see more details in Papers A and D).
1) YU as an interactive painting (Figure 6). Specifically, YU was

displayed on screens as an interactive painting and the pulse sensor was
embedded in a handheld controller for the interactive painting. When someone
powered on the painting prototype using the controller, their pulse data was

read by the embedded sensor and sent to the painting. According to the
participants in the interview, bedrooms and living rooms at home could be
appropriate places to install the interactive painting, as it could possibly help
people calm down and relieve stress. Some people suggested that YU could be
used in the public spaces, such as cafes, workplaces, airport lounges, waiting
rooms and hospitals.
Figure 6. YU as an interactive painting

(The picture to the right: the redesigned remote controller for sensing the pulse)
2) YU as a lam p (Figure 7). YU was displayed on a lampshade. People

thought it could be interesting to integrate a lamp with YU. Some people
suggested that YU could be used as a lamp in the bedroom to wake them up or
as a sleep aid. According to others, they would use the YU as an ambient lamp to
support meditation. Some thought of using the YU lamp in offices because it
could serve as a mindful decoration.
Figure 7. YU as a lamp
3) YU as an aquarium (Figure 8). YU was implemented in a fishbowl. To

be specific, the fish was projected in the real water and the pulse sensor was
embedded on the surface of an adjacent tray. In this way, people could engage
with YU by putting their hand on the tray to activate the fish. The other solution
for a hands-free mode was to use an ear-clip sensor to get heart rate readings
from the earlobe. In the view of people, the fish in real water looked more
authentic and engaging.

Figure 8. YU as an aquarium
Design Project HU
In the design case HU, the Chinese incense furnace and the humidifier,
especially the form of the vapor, inspired me (Figure 13). In some regions of
China, humidifiers are popular as housewares and they are usually installed at
home or in the work place to maintain humidity in the air. The form of
humidifiers, especially the vapor, can be associated with calm and aesthetical
experience. I redesigned the humidifier and retained the form of the vapor as
the representation of respiratory data. The prototype of HU was finalized as an
interactive humidifier that expels vapor to mirror one’s respiration according to
the frequency of breathing (Figure 14). When people exhale, HU expels vapor.
When people inhale, the vapor vanishes. The interactive vapor with an
interaction through sensual engagement and rhythmic bodily engagement was
intended to anchor the focus on breathing and increase awareness of breathing.
The device, which was designed for accompanying people during mindful
breathing, could be used at home and in a yoga room or displayed on a desk in
the workplace.

Figure 9. Design inspired by ancient Chinese incense furnace (bottom second image)
and organic shape from nature
Figure 10. The first prototype was designed based on a humidifier.

The form of the vapor was retained as the representation of breathing.
The prototype was first tested for individual use in the home setting (Figure
11). Participants were invited to freely install and use the device in accordance
with their own preference (see more details of the study setting in Chapter 2 and
Paper C). Most of the participants sat down on the chair or sofa and installed the
device in front of them. Meanwhile, they paid full attention to the vapor and the
interaction with their breathing. After the breathing session, they liked to keep
the humidifier working beside them as a reminder of mindful breathing. As
claimed by some participants, the interaction with the vapor for mindful
breathing was a valuable add-on function in addition to the original function of
a humidifier. While creating a new approach of mindfulness practice, HU
increased the interest of some participants in practicing mindfulness in daily life,
especially for the novices (Paper C). During the process of using HU, some
people not only observed the vapor, but also blew on and even interacted with
the device using their hands. One of the participants in the user study, as a
mindfulness aid, held HU in his palms when breathing together with the device.
According to him, this holding action maintained his attention on his breathing.
Furthermore, he said: “this holding is so powerful. It’s like it lives, because

breathing is vital to life.” He suggested designing HU as a portable device, so

that the trainees in his group meditation could hold HU in their hands as an
anchor for their attention and a respectful ritualization. Inspired by his
suggestion, the second and third prototype of HU was built as a handheld device
(Figure 14). It required participants to pay full attention to the interaction by
holding the device and tapping their fingers on the surface to synchronize the
rhythm of the vapor with their own breath.
Figure 11. HU for individual use in the home setting
Apart from individual use, HU was also used in group meditation (Figures 12
and 13). In a group breathing session of twenty people, the coach used HU as a
part of the instruction for the breathing exercise and asked students to follow
the pattern of the vapor emission. The vapor was designed as a visible cue, so
that meditation novices could synchronize their breathing in a group without
oral guidance. As pointed out by a mindfulness coach, HU offered a visual way
to illustrate different patterns for breathing exercises, which helped him guide
students in a large group. According to the feedback from his students, many
participants experienced bodily and emotional connectedness among them by
breathing together with HU. Some students even mentioned the sense of
presence, empathy and self-compassion when HU was involved in the group
mindfulness retreat. In addition, students suggested that HU could not only be
used in a co-located group, but also connect people by synchronizing their
breathing over a distance. In this scenario, there was no need to arrange a coach
and a specific place for the breathing meditation session of a co-located group.
Through this new form of interaction, HU offered the possibility of connecting
people remotely.

Figure 12. HU used in a group breathing meditation
Figure 13. HU was prepared with the meditation singing bowl (Left)
and a woman practiced mindfulness closely together with HU (Right)
Figure 14. The second prototype of HU (Left) and the third prototype of HU (Right)
The HU device was improved through an iterative process of understanding, discovery,
design and test
Reflection
My design tried to explore more design possibilities inspired by Chinese

aesthetics. According to Zhuangzi’s thoughts, ups and downs and stress and
depression are as natural as the four seasons, which should not be judged as
positive or negative. Complementary forces interact to form a harmonious and
dynamic system in oneness (Paper A). The human body is a typical example of
such a harmonious and dynamic system. Moreover, “Wu Hua” suggests a way of
mindful being beyond conceptualization and discrimination, since the body is
built upon the same elements as other things in nature. My design tried to
practice this idea by using bio-data as shared elements to connect people and

artifacts. Based on “Wu Hua”, some artists tried to depict things in an original
way to avoid judgment, intention, conception, ego and thoughts of bad or good.
Their art practices inspired me to design with bio-data in an aesthetic and non-
judgmental form for a mindful experience with the body. Through appreciating
the rhythms of the body without provoking subjective judgments of bodily
conditions, a person might live with their body harmoniously in the present
moment. Based on these inspirations, I call this design a non-judgmental
interaction. Generally speaking, non-judgmental interaction means that 1) the
representation of biodata avoids producing subjective judgments of bodily
conditions; 2) the interaction between artifacts and participants avoids
provoking strong emotional reactions.
Three tactics that I have explored in the design practice of non-judgmental
interaction with the interactive physical artifacts follow:
1) Designing aesthetic representations to match the properties of sensed

biodata
Introducing aesthetics as one of the design qualities is in line with the

growing interests in aesthetics in the HCI community (Tractinsky 1997; Lim et
al., 2007; Hallnäs, 2011; Lenz et al., 2014). Aesthetics – our perceptual
appreciation of the world – is a complex concept with many different meanings
depending on the purpose and context (Höök, 2018).
Mani et al. (2015) pointed out that aesthetically pleasing apps are more likely to
engage people to practice mindfulness. A fair number of researchers attempted
to approach the awareness of the body through investigating the quality of
aesthetic form. Khut (2006) engaged with aesthetics and biofeedback
interaction to build several artworks, in which participants’ physiological data
was transferred to compelling animations and soundscapes. Long and Vines
(2013) explored aesthetic interaction to trigger states of mindful reflectivity
through Mind Pool, a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) interactive artwork
presenting real-time brain activity sonically and physically via magnetically
reactive liquid in a pool. Accordingly, Ma and her research group found that the
aesthetic representation with a certain level of abstraction in the interpretation of biodata
encoding and some specific visual effects (e.g., animations and transitions) promotes a
non-judgmental experience of being in a present moment (Sun et al., 2020). Thieme et
al. (2013) engaged patients in therapeutic skills practice by involving physical
artifacts with an aesthetic appeal (the Mindfulness Sphere). Unlike materials
commonly used for skills training in formal therapy sessions, the sphere in an
aesthetic and physical form played as an engaging reminder of the therapy that
the patients had ownership of. Some other researchers have explored a similar

