AUDIO–VISUAL
CREATIVE CODING

DM3009

A studio module focused around audio-visual systems, interactions,
and time-based creative expression.

About

OVERVIEW

STRUCTURE

SCHEDULE

ASSESSMENT

RESOURCES

Studio, not bootcamp

Learning happens via exploration, experimentation, and critiques as opposed to fixed step-by-step instruction and tutorials.

Intermediate level

This module builds on students' prior exposure to creative coding and interaction design.

Requires experience

You should be comfortable reading and modifying existing code, even if you are not fully confident writing everything from scratch.

Support is available

Help will be provided in class, but students who feel underprepared should use provided resources to catch up outside of class.

🎨

🛠️

🧑‍💻

🛟

This module aims to equip students with an understanding of core audio-visual coding techniques and technologies that can be applied across different programming languages and software tools.

Expectations

Code is a core material in this module

Students are expected to engage with code as part of their creative practice, including reading, modifying, and reasoning about existing systems.

This does not mean that everything must be written from scratch. Students should be comfortable navigating code and making intentional changes to parameters.

Confusion is expected at times, but avoiding the code entirely is not. Understanding how a system behaves over time matters more than technical virtuosity.

AI Tools & Usage Guidelines

AI tools may be used for guidance, explanation, and debugging, similar to a tutor or reference resource. Any use of AI must be declared.

Permitted Use

Submitting work that is largely generated by AI, or code that students do not understand, is strictly not acceptable.

NOT PERMITTED

If you cannot explain how a system works, you should not submit it as your own.

OVERVIEW

STRUCTURE

SCHEDULE

ASSESSMENT

RESOURCES

covenants

Playability Over Reactivity

Interaction should invite exploration, not just trigger responses. A good system reveals depth through use, not novelty alone.

🎹

Behavior Across Time

Systems unfold. Meaning is derived from repetition, rhythm, accumulation, memory, and changes over time.

⏳

Explainable Systems

You should be able to clearly explain how your system works through diagrams, speech, and critique — not just demos.

💬

Intentional Aesthetics

Visual and sonic choices matter. Craft and clarity are expected; procedural complexity alone is not enough.

🫟

Code As Material

Code is not just a tool but also a design medium. Decisions in code shape behavior, interaction, and experience.

🧱

Shared Understanding

Not everyone codes at the same technical depth — and that is okay. But everyone must understand the systems they present.

🧠

OVERVIEW

STRUCTURE

SCHEDULE

ASSESSMENT

RESOURCES

Class Structure

Lectures

Each session includes short lectures introducing key concepts, frameworks, and examples related to audio-visual systems, time-based behavior, and interaction.

OVERVIEW

STRUCTURE

SCHEDULE

ASSESSMENT

RESOURCES

1 hour

Studio Activities

The majority of class time is studio-based. Students work hands-on with provided code examples, guided exercises, and open-format exploration and experimentation.

2 hours

Discourse is an integral part of the class.

Students are also expected to share works-in-progress, explain their systems, and participate in constructive critique.

Participation & Studentship

Participation is required for this module.

Students are expected to be present, engaged, and involved in classroom and studio activities.

A 15-minute grace period is allowed before
a student may be considered late.
 

NTULearn will be used as the single source of truth for all course-related communication.

Course Timeline

OVERVIEW

STRUCTURE

SCHEDULE

ASSESSMENT

RESOURCES

Course Overview &
Intro to Audio-visual Creative Coding

Orientation to audio-visual creative coding as systems, with a recap of p5 anatomy, behavior over time, and studio  exploration.

Motion & Perception

Using motion, repetition, and temporal change as design materials, with sine and tangent explored as timing functions and spatial design aids.

Analyzing Audio-Visual Systems

Analyzing existing AV systems through inputs, processes, outputs, control, and behaviors using diagrammatic methods.

