Enquête d’âme
Interactive Installation, 2024

Enquête d’âme is an interactive installation that invites visitors to reflect on their current state of wellbeing through a tactile, participatory interface. Using a custom-built keyboard, participants select from sixteen dimensions drawn from the TCC Wellbeing Framework—such as playfulness, belonging, or competence—to express how they feel in the moment.

Each selection triggers a generative visualisation that renders these emotional inputs as a circular composition of light and movement. The evolving image captures both individual and collective responses over time, creating a shared landscape of wellbeing. The use of circular forms and colour gradients draws on perceptual principles (Ware, 2012) to support intuitive pattern recognition and emotional resonance.

Rather than interpreting emotion through algorithms or abstract data, Enquête d’âme foregrounds the role of embodied expression and subjective input. It addresses limitations in traditional sentiment analysis by allowing for ambiguity, context, and personal meaning. In doing so, the piece contributes to ongoing conversations in design and HCI around the value of diagrammatic representations for externalising thought (Larkin & Simon, 1987) and supports emerging approaches such as vibes-based methods (Watson, 2025).

Credits

  • Concept, Design & Development: Ricardo O’Nascimento

  • Wellbeing Framework Development: Textile Circularity Centre (Royal College of Art, University College London, University of Leeds, University of Cambridge, Cranfield University)

  • Academic Supervision: Prof. Sharon Baurley, Dr. Bruna Petreca

  • Visual System Design: Ricardo O’Nascimento

  • Funding: EPSRC-funded UKRI Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centre for Textiles: Circular Bioeconomy for Textile Materials (EP/V011766/1)