form in different contexts. For instance, Odom designed everyday artifacts, such
as a domestic music player and a photobox to trigger reminiscence and
reflection on the temporalities of personal data (Odom et al., 2014, 2019, 2020).
Such designs serve different purposes, such as promoting remembrance of life
moments and sustaining relationships through slow and aesthetic experiences
across time.
Aesthetics has been extensively discussed in third wave HCI and experience-
centered design (Wright et al., 2008; Bardzell and Bardzell, 2015). In many
contexts, aesthetics is defined as beauty with the attribute of visual appeal (Lim
et al., 2007). Whereas Shusterman (2011) regarded aesthetics as an ability to
appreciate our experiences and an active skill that can be trained. He suggested
developing the perception and senses through close attention to bodily
experiences to improve this skill. Based on Shusterman’s somaesthetics, Höök
approached aesthetics as a process, a way of perceiving and attending (Höök,
2018 p139). Further, she emphasized the significance of engaging with and
improving on the aesthetics of somas: our bodies, our subjective experiences,
feelings, values and meaning-making (Höök, 2018). As she indicated,
“technological materials are only half of our design material, the other half
consists of our own somas and those of our users” (Höök, 2018 p127). In other
words, without somaesthetic appreciation abilities and attention of participants,
the aesthetic experience will be lost.
Based on the above inspirations, I used aesthetics in the exploration of
mindful experience by focusing on form-giving with technological materials, as
well as the engagement of participants and their aesthetic experience. Thus,
aesthetics in my design context was more than merely surface beauty or sensual
pleasure. Furthermore, I drew on the thoughts of Zhuangzi and “Wu Hua” that
“in direct aesthetic experiences, forgetfulness and directness transcended time
and space and overcame the dichotomy between the subject and the object, the
self and other things” (Cheng Chung-Ying, 2002; Zhu & Blocker, 1995). From
this aesthetic perspective, I used the approach of “externalizing the self to an
incarnation” and designed representations to externalize the body.
Representations in calm and aesthetic forms are intended to increase mindful
experience and diminish the subjective judgments of bodily conditions. I
suggested finding a close match between the properties of sensed biodata and its
aesthetic representation, so that participants can externalize their bodily
experience (e.g. heart beat and breath) to the aesthetic representation and
nonjudgmentally appreciate the bodily experience. For example, vapor, as a
design material, not only has calming and aesthetic properties, but also has a
similar sensual form to the airflow of breath that connects the inside and outside

of the body. Therefore, vapor was finally chosen as a suitable representation of

respiratory data and the externalization of the breath. Interaction with the vapor
to practice mindful breathing through a physical hand-held device brought a
sense of blurring of the boundary between the body and the outside. It was
aligned with the concept of “Wu Hua” – a state of mindful being at present by
viewing oneself and the external world into one.
In summary, the first tactic is to design aesthetic representations of bodily
experience to match the properties of sensed biodata. More specifically,
externalizing the body through finding a close match between the properties of
sensed biodata and its aesthetic representation helps participants pay close
attention to and appreciate their aesthetic body coherently. In addition, it is
important to design the carrier of the representation to associate it with an
aesthetic and mindful experience. For instance, the aquarium itself makes
people relax, a well-designed night lamp makes people calm and creates a cozy
atmosphere, while paintings provide viewers with aesthetic appreciation of the
relationship between nature and the body.
2) Engaging rhythmic bodily interaction
The second tactic involves the interaction and rhythm. Rhythm is a key
characteristic of interaction. As Löwgren (2009) described, rhythm is the beat of
interaction that can range from the sub-second pacing of musical interaction to
the hour-scale ebb and flow of peripheral emotional communication. Here,
rhythm is regarded as the tempo or pace 12 of interplay and collaboration
between a user and a system.
In my design context, rhythm was involved as an important quality in the
interaction to trigger rhythmic repetition of bodily engagement (e.g. abdominal
breathing, repetitive finger tapping on the surface of the device) in order to
anchor attention and support mindfulness. This tactic of engaging rhythmic
bodily interaction has been used by other researchers in different contexts. For
example, Cheng and his colleagues (2016) exploited slowness and repetitiveness
parameters of user's action with audio-visual feedback for attention regulation.
Inspired by the movement practices from Tai Chi for improving concentration,
they proposed Mindful Touch as an interaction style to anchor attention in slow,
continuous finger movements on smartphone touchscreens. Similarly, Van
Rheden and Hengeveld (2016) found that the rhythm and pace of task actions
enhance mindfulness in interaction. Based on this finding, they designed a
mindful kitchen blender that required users to focus on a steady pushing rhythm
12
As Lim et al. (2007) described, “pace refers to the rate of moving or the relative speed of
change. Tempo. A combination of different rates of paces may create some kinds of rhythms”.

so as to keep the blender going at a constant speed. Höök and her research team
proposed the quality of intimate correspondence in Somaesthetic Appreciation
Design, namely, feedback and interactions following the rhythm of the body
(Höök et al., 2016). Furthermore, they indicated that immediacy and
synchronization is key in building a correspondence relationship between a
participants and an artifact. In other words, the interactive artifact can be
designed as an extension of the body in a way that synchronizing the rhythms of
the body with immediate feedback (Höök 2018; Ingold 2011).
Engaging rhythmic bodily interaction with rhythmically tuned feedback was
highlighted as an important design tactic of non-judgmental interaction and
demonstrated the specific context of practicing mindful breathing with an
interactive physical artifact. In order to increase bodily engagement, the final
prototype of HU was designed as a hand-held physical device. When people held
and touched the device, the device emitted the rhythmically tuned vapor that
was synchronized with their breathing frequency. More specifically, participants
had to pay full attention to their breathing by tapping fingers on the device to
synchronize the rhythm of the vapor with their own breath. The pace of the
vapor in this case was carefully designed as synchronized and immediate
feedback of their bodily engagement, so that participants felt it as an extension
of their body and a mirror of their breath. This design tactic also echoed the
practice of conventional mindfulness. For example, praying with mala beads
requires people to remain aware of the sensation on their fingers and beads
through attention to slow and repetitive movement. Particularly, rhythmic
finger movements and haptic feedback from physical artifacts help people to
maintain a high level of concentration via bodily engagement and let go of the
automatic judgments. In other words, the rhythmic bodily engagement pulls the
attention back to the “here and now” from the wandering thoughts and
judgmental minds (Kabat-Zinn, 2003).
3) Setting a quiet and proper space
The third tactic is associated with the setting of the artifacts and related
interactions. It is better to use the artifact in a quiet and undisturbed space, so
as to reduce distraction from the environment on people’s attention. For
example, the fish aquarium was set up at home and in the private office room for
the YU project. The HU device was also tested in quiet places, such as a yoga
room, waiting room, home and private office. In an undisturbed environment,
people have the chance to experience the present moment with their bodies and
the artifact.

Bodily experience is closely associated with space, especially in physical

interaction. As an important quality proposed in Somaesthetic Appreciation
Design, making space is more than merely creating a physical barrier blocking
out distractions but making participants feel secured, comfortable and
aesthetically pleasing during the process of interaction (Höök et al., 2016). The
Soma Carpet and Breathing Light are good exemplars for making space through
interactions within the space and the choice of design materials.
The in-situ studies in our cases demonstrated the above tactic. For example,
it was found that when the fish aquarium was placed on a dining table at home,
people were more likely to spend more time playing with it than with it set on an
office desk. When the HU device was placed in a home setting, some
mindfulness novices hesitated to interact with it in the beginning, although the
environment was quiet and private. On the contrary, people were more likely to
use the HU device in a yoga room, even though it is a public space. Therefore,
apart from selecting quiet and undisturbed environment to set the artifacts,
setting a proper space for engaging participants in a mindful experience should
be taken into account.
I have practiced these design tactics in implementing the YU and HU
prototypes. The prototypes were improved through an iterative process of
understanding, discovery, design and test in real use. Notably, scaffolding
attention through physical artifacts was particularly beneficial to novices
attempting to engage in mindfulness practices. Some researchers have also
reported similar findings that biodata displayed in a physical and tangible form
can increase the engagement in mindfulness practice, especially for mindfulness
novices (Thieme et al., 2013; Barker and Van Der Linden, 2017). The physical
artifact could play an important role as the companion of mindfulness practice
for self-awareness. The interaction between people and the physical artifact
reduces the motivational barriers of practicing mindfulness. In addition, the
physicality and aesthetic experience can keep people’s interest and focus.
From my own perspective, the trade-off between aesthetic experience and
emotional response needs to be taken into account. In the design cases of YU
and HU, the aesthetic experience and emotional responses were influenced by
the display of the biodata, such as the pulse, heart rate and breathing frequency.
The aesthetic experience could be achieved with a simulated living being (i.e. the
fish in the project YU). Such a representation provided a different way of looking
at the bodily state and oneself. However, as the engagement with the interaction
deepened, the emotional response and the chances of judgmental
interpretations came to predominate due to the effect of