Designing Intruments

Conceptualizing and designing audio-visual instruments with an emphasis on control, expressivity, and evolving system behavior.

Interaction vs. Playability

Examining reactivity versus playability, focusing on feedback, constraints, legibility, and avoiding shallow interactive systems.

No classes

January
14

January
21

January
28

February
04

February
11

WEEK

DATE

TOPIC

Course Timeline

OVERVIEW

STRUCTURE

SCHEDULE

ASSESSMENT

RESOURCES

Playability, Behavior & Intent

Critiquing and refining systems with a focus on articulating intent, playability, and meaningful behavior over time.

Audio as Structure

Exploring sound as a system driver, using audio signals to shape visual behavior rather than focusing on musical composition.

Control & Expressivity

Designing intentional control mappings and introducing MIDI as an interface for expressive audio-visual control.

Presence & Orchestration

Introducing presence, uncertainty, computer vision, and OSC as tools for orchestrating complex audio-visual systems.

Time, Patterns & Constraints

Working with time as a primary design material through pattern, repetition, variation, and constraint, including Strudel concepts.

Final Project
Kickoff

Workshopping Final Project concepts with attention to scope, feasibility, and interaction design.

March
04

March
11

March
18

March
25

April
01

April
08

WEEK

DATE

TOPIC

Course Timeline

OVERVIEW

STRUCTURE

SCHEDULE

ASSESSMENT

RESOURCES

Final Project
Build & Refine

Studio-focused development, debugging, and refinement of final projects through consultation and iteration.

Final Project
Showcase & Critique

Final presentation, documentation, and critique of completed live or interactive audio-visual systems.

April
15

April
22

WEEK

DATE

TOPIC

Evaluation

OVERVIEW

STRUCTURE

SCHEDULE

ASSESSMENT

RESOURCES

Assignment 1
AV System Analysis

Assignment 2
AV Instrument Design

Continual
Participation

Final Project
Live AV Experience

An analytical study examining how an existing audio-visual system functions in terms of inputs, processes, outputs, and behavior over time.

A design-focused assignment involving the conceptualization and prototyping of a novel audio-visual instrument.

Emphasis is placed on playability, structure, and intentional system behavior.

Ongoing engagement in class activities, discussions, feedback sessions, as well as in-progress sharing and critiques.

A culminating project in which students work in groups to realize a live or real-time interactive audio-visual experience.

Projects should demonstrate coherent system design, meaningful audio-visual relationships, and considered evolution over time.

Resources

OVERVIEW

STRUCTURE

SCHEDULE

ASSESSMENT

RESOURCES

CREATIVE CODING

AUDIO–VISUAL CONCEPTS

Textbooks

Resources

OVERVIEW

STRUCTURE

SCHEDULE

ASSESSMENT

RESOURCES

COURSE DETAILS

YOUTUBE CHANNELS

Other Materials

CODING BASICS (DM2008)

001

Intro to
Audio-Visual Creative Coding

INTRODUCTIONS

INTRODUCTIONS

AV CREATIVE CODING

BEHAVIOR & TIME

SOUND AS DATA

INTERACTIVITY

P5.JS

Let's start by getting to know each other!

Share your name (and pronouns) as well as your current year of study.

👋🏻

2 minutes or less

And then let us know:

• your course specialization
• why you are taking this module
• what your coding experience is
• your musical experience, if any

Audio-visual Systems

INTRODUCTIONS

AV CREATIVE CODING

BEHAVIOR & TIME

SOUND AS DATA

INTERACTIVITY

P5.JS

In this module, audio-visual creative coding
is approached as the design of systems, not isolated sketches or visual effects.

An audio-visual system can be understood in terms of input, process, and output — where inputs act as signals, processes define behavior, and outputs are the result of these interactions.

Rather than focusing on individual moments, we are interested in how these relationships produce behavior across time.

Audio-visual systems comprise inputs, processes, and outputs working together.