anthropomorphization 13 and isomorphic 14 relations (see more explanation in

Papers A and D). In Art and Visual Perception, Rudolf Arnheim (1954)
postulated that the structures and rhythms of the natural world have an
isomorphic similarity to human physiological-psychological responses. A
swaying willow in a gentle breeze tends to bring forth a feeling of sorrow, since
the rhythmic movement of the willow branches is similar to that of a person
wandering in sadness. In other words, a specific rhythm of life-form objects can
stimulate a certain emotional experience. To derive an aesthetic experience
related to the emotional responses, a large body of research has tested people’s
responses when exposed to visual stimuli or auditory stimuli. Through adopting
the life-form representation, the design of YU stimulated a physiological and
psychological experience, such as attachment, bonding, and empathy (Papers A
and D). With these emotional reactions, it was hard for people to maintain non-
judgmental awareness. Thus, although the design of YU might bring people a
new way of experiencing their bodies, it failed to fulfill the design intention of
non-judgmental awareness. Apart from that, the movement of the fish was not
similar to the heart beat in terms of the sensual form. Thus, it took more or less
time and imagination for viewers to understand the representation. Based on
their extent of personal understanding, people related their body to the fish to
different degrees. For some people, it took longer to fully engage in the
interaction.
In the case of HU, another set of biodata – respiratory data – was
experimented with. To create a non-judgmental interaction in mindful breathing
practice, I used vapor to represent breath, given its aesthetic form and similarity
with airflow. Indeed, the direct mapping between the vapor and breath could
lead more easily to the context of mindful breathing. During the process of
inhalation and exhalation, the vapor fitted well with the surroundings. For some
participants in the user trials, the mild form of the vapor was less likely to
trigger strong emotional reactions and judgment of the bodily state. Through the
RtD process, I realized that it is important to test different possibilities for
representation with mapping alternatives to fit in an appropriate context for
specific target population.
It is crucial to look into aesthetic features favored by the target population in
the design process. With regard to the aesthetic features, different aesthetic
psychological constructions give rise to different aesthetic experiences and
emotional reactions. Meanwhile, individuals’ cultural background, life
experiences, interests, personalities and ideologies collectively add flavors to
13
Attributing human characteristics to something that is nonhuman.
14
Having a similar structure or function.

their aesthetic taste and judgment. In my design practice, it was found that the
background of participants (e.g., their culture) influenced their aesthetic
preferences in selecting appropriate incarnations for their bodies. For instance,
Chinese participants were more inclined to select fish as a metaphoric
representation. Among the western participants, those who used to have
aquarium at home found it easier to relate their body to the fish avatar. In
addition, their aesthetic preferences affected the experience of viewing biodata
displays. These findings supported the argument of Li and Cauvel that an
accumulation of historical aesthetic experience produces the formation of
aesthetic taste (Li and Cauvel, 2006). Due to the limited time and resources for
each project, I only focused on the aesthetic features favored by Swedish and
Chinese subjects. In the next chapter, I will reflect on the design exploration
with more discussion.

Chapter 5 Conclusions and Discussions ∣ 90
Chapter 5 Conclusions and Discussions

In order to better position my research in the landscape of HCI and provide
readers with an overview of my thesis, I will review the research question and
contributions with my reflections on the design exploration. Furthermore, I
share some insights from the design process for discussion. Lastly, the
limitations of my research will be discussed.
Review of the Research Question and Contributions
As described in the previous chapters, the motivation of this thesis is to explore

more design possibilities using biodata from a perspective of mindfulness.
Mindfulness brings a perspective of being in touch with our bodies non-
judgmentally. With the development of interactive technologies, mindfulness
practice is integrated into the emerging technologies and various media, instead
of being limited to conventional rituals and specific techniques. During the
design exploration, I practiced mindfulness and involved the mindfulness
perspective on the body into interaction design. In addition, my design
exploration combined the previous work of other designers, material
explorations, my own craft design that used various sensors and actuators and
was tested on myself, expert and novice participants, as well as the lessons
learned from failures and successes. During the research journey, I aimed to
address the following research question:
How can we design with biodata for mindfulness inspired by Chinese

aesthetics?
The contributions of my design explorations can be divided into two parts: a

conceptual level and a practical level. In the following part, I will restate the
contributions and discuss the results of my research work.
The first contribution is a conceptual contribution. More specifically, I
probed into a mindful way of viewing the body and designing with biodata based
on the definition of mindfulness (i.e. “non-judgmental awareness of the present
moment”) by Kabat-Zinn (2003). To enrich the design space, I turned to
Chinese aesthetics and approaches inspired by some Chinese artwork to
experiment with more design possibilities. For example, to explore the concept
of non-judgmental awareness, I drew on “Wu Hua” and the approach of self-
externalization through a Research through Design process. In short, the first
contribution is introducing mindfulness and Chinese aesthetics for a different
way of viewing the body and portraying biodata by externalizing bodily rhythms
(e.g. breathing rhythm and heart rate).

The second contribution is a practical contribution, which involves how to

design interactive technologies with biodata from a perspective of mindfulness.
In my design practice, I experimented with two projects by portraying biodata
and mirroring it to the end-users in various everyday settings. Beyond that,
physical interactive artifacts were explored as the design media. By designing
the two interactive artifacts YU and HU for real use and testing them in
particular settings (e.g. in a mindfulness exercise group), I formulated a design
concept called non-judgmental interaction. Non-judgmental interaction involves
1) representation of biodata that refrains from producing subjective judgments
of bodily states; 2) engagement with artifacts that avoids triggering strong
emotional reactions. For example, to design a non-judgmental interaction with
biodata, the numerical display of the historical record (e.g. a heart rate of 80
beats per minute, a breathing rate of 6 breaths per minute) was avoided.
Meanwhile, the setting of a reference (built-in desirable state) was hidden, in
order to offer a non-judgmental perspective of experiencing the bodily rhythm.
The reason for this is that the numerical display is usually supposed to indicate
some kind of normative scale, which can easily be compared with a preconceived
expectation. In addition, setting a reference is likely to lead to the distinction
between positive and negative states of the body. In this sense, designers should
consider the challenges that might distract people’s attention from the present
moment and provoke them to judge their body in good or bad condition.
On this basis, I proposed three tactics for designing physical interactive
artifacts for non-judgmental interaction: 1) designing aesthetic representations
to match the properties of sensed biodata, 2) engaging rhythmic bodily
interaction, 3) setting a quiet and proper space.
The first tactic is to design the representation of the biodata with the form
that can be associated with a mindful and aesthetic experience. At the same time,
I suggested finding a close match between the properties of sensed biodata and
its aesthetic representation, so that participants can externalize their bodily
experience (e.g. heart beat and breath) to an aesthetically pleasing
representation and nonjudgmentally appreciate the body. For example, the
vapor seems a proper representation of respiratory data, because it not only has
calming and aesthetic properties, but its sensual form is also so close to breath.
This close match allows participants to anchor their attention on their breath
and associate with the mindful experience. The second tactic is associated with
interaction and rhythmic bodily engagement. In the project HU, when people
held and touched the device with rhythmical finger movements, the device
emitted a rhythmically tuned vapor synchronized with their breathing frequency.
It is worth noting that both the rhythmic bodily engagement and the

rhythmically tuned feedback are important in designing the interaction for

anchoring the attention of participants. Indeed, this tactic of designing rhythmic
bodily interaction is commonly applied in mindfulness rituals to remain a high
level of concentration and freedom from from wandering thoughts and
automatic judgments (Kabat-Zinn, 2003). The third tactic is to set the
interaction and artifact in a quiet place to reduce distractions from the
environment. In addition, a proper space that makes participants feel
comfortable and safe during the process of interaction should be taken into
account.
These tactics, which had been applied in my design practice, answered the
research question of this thesis – “how to design with biodata for mindfulness
inspired by Chinese aesthetics”. My work used several methods loosely
connected with Research through Design (RtD). Generally speaking, an RtD
process requires exploring design alternatives in a different manner. More
specifically, I worked in a real-life setting more, instead of staying in the lab for
experimental studies. For example, I not only collected data from self-tracking
app users through observations and interviews to analyze the challenges and
opportunities of designing with biodata, but also installed prototypes of YU and
HU in people’s homes and workplaces to observe how they lived with them. The
end-user study was used as a qualitative engagement to understand the
underlying desires, needs, aims, and what mindfulness practices really could
entail in terms of qualities. Furthermore, to discover and define the design space,
I involved potential target groups (e.g. physicians, stress therapists, patients,
yoga and mindfulness coaches and novice mindfulness practitioners) in the
research process. The purpose was to make it possible to explore contexts in
order to contextualize the design. My research interest is in how people
understand objects in terms of design, make sense of them, create meanings,
communicate with them, enjoy them and generally ‘live’ with them.
Throughout the entire process of this research, autobiographical design was
used as an important method and played a key role in shaping and deepening
my own design judgment ability. I involved myself in mindfulness practice from
the first-person perspective, allowing me to gain a detailed and subtle
understanding of my research question. Meanwhile, my own cultural
background and bodily experiences as a researcher and designer added flavors
to the design style and became important in making decisions on design choices.
For example, based on my personal experience of self-tracking and mindfulness
practices, I chose biodata (the pulse and respiratory data) to orchestrate the
rituals of mindfulness practice. Throughout the entire process of the iterative
design, I tested the prototype of YU and HU firstly on my own, to explore the

suitable materials and contexts. To make the knowledge accessible and

inspirational to readers, I documented the design process using the details of
important design decisions in Chapter 4. Here, I revealed some tensions in the
design practice and shared my reflections on the design exploration for
discussions.
Reflections on the Design Exploration
In the design process for YU, I found a trade-off between the aesthetic
experience and the emotional reaction. For instance, the aesthetical pleasure
could be created with a simulated living being (the fish). Nonetheless, as the
engagement of the interaction deepened, the emotional reaction and the chances
of judgmental interpretations would come to predominate, due to the effect of
anthropomorphization and isomorphic relation. In addition, when the fish
swam faster and faster, some participants expressed their concern and anxiety
about their bodily conditions. In other words, the rhythms of the incarnation
stimulated people’s emotional engagement. Consequently, the emotional
reaction caused people to judge the incarnation as a representation of their
bodily condition. These findings are consonant with the result from studies of
the affective loop (Sundström, 2005; Höök, 2008), namely, the system presents
a user’s emotional response back to the user as feedback, which further affects
the user’s emotional experience. The emotional engagement in the affective loop
brings challenges to the design intention: non-judgmental awareness of the body.
In that sense, the balance between the aesthetic experience and the emotional
reaction needs to be taken into account.
The user study for YU revealed another tension between the calming
experience and the comprehensible display. Prior to the study, I only told the
participants that YU was a reflection of their bodies, without further details on
how the interface elements and dynamics were mapped to their bio-data. Some
participants asked about the meaning of the display after using YU for a while.
They noticed that some changes had happened in the scene, such as the
movement direction and velocity of the fish, the bubbles, and the background
sound. They did not make a direct connection to themselves and were curious
about the underlying mechanisms. For example, some participants, who did
relate themselves to the status of the fish to some extent, asked: “Why does the
fish sometimes move fast and sometimes slow?” Additionally, one of the
participants said: “I make the fish move so fast! Is it because I am too excited?
Perhaps…” In fact, this participant realized that it was himself who enabled the
movement of the virtual fish and he tried to further explore the reasons.

Although some participants were engaged and active in exploring the connection
between the fish and themselves, a few people felt stressed when they saw the
fish moving faster and faster. To address this, I tried a reversed mapping: a
person will see a calm fish when his/her heart beats fast, while he/she will see
an active fish when his/her heart beats slowly. Then, the modified version of YU
was presented to the participants who encountered stress in the first half of the
study. As shown by their responses, the reversed mapping brought them
different experiences after they were informed of the underlying mechanisms.
“When the fish moved fast, I didn’t feel that stressful. When the fish moved
slowly, I followed its pace and gradually calmed down.” (female, 29, used YU
at home)
“It made me feel peaceful and joyful…” (female, 30, used YU in our studio)
The user experiences and feedback raised two questions: (1) Is it necessary to
inform people the details of the mapping and to what extent? It would be
interesting to study whether knowing the rules of the mapping in advance may
influence the experience. (2) Which should be given a higher priority, providing
a calming experience or making displays of bio-data comprehensible?
Some ambient displays exploited abstract art to visualize behavioral data,
such as physical activity. As pointed out by Fan, Forlizzi and Dey (2012),
abstract visualizations that supplement traditional graphs could increase
enjoyment and engagement with their data displays. Moreover, abstract displays
were found to be impersonal, non-prescriptive and non-judgmental (Rogers et
al., 2010). Nevertheless, there was a common issue, in that it might be difficult
for some people to understand abstract visualizations (Skog et al., 2003). Thus,
designers should strike a balance according to their specific design intention and
context.
As the project YU was my first design experiment, there were some aspects
that worked less well. Although I did not intend to set a goal of measuring the
body for achieving a desirable state, some users reacted against my design ideal.
As it turned out, the direct illustration of an undesirable state in conventional
thinking may bring unnecessary stress and kill people’s imagination and interest,
while the reversed mapping may become too complex for some people to
understand. All in all, different representations and means of mapping have
their limitations. I took lessons learned from the design practice into the next
design exploration.
In the project YU, I chose vapor to represent respiratory data to promote
mindful breathing. Due to the similar sensual form with airflow, vapor has a
meaningful coupling with breath and brings a sense of mildness, calmness, and
less emotional provocation. Given the balance between the aesthetic experience

and the emotional reactions, vapor is more suitable for portraying respiratory
data and less likely to bring the judgment of the “good” or “bad” breath. Based
on the repeated test of materials, I realized that it is of great significance to
select appropriate materials that fit the context. For example, the design context
of the project HU is mindful breathing. Mindful breathing exercise requires
people to focus fully on their breath and be involved in the experience of
breathing rhythm. In this context, vapor, as a material with a calm and aesthetic
form, built a meaningful coupling with mindful breathing and was less likely to
trigger strong emotional reactions. With rich properties, vapor could convey rich
information of breath through not only visual cues but also temperature, scent
and other modalities. The usage of vapor could be explored further for more
design possibilities.
As discussed in the previous chapter, mindfulness can be practiced without
any technology. Without the need to rely on any artifacts or technologies to
become mindful, we simply allow for mindfulness to happen. However, if the
technology is added, what can it do to support mindfulness? Some researchers
started explorative work on investigating physical interactive artifacts to
practice mindfulness (Thieme et al., 2013; Barker and Van Der Linden, 2017). It
was found that the physical interactions between people and artifacts could
facilitate the learning of mindfulness by reducing motivational barriers and
increasing interactivity (Thieme et al., 2013). The haptic feedback from the
physical artifacts engages people to maintain a high level of concentration
through bodily engagement (Thieme et al., 2013; Jonsson et al., 2016).
Moreover, the physical artifacts could act as a tool for memory recall for mindful
reflection (Akama et al., 2017).
During my design explorations, I found that the physical interactive artifacts
designed in our projects can bring some added values. Conventional
mindfulness practices require people to concentrate on their internal body as
the anchor of the focus. Meanwhile, some studies have reported the challenge of
maintaining focus and avoiding wandering thoughts (Thieme et al., 2013; Sas
and Chopra 2015; Niksirat et al. 2019). Based on this challenge, my work offered
a different form of mindfulness practice. I tried to anchor the focus of
participants, especially the novices, on an aesthetic representation by
externalizing bodily rhythms in a non-judgmental interaction. The design
portrayed biodata beyond goal-setting mechanisms to echo the concept of
mindfulness and “Wu Hua”.
This thesis did not emphasize the design for tool use through which people
may attain a state of mindful being or reach some byproducts of mindfulness
(e.g. relaxation and stress reduction). Instead, it brought a new way of viewing

the body and being with the body. This view invited people to experience their
presently lived bodies without conscious judgment, instrumental manipulation
or goal-setting activities. Based on this view, my thesis was an attempt at
exploring more possibilities for interaction design with biodata, which may
inspire the work of other researchers and designers. The design space has great
potential for further exploration. As a mindful author, I welcome all kinds of
feedback and comments with an attitude of non-judgmental acceptance.

References ∣ 97
References
Acker, W. R. B. (1954). Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting. Leiden: E.
and J. Brill.
Akama, Y., Light, A. and Bowen, S. (2017). Mindfulness and Technology: Traces of A
Middle Way, Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems,
(May), pp. 345–355. doi: 10.1145/3064663.3064752.
Allen, N. B. et al. (2006). Mindfulness-based psychotherapies: A review of conceptual

foundations, empirical evidence and practical considerations, Australian and New
Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, pp. 285–294. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1614.2006.01794.x.
Alfaras, M. , Tsaknaki, V. , Sanches, P. , Windlin, C., & Kristina Höök. (2020). From
Biodata to Somadata. CHI '20: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing
Systems.
Amores, J. et al. (2016). PsychicVR: Increasing Mindfulness by Using Virtual Reality

and Brain Computer Interfaces. Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended
Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems. (2016), 2.
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/2851581.2889442.
Arnheim Rudolf (1956). Art and visual perception: A psychology of the creative eye.
Univ of California Press.
Ayobi, A., Marshall, P., Cox, A. L., & Chen, Y. (2017). Quantifying the body and caring
for the mind: self-tracking in multiple sclerosis. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 6889-6901).
Barker, M. and Van Der Linden, J. (2017). Sprite catcher: A handheld self-reflection
and mindfulness tool for mental healthcare. TEI 2017 - Proceedings of the 11th
International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (2017).
Baer, R. A. (2003). Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and

empirical review, Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, pp. 125–143. doi:
10.1093/clipsy/bpg015.

References ∣ 98
Benson, H., Beary, J. F. and Carol, M. P. (1974). The relaxation response, Psychiatry,
37(1), pp. 37–46.
Behan, C. (2020). The benefits of Meditation and Mindfulness practices during times of
crisis such as Covid-19. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, pp. 1-8.
Bishop, S. R. et al. (2004). Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition, Clinical

Psychology: Science and Practice, 11(3), pp. 230–241. doi: 10.1093/clipsy/bph077.
Blythe, M. (2014). Research through design fiction, in Proceedings of the 32nd annual
ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI ’14. doi:
10.1145/2556288.2557098.
Bardzell, J., & Bardzell, S. (2015). Humanistic HCI. Synthesis Lectures on Human-
Centered Informatics, 8(4), 1-185.
Bodhi, B. (2011). What does mindfulness really mean? A canonical perspective,

Contemporary Buddhism, 12(1), pp. 19–39. doi: 10.1080/14639947.2011.564813.
Boehner, K. et al. (2007). How emotion is made and measured, International Journal
of Human Computer Studies, 65(4), pp. 275–291. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2006.11.016.
Brown, K.W. and Ryan, R.M. (2003). The Benefits of Being Present: Mindfulness and
Its Role in Psychological Well-Being, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Brown, K. W., Ryan, R. M. and Creswell, J. D. (2007). Mindfulness: Theoretical

foundations and evidence for its salutary effects, Psychological Inquiry, 18(4), pp. 211–
237. doi: 10.1080/10478400701598298.
Calvo, R. A., & Peters, D. (2014). Positive computing: technology for wellbeing and
human potential. MIT Press.
Carroll, J. M. and Kellogg, W. A. (1989). Artifact as theory-nexus: Hermeneutics meets

theory-based design. In Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems –
Proceedings. doi: 10.1145/67449.67452.
Chandrasiri, A. et al. (2020). A virtual reality approach to mindfulness skills training,

Virtual Reality. (2020). DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-019-00380-2.

References ∣ 99
Chen, K. (2016). Wuhua Therapy: A Way to ZhiMian Unallowable Experience in the

Context of Chinese Culture, Journal of Humanistic Psychology, pp. 1-16. doi:
10.1177/0022167816675030.
Chen, R. J. et al. (2018). An Empirical Exploration of Mindfulness Design Using Solo

Travel Domain. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems - CHI’18, pp. 1–12. doi: 10.1145/3173574.3173671.
Cheng Chung-Ying, N.B. (2002). Contemporary Chinese philosophy. Malden, Mass:

Blackwell Publishers.
Cheng, P., Lucero, A. and Buur, J. (2016). PAUSE: Exploring Mindful Touch
Interaction on Smartphones. In Proceedings of the 20th International Academic
Mindtrek Conference, pp. 184-191. doi: 10.1145/2994310.2994342.
Chinareva, S. et al. (2020). Lotus: Mediating Mindful Breathing. In Extended Abstracts

of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 1-7. https:
//doi.org/10.1145/3334480.3382938
Choe, E. K., Lee, N. B., Lee, B., Pratt, W., & Kientz, J. A. (2014). Understanding
quantified-selfers' practices in collecting and exploring personal data. In Proceedings of
the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 1143-
1152). ACM.
Consolvo, S., McDonald, D. W., & Landay, J. A. (2009). Theory-driven design strategies
for technologies that support behavior change in everyday life. In Proceedings of the
SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 405-414). ACM.
Conversano, C., Di Giuseppe, M., Miccoli, M., Ciacchini, R., Gemignani, A., & Orrù, G.
(2020). Mindfulness, age and gender as protective factors against psychological
distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Front. Psychol. doi, 10.
Cook, S. (2003). Harmony and Cacophony in the Pipes of Heaven, in Hiding the World
in the World: Uneven discourses on the Zhuangzi. New York: State University of New
York Press, pp. 64-87.

References ∣ 100
Cox, A. L. et al. (2016). Design Frictions for Mindful Interactions. Proceedings of the
2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems -
CHI EA ’16, pp. 1389-1397. doi: 10.1145/2851581.2892410.
Daniela Petrelli and Steve Whittaker.(2010). Family memories in the home: contrasting
physical and digital mementos. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. (2010).
Daudén Roquet, C. and Sas, C. (2020). Body Matters: Exploration of the Human Body
as a Resource for the Design of Technologies for Meditation. Proceedings of Designing
Interactive Systems, DIS 2020, ACM. May (2020).
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3357236.3395499.
Davis, S. et al. (2014). Systematic review of cybersickness. ACM International

Conference Proceeding Series (2014).
Decker, J. T. et al. (2015). ‘Mindfulness, Compassion Fatigue, and Compassion

Satisfaction among Social Work Interns’, Social Work & Christianity, 42(1), pp. 28-42.
Diemer, J. et al. (2015). The impact of perception and presence on emotional reactions:
A review of research in virtual reality. Frontiers in Psychology.
de Frias, C. M., & Whyne, E. (2015). Stress on health-related quality of life in older
adults: The protective nature of mindfulness. Aging & mental health, 19(3), 201-206.
Edelson, D. C. (2002). Design research: What we learn when we engage in design.

Journal of the Learning Sciences. doi: 10.1207/S15327809JLS1101_4.
Fallman, D. (2008). The Interaction Design Research Triangle of Design Practice,

Design Studies, and Design Exploration, Design Issues, 24(3), pp. 4-18. doi:
10.1162/desi.2008.24.3.4.
Fan, C., Forlizzi, J., & Dey, A. K. (2012). A spark of activity: exploring informative art as
visualization for physical activity. In Proceedings of the 2012 ACM Conference on
Ubiquitous Computing (pp. 81-84). ACM.
Fishbein, M. and Ajzen, I. (2011). Predicting and Changing Behavior: The Reasoned
Action Approach, Predicting and Changing Behavior: The Reasoned Action Approach,
pp. 1-518.

References ∣ 101
Fulton, P. R. (2005). Mindfulness as Clinical Training. Mindfulness and psychotherapy,

pp. 55-72.
Galesic, M., & Garcia-Retamero, R. (2011). Graph literacy a cross-cultural comparison.

Medical Decision Making, 31(3), 444-457.
Gaver, W. and Bowers, J. (2012). Annotated portfolios. Interactions. doi:

10.1145/2212877.2212889.
Gaver, W. (2011). Making spaces: How design workbooks work. In Conference on

Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings. doi: 10.1145/1978942.1979169.
Gaver, W. (2012). What should we expect from research through design? Proceedings
of the 2012 ACM annual conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI ’12.
New York, New York, USA: ACM Press, p. 937. doi: 10.1145/2207676.2208538.
Gaver, W. and Hook, K. (2017). What makes a good CHI design paper?. Interactions.
doi: 10.1145/3076255.
Goldstein, J. (2003). One Dharma: The emerging western Buddhism. HarperOne.
Gonzalez-Franco, M. and Lanier, J. (2017). Model of illusions and virtual reality.

Frontiers in Psychology. (2017). DOI:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01125.
Goodman, L. A. (1961). Snowball sampling. The annals of mathematical statistics, 148-

170.
Grimley, D., Prochaska, J. O., Velicer, W. F., Blais, L. M., & DiClemente, C. C. (1994).
The transtheoretical model of change. Changing the self: Philosophies, techniques, and
experiences, 201-227.
Grosse-Hering, B. et al. (2013). Slow design for meaningful interactions. Proceedings of

the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI ’13,
(November 2015), p. 3431. doi: 10.1145/2470654.2466472.
Grossman, P. et al. (2004). Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits: A

meta-analysis’. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, pp. 35-43. doi: 10.1016/S0022-
3999(03)00573-7.

References ∣ 102
Gromala, D. et al. (2015). The virtual meditative walk: Virtual reality therapy for
chronic pain management. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems -
Proceedings.
Guying Chen (2009). The Philosophy of Mind in the Inner Chapters of Chuang Tzu: the
Opening Mind and the Aesthetic Mood’, Philosophical Researches, 3.
Hallnäs, L. and Redström, J. (2001). Slow technology - Designing for reflection.

Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 5(3), pp. 201-212. doi: 10.1007/PL00000019.
Hallnäs, L. (2011). On the foundations of interaction design aesthetics: Revisiting the

notions of form and expression. International Journal of Design 5, 1, pp. 73-84
Hekler, E. B. et al. (2013). Mind the Theoretical Gap: Interpreting, Using, and
Developing Behavioral Theory in HCI Research. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI ’13, pp. 3307-3316. doi:
10.1145/2470654.2466452.
Höök, K. (2008). Affective loop experiences - What are they?. In Lecture Notes in
Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and
Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics). doi: 10.1007/978-3-540-68504-3-1.
Höök, K. (2009). Affective loop experiences: designing for interactional embodiment.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. doi:
10.1098/rstb.2009.0202.
Höök, K. and Löwgren, J. (2012). Strong concepts: Intermediate-Level Knowledge in

Interaction Design Research. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction,
19(3), pp. 1-18. doi: 10.1145/2362364.2362371.
Höök, K., Ståhl, A., Jonsson, M., Mercurio, J., Karlsson, A., & Johnson, E. C. B. (2015).
Somaesthetic design. Interactions. doi: 10.1145/2770888.
Höök, K., Jonsson, M. P., Ståhl, A., & Mercurio, J. (2016). Somaesthetic appreciation
design. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing
Systems (pp. 3131-3142).
Höök, K. et al. (2018). Embracing First-Person Perspectives in Soma-Based Design.

Informatics, 5(1), p. 8. doi: 10.3390/informatics5010008.

References ∣ 103
Höök, K. (2018). Designing with the body: Somaesthetic interaction design. MIT Press.
Horchers, J. O. (2001). A pattern approach to interaction design. AI and Society. doi:

10.1007/bf01206115.
Howells, A., Ivtzan, I. and Eiroa-Orosa, F. J. (2016). Putting the “app” in Happiness: A
Randomised Controlled Trial of a Smartphone-Based Mindfulness Intervention to
Enhance Wellbeing. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17(1), pp. 163-185. doi:
10.1007/s10902-014-9589-1.
Hussien Ahmed, M. M. et al. (2017). Understanding the Role of Human Senses in

Interactive Meditation. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors
in Computing Systems – CHI ’17, pp. 4960-4965. doi: 10.1145/3025453.3026000.
Hutchinson, H. et al. (2003). Technology probes: inspiring design for and with families.
In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
(CHI ’03), pp. 17-24. doi: 10.1145/642611.642616.
Ingold, T. (2017). On human correspondence. Journal of the Royal Anthropological

Institute, 23(1), pp. 9-27.
Jafarinaimi, N., Forlizzi, J., Hurst, A., & Zimmerman, J. (2005). Breakaway: an
ambient display designed to change human behavior. In CHI'05 extended abstracts on
Human factors in computing systems (pp. 1945-1948). ACM.
Jonsson, M. et al. (2016). The aesthetics of heat: Guiding awareness with thermal
stimuli. TEI 2016 - Proceedings of the 10th Anniversary Conference on Tangible
Embedded and Embodied Interaction.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and
Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness, 2005. doi: 10.1037/032287.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in
everyday life, Behaviour Research and Therapy. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(95)90133-7.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and

future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, pp. 144-156. doi:
10.1093/clipsy/bpg016.

References ∣ 104
Kaplan, S. (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework.

Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15(3), pp. 169-182. doi: 10.1016/0272-
4944(95)90001-2.
Karlgren, B. (1923). Analytic Dictionary of Chinese and Sino-Japanese. Paul Geunther,

Dover reprint.
Khot, R. A., Hjorth, L., & Mueller, F. F. (2014). Understanding physical activity through
3D printed material artifacts. In Proceedings of the 32nd annual ACM conference on
Human factors in computing systems (pp. 3835-3844). ACM.
Khot, R. A., Lee, J., Aggarwal, D., Hjorth, L., & Mueller, F. F. (2015). TastyBeats:
Designing Palatable Representations of Physical Activity. In Proceedings of the 33rd
Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 2933-2942).
ACM.
Khut, G. & Muller, L. (2005). Evolving Creative Practice: A reflection on working with
audience experience in Cardiomorphologies. in In Anastasiou, P., Smithies, R., Trist, K.
& Jones, L. (Eds.) Vital Signs: Creative Practice & New Media Now. Australian Centre
for the Moving Image, Melbourne, Australia, RMIT Publishing.
Khut, G. (2006). Development and Evaluation of Participant-Centred Biofeedback

Artworks. Doctoral exegesis, University of Western Sydney.
Kosunen, I. et al. (2016). RelaWorld: Neuroadaptive and Immersive Virtual Reality

Meditation System. IUI 2016, pp. 208-217. doi: 10.1145/2856767.2856796.
Langford, T., Burleigh, A., Ruta, N., & Pepperell, R. (2018). New immersive media to
broaden attention and awareness. Electronic Visualisation and the Arts, 323-330.
Langer, E. J. (1989). Mindfulness. Addison-Wesley/Addison Wesley Longman.
Laurie, J. and Blandford, A. (2016). Making time for mindfulness. International

Journal of Medical Informatics, 96, pp. 38–50. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2016.02.010.
Lesage, F. X., Berjot, S. and Deschamps, F. (2012). Clinical stress assessment using a
visual analogue scale. Occupational Medicine. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqs140.

References ∣ 105
Lenz, E., Diefenbach, S., & Hassenzahl, M. (2014). Aesthetics of interaction: a literature
synthesis. In Proceedings of the 8th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer
Interaction: Fun, Fast, Foundational (pp. 628-637).
Li, I., Forlizzi, J., and Dey, A. (2010). Know thyself: monitoring and reflecting on facets
of one’s life. CHI’10 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems,
ACM, 4489-4492.
Li, I., Dey, A. and Forlizzi, J. (2011). Understanding My Data, Myself: Supporting Self-
Reflection with Ubicomp Technologies. In International Conference on Ubiquitous
Computing. doi: 10.1145/2030112.2030166.
Li, Z. (1995). Zhuangzi and Chan Buddhism. in Zhu, Liyun; Gene, B. (ed.) In
Contemporary Chinese Aesthetics. New York et al.: Peter Lang., p. 155.
Li, Z. (2010). The Chinese aesthetic tradition, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition.
Available at: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-
84920031444&partnerID=40&md5=2504593702c311608998d09b58411b35.
Li, Z. and Cauvel, J. (2006). Four essays on aesthetics: toward a global view. Lexington
Books.
Lim, Y. K., Stolterman, E., Jung, H., & Donaldson, J. (2007). Interaction gestalt and the
design of aesthetic interactions. In Proceedings of the 2007 conference on Designing
pleasurable products and interfaces (pp. 239-254). ACM.
Lin, J. J., Mamykina, L., Lindtner, S., Delajoux, G., & Strub, H. B. (2006). Fish'n'steps:
Encouraging physical activity with an interactive computer game. In Proceedings of
Ubicomp 2006.
Long, K. and Vines, J. (2013). Mind pool: encouraging self-reflection through

ambiguous bio-feedback. CHI’13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing
Systems, 2975–2978. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/2468356.2479588.
Löwgren, J. (2009). Toward an articulation of interaction esthetics. New Review of

Hypermedia and Multimedia, 15(2), pp. 129-146. doi: 10.1080/13614560903117822.
Löwgren, J. (2013). Annotated portfolios and other forms of intermediate-level

knowledge, Interactions, 20(1), pp. 30–34.

References ∣ 106
Lukoff, K. et al. (2020). From Ancient Contemplative Practice to the App Store:
Designing a Digital Container for Mindfulness. Proceedings of the 2020 ACM
Designing Interactive Systems Conference.
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3357236.3395444.
Lutz, A. et al. (2008). Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation. Trends in

Cognitive Sciences, pp. 163-169. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2008.01.005.
Lutz, A. et al. (2015). Investigating the phenomenological matrix of mindfulness-

related practices from a neurocognitive perspective. American Psychologist.
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039585.
MacLeod, H., Tang, A., & Carpendale, S. (2013). Personal informatics in chronic illness
management. In Proceedings of Graphics Interface 2013 (pp. 149-156).
Mani, M. et al. (2015). Review and Evaluation of Mindfulness-Based iPhone Apps.

JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 3(3), p. e82. doi: 10.2196/mhealth.4328.
Mars, T. S., & Abbey, H. (2010). Mindfulness meditation practise as a healthcare

intervention: A systematic review. International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, 13(2),
56-66.
Masicampo, E. J. and Baumeister, R. F. (2007). Relating Mindfulness and Self-

Regulatory Processes, Psychological Inquiry, 18(4), pp. 255-258. doi:
10.1080/10478400701598363.
Matthews, M., Snyder, J., Reynolds, L., Chien, J. T., Shih, A., Lee, J. W., & Gay, G.
(2015). Real-Time Representation Versus Response Elicitation in Biosensor Data. In
Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing
Systems (pp. 605-608). ACM.
Mentis, H. M., Laaksolahti, J., & Höök, K. (2014). My self and you: Tension in bodily
sharing of experience. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI),
21(4), 1-26.
Möller, H.-G. (1999) ‘Zhuangzi’s “Dream of the Butterfly”: A Daoist Interpretation’,

Philosophy East and West, 49(No.4), pp. 439-450.

References ∣ 107
Müller, J., Wilmsmann, D., Exeler, J., Buzeck, M., Schmidt, A., Jay, T and Krüger, A.
(2009). Display Blindness: The Effect of Expectations on Attention towards Digital
Signage. In Proceedings of Pervasive ’09, 1-8.
Neff, K. D. (2003). The development and validation of a scale to measure self-

compassion, Self and identity, 2, pp. 223-250. doi: 10.1080/15298860390209035.
Neustaedter, C. and Sengers, P. (2012). Autobiographical Design in HCI Research:

Designing and Learning through Use-It-Yourself’, pp. 514–523.
Niedderer, K. (2007). Designing Mindful Interaction: The Category of Performative

Object, Design Issues, 23(1), pp. 3-17. doi: 10.1162/desi.2007.23.1.3.
Niksirat, K.S. et al. (2019). Attention regulation framework: Designing self-regulated

mindfulness technologies, ACM Transactions on Computer- Human Interaction doi:
https://doi.org/10.1145/3359593.
Nunes, F., Verdezoto, N., Fitzpatrick, G., Kyng, M., Groenvall, E., & Storni, C. (2015).
Self-care technologies in hci: trends, tensions, and opportunities. ACM Transactions on
Computer-Human Interaction, 22(6), 45.
Odom, W. T., Sellen, A. J., Banks, R., Kirk, D. S., Regan, T., Selby, M., ... & Zimmerman,
J. (2014). Designing for slowness, anticipation and re-visitation: a long-term field study
of the photobox. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems (pp. 1961-1970).
Odom, W., Wakkary, R., Hol, J., Naus, B., Verburg, P., Amram, T., & Chen, A. Y. S.
(2019). Investigating slowness as a frame to design longer-term experiences with
personal data: A field study of Olly. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on
Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-16).
Odom, W., Yoo, M., Lin, H., Duel, T., Amram, T., & Chen, A. Y. S. (2020). Exploring the
Reflective Potentialities of Personal Data with Different Temporal Modalities: A Field
Study of Olo Radio. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems
Conference (pp. 283-295).

References ∣ 108
Paredes, P. et al. (2018). Driving with the Fishes: Towards Calming and Mindful Virtual
Reality Experiences for the Car. In Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile,
Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies. (2018). DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3287062.
Patibanda, R., Mueller, F., Leskovsek, M. and Duckworth, J. (2017). Life Tree:
Understanding the Design of Breathing Exercise Games. In Proceedings of the Annual
Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play. ACM New York, NY, USA ©2017,
19-31.
Piet, J. and Hougaard, E. (2011). The effect of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for
prevention of relapse in recurrent major depressive disorder: A systematic review and
meta-analysis, Clinical Psychology Review, pp. 1032-1040. doi:
10.1016/j.cpr.2011.05.002.
Plaza, I. et al. (2013) ‘Mindfulness-based mobile applications: Literature review and

analysis of current features’, Journal of Medical Internet Research. doi:
10.2196/mhealth.2733.
Poškaitė (2017). The Embodiment of Zhuangzi’s Ecological Wisdom in Chinese Literati

Painting (wenrenhua) and Its Aesthetics, Asian Studies, 5(1), pp. 221–239. doi:
10.4312/as.2017.5.1.221-239.
van Rheden, V. and Hengeveld, B. (2016). Engagement through Embodiment: A Case

for Mindful Interaction. In Proceedings of TEI 2016, pp. 349–356. doi:
10.1145/2839462.2839498.
Rogers, Y., Hazlewood, W. R., Marshall, P., Dalton, N., & Hertrich, S. (2010). Ambient
influence: Can twinkly lights lure and abstract representations trigger behavioral
change?. In Proceedings of the 12th ACM international conference on Ubiquitous
computing (pp.261-270). ACM.
Roo, J. S., Gervais, R., Frey, J., & Hachet, M. (2017, May). Inner garden: Connecting
inner states to a mixed reality sandbox for mindfulness. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1459-1470).
Rooksby, J., Rost, M., Morrison, A., & Chalmers, M. C. (2014). Personal tracking as
lived informatics. In Proceedings of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human
factors in computing systems (pp. 1163-1172). ACM.

References ∣ 109
Roth, H. D. (2010). Bimodal Mystical experience in the ‘Qiwulun’ Chapter of the

Zhuangzi. In Experimental Essays on Zhuangzi’, edited by Victor H. Mair.Dunedin:
Three Pines Press.
Roquet, C., & Sas, C. (2018, April). Evaluating mindfulness meditation apps. In
Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing
Systems (pp. 1-6).
Salehzadeh Niksirat, K. et al. (2017). A Framework for Interactive Mindfulness

Meditation Using Attention-Regulation Process. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems – CHI ’17, pp. 2672-2684. doi:
10.1145/3025453.3025914.
Sanches, P., Janson, A., Karpashevich, P., Nadal, C., Qu, C., Daudén Roquet, C., ... &
Sas, C. (2019, May). HCI and Affective Health: Taking stock of a decade of studies and
charting future research directions. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on
Sas, C. and Chopra, R. (2015). MeditAid: a wearable adaptive neurofeedback-based

system for training mindfulness state. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 19(7), pp.
1169-1182. doi: 10.1007/s00779-015-0870-z.
Schiphorst, T. (2005). Exhale: Breath Between Bodies, in Emerging Technologies

Electronic Art and Animation Catalogue, Art Gallery, Siggraph2005, ACM Press, Los
Angeles, CA., pp. 62–63.
Schiphorst, T. (2009). soft (n) toward a somaesthetics of touch. In CHI'09 Extended

Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 2427-2438).
Schön, D. A. (1938). The reflective practitioner. New York, 1083.
Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. and Teasdale, J. D. (2002). Mindfulness-based cognitive

therapy for depression, New York.
Sharf, R. (2014). Mindfulness and Mindlessness in Early Chan, Philosophy East and
West, 64(4), pp. 933-964. doi: 10.1353/pew.2014.0074.
Sherman, W. R., & Craig, A. B. (2003). Understanding virtual reality. San Francisco, CA:
Morgan Kauffman.

References ∣ 110
Shusterman, R. (2008). Body consciousness: A philosophy of mindfulness and

somaesthetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shusterman, R. (2011). Somaesthetics: Thinking through the body and designing for
interactive experience. The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction.
Skog, T., Ljungblad, S., & Holmquist, L. E. (2003). Between aesthetics and utility:
designing ambient information visualizations. In Information Visualization, 2003.
INFOVIS 2003. IEEE Symposium on (pp. 233-240). IEEE.
Sliwinski, J., Katsikitis, M., & Jones, C. M. (2017). A review of interactive technologies
as support tools for the cultivation of mindfulness. Mindfulness.
Steyer, R. et al. (1999). Latent state-trait theory and research in personality and
individual differences. European Journal of Personality. (1999).
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1099 0984(199909/10)13:5<389::aid-
per361>3.0.co;2-a.
Ståhl, A. (2014). Designing for Interactional Empowerment. PhD Dissertation. KTH

Royal Institute of Technology.
Ståhl, A. and Höök, K. (2008). Reflecting on the design process of the Affective Diary.
In Proceedings of the 5th Nordic conference on Human-computer interaction building
bridges - NordiCHI ’08. doi: 10.1145/1463160.1463245.
Stolterman, E. (2008). The Nature of Design Practice and Implications for Interaction
Design Research, International Journal, 2(1), pp. 55-65.
Stolterman, E. and Wiberg, M. (2010). Concept-Driven Interaction Design Research,

Human-Computer Interaction, 25(2), pp. 95-118. doi: 10.1080/07370020903586696.
Strauss, C. F. and Fuad-luke, A. (2008). The Slow Design Principles, Changing the
change: design visions, proposals and tools, pp. 1-14.
Stusak, S., Tabard, A., Sauka, F., Khot, R. A., & Butz, A. (2014). Activity sculptures:
Exploring the impact of physical visualizations on running activity. Visualization and
Computer Graphics, IEEE Transactions on, 20(12), 2201-2210.

References ∣ 111
Sun, Z., Reani, M., Li, Q., and Ma, X. (2020). Fostering Engagement in Technology-
Mediated Stress Management: A Comparative Study of Biofeedback Designs.
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (IJHCS). 102430.
Teper, R. and Inzlicht, M. (2013). Meditation, mindfulness and executive control: The
importance of emotional acceptance and brain-based performance monitoring. Social
Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nss045.
Terzimehić, N., Häuslschmid, R., Hussmann, H., & Schraefel, M. C. (2019, May). A
Review & Analysis of Mindfulness Research in HCI: Framing Current Lines of Research
and Future Opportunities. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human
Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-13). doi: 10.1145/3290605.3300687.
Thieme, A. et al. (2013). Design to promote mindfulness practice and sense of self for
vulnerable women in secure hospital services. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI ’13, p. 2647. doi:
10.1145/2470654.2481366.
Travis, F. and Shear, J. (2010). Focused attention, open monitoring and automatic self-
transcending: Categories to organize meditations from Vedic, Buddhist and Chinese
traditions, Consciousness and Cognition, pp. 1110–1118. doi:
10.1016/j.concog.2010.01.007.
Udall, N. (1996). An investigation into the heuristics of mindfulness in higher art and
design education. University of Surrey.
Vidyarthi, J., Riecke, B. E., & Gromala, D. (2012, June). Sonic Cradle: designing for an
immersive experience of meditation by connecting respiration to music. In Proceedings
of the designing interactive systems conference (pp. 408-417).
Weiser, M., & Brown, J. S. (1997). The coming age of calm technology. InBeyond
calculation (pp. 75-85). Springer New York.
Westerlund, B. (2005). Design Space conceptual tool: grasping the design process,
Proceedings for ‘In the Making’, Nordes, the Nordic Design Research Conference.
Westerlund, B. (2009). Design Space Exploration: co-operative creation of proposals

for desired interactions with future artefacts (Doctoral dissertation).

References ∣ 112
Williams, M. and Penman, D. (2011). Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in

a frantic world. Hachette UK: Piatkus.
Wilson, M., Doyle, J. and McTaggart, G. (2018). Designing digital mindfulness-based

interventions for older informal carers. In Proceedings of the 32nd International BCS
Human Computer Interaction Conference, HCI 2018. doi: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.52.
Wright, P., Wallace, J., & McCarthy, J. (2008). Aesthetics and experience-centered
design. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 15(4), 1-21.
Yu, B. (2016). Adaptive biofeedback for mind-body practices. In Proceedings of the

2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
(pp. 260-264). DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/2851581.2859027.
Zhu, B. et al. (2015). Bringing Chinese Aesthetics into Designing the Experience of
Personal Informatics for Wellbeing. In 9th International Conference on Design and
Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM), pp. 289-298.
Zhu, B., Hedman, A. and Li, H. (2016). Design digital mindfulness for personal
wellbeing. In Proceedings of the 28th Australian Conference on Computer-Human
Interaction – OzCHI ’16, pp. 626-627. doi: 10.1145/3010915.3011841.
Zhu, B., Hedman, A., & Li, H. (2017). Designing digital mindfulness: Presence-in and
presence-with versus presence-through. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on
Zimmerman, J., & Forlizzi, J. (2014). Research through design in HCI. In Ways of
Knowing in HCI (pp. 167-189). Springer, New York, NY. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-
0378-8_8.
Zimmerman, J., Forlizzi, J. and Evenson, S. (2007). Research through design as a

method for interaction design research in HCI. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI
conference on Human factors in computing systems – CHI ’07. doi:
10.1145/1240624.1240704.

FULLTEXT02

Uploaded by

FULLTEXT02

Uploaded by

kth royal institute

Doctoral Thesis in Human-Computer Interaction

Designing for Mindfulness

Stockholm, Sweden 2021

Doctoral Thesis in Human-Computer Interaction

Printed by: Universitetsservice US-AB, Sweden 2021

Knowing others is intelligence

Knowing yourself is wisdom

If you are depressed, you are living in the past.

If you are anxious, you are living in the future.

If you are at peace, you are living in the present.

Take a few minutes to appreciate

what you have and how far you have come.

Peace comes from within,

do not seek it without.

the coronavirus pandemic and the impermanence of life

Designing for Mindfulness

The Quantified Self (QS) movement and self-tracking technologies in personal

I aimed to investigate the following research question:

Min avsikt var att utreda följande forskningsfråga:

Hur kan design använda biodata för en mindfulness som är inspirerad av

Sammanfattningsvis levererar mitt arbete två huvudsakliga bidrag. Det första

I am grateful to Madeline Balaam for her kind support and review of my

My thanks go to the Centre for Social Sustainability at the Karolinska

I am also extremely grateful to my friends and mindfulness experts Miguel

I would like to express my kind thanks and appreciation to my friends

Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my big family, my

Chapter 3 Methodology and Research Process ................................. 49

Chapter 4 Exploration of the Design with Biodata ............................. 69

An Exploration of Interaction Design with Biodata

Bin (Tina) Zhu

Aims and Research Questions

As digital technologies for wellbeing are increasingly applied in everyday life,

moment. (Kabat-Zinn, 2010). While encouraging people to face the uncertainty

focal point of this thesis is to explore interaction design for non-judgmental

In this thesis, I tried to investigate the following research question:

2) Non-judgm ental awareness of the body:

3) Aesthetics and Chinese aesthetics:

4) Physical interactive artifact:

The contributions of my research can be divided into a conceptual level and a

Contribution 1: Integrating mindfulness and Chinese aesthetics into

Contribution 2: Formulating design concept and tactics of designing with

is a hand-held interactive device to support mindful breathing for individuals

This thesis is a compilation thesis (“kappa” in Swedish), which is based on a

designs using biodata, mindfulness and related research in HCI, inspirations

Summary of Papers Included

The project YU is my first attempt at exploring the design using physiological

of being present-in or present-with the artifact, which is analogous to how we

eastern meditative approaches focus more on present-centered attention and

Designing Mindful Interaction for Direct Presence (Plan to submit to a journal)

Papers Not Included

3. Zhu, B. (2015). Appreciation of the body: aesthetics of interaction design

4. Zhu, B., Ma, X., Zhang, Y. (2015). Appreciation of Living: Bringing

5. Ma, X., Zhu. B. (2015). The Art of Engagement: From Calligraphy to

6. Zhu, B., Li, H. (2014). Designing Finger Movement On Mobile Phone

7. Zhu, B., Kürth-Landwehr, S., Corbi, VG. (2014). YU: an artistic

8. Zhu, B. (2013). Explore Chinese Aesthetics in Interaction Design of

9. Zhu, B. Höök, K. (2013). Using Mobile Phone Cover to Extend Twitter

Chapter 2 Background and Inspiration

Designing with Biodata

Ambient Displays and Abstract Visualizations

Life-like Metaphorical Visualizations

Some researchers have adopted life-like metaphors and avatars to visualize

Figure 1. UbiFit Garden’s display (Consolvo, McDonald and Landay, 2009)

Figure 2. Fish ‘N’ Steps (Lin et al., 2006)

Data physicalization employs physical artifacts for communicating biodata.

of physical visualizations by representing running activity in the form of a figure,

Figure 3. Breakaway (Jafarinaimi et al., 2005)

Figure 5. TastyBeats (Khot et al., 2015)

Somaesthetic design is fueled by growing interests in aesthetics in the HCI

Figure 6. Soma Mat and Breathing Light (Höök et al., 2016)

At present, the definition of mindfulness has not achieved a clear consensus in

Mindfulness in Interaction Design Research

With the development of interactive technologies, mindfulness practice is

guidance. Mani et al (2015) systematically reviewed mindfulness-based mobile

VR for mindfulness practice

Mindfulness is translated in Chinese as “ 正念 ”. The character “ 正 ” is