INPUT

PROCESSING

OUPUT

INPUT → PROCESS → OUTPUT

INTRODUCTIONS

AV CREATIVE CODING

BEHAVIOR & TIME

SOUND AS DATA

INTERACTIVITY​

P5.JS

This diagram details how inputs are transformed by invisible processes into outputs.

What we see and hear is only the result — the system’s behavior is shaped by rules and memory that are operating beneath the surface.

Behavior over Time

In audio-visual systems, meaning does not come from a single frame or moment. It emerges through change, decay, repetition, accumulation, and variation over time.

A system may follow simple rules, but its behavior becomes legible only as those rules are executed repeatedly. What we experience is not a static output, but a temporal process unfolding.

This is why small changes to initial parameters can produce large differences in perception — not because the rules changed, but because their effects compound over time.

INTRODUCTIONS

AV CREATIVE CODING

BEHAVIOR & TIME

SOUND AS DATA

INTERACTIVITY

P5.JS

Something to ponder

sOUND aS dATA

In this module, sound is treated primarily as data and signal, rather than as music or composition.

Audio can function as an input, a control signal,
or an output, shaping system behavior through amplitude, frequency, rhythm, and/or changes that manifest over time.

Rather than focusing on melody, harmony, or musical structure, we are interested in how sound can drive, modulate, or reveal system behavior.

INTRODUCTIONS

AV CREATIVE CODING

BEHAVIOR & TIME

SOUND AS DATA

INTERACTIVITY

P5.JS

This allows sound to be used structurally — as a way to influence motion or  trigger events — even when the result is not conventionally “musical.”

SOURCE

SIGNAL

BEHAVIOR

OUTPUT

Reactive Vs. Playable

INTRODUCTIONS

AV CREATIVE CODING

BEHAVIOR & TIME

SOUND AS DATA

INTERACTIVITY

P5.JS

These respond directly and immediately to input. An action produces a predictable reaction, often with little memory or variation.

These systems can feel impressive at first, but are often quickly exhausted once the cause-and-effect relationship becomes clear.

Reactivity prioritizes response over structure, and novelty over sustained engagement.

Playable systems invite exploration rather than instruction. Inputs shape behavior indirectly, often through ranges, thresholds, accumulation, or delayed effects.

Rather than revealing everything at once, playable systems unfold over time, allowing patterns and possibilities to emerge gradually.
Playability prioritizes depth, variation, and ongoing discovery over immediate feedback.

Playable Sytems

Reactive Systems

Reactive Vs. Playable

INTRODUCTIONS

AV CREATIVE CODING

BEHAVIOR & TIME

SOUND AS DATA

INTERACTIVITY

P5.JS

Playable Sytems

Reactive Systems

The system responds immediately to gesture, producing direct and predictable sonic feedback.

The system supports layered control, allowing expressive behavior to emerge through exploration over time.

p5.js As A System

A p5 sketch is itself a system, not a static image or animation. It continuously takes inputs, applies a set of rules, and produces visual and sonic output over time. What we experience is the result of this process repeating frame by frame.

Rather than thinking of a sketch as a sequence of commands, it is more useful to think of it as a set of relationships — where parameters shape behavior, and small changes can compound into very different outcomes.

INTRODUCTIONS

AV CREATIVE CODING

BEHAVIOR & TIME

SOUND AS DATA

INTERACTIVITY

P5.JS

In this way, p5 functions as a laboratory for designing and observing system behavior, rather than simply drawing things to the screen.

Working with p5.js

Setup & Draw

Coding Orientation

INSTRUCTIONS

FIRST STEPS

In this course, working with code begins with reading before writing.

Rather than starting from a blank file, you will often work with existing sketches, learning how a system behaves by observing and modifying it. Code is also intentionally annotated. Comments serve as guides that highlight structure, intent, and safe zones for experimentation.

The goal is not to master syntax, but to understand how a sketch operates.

SCHOOL OF ART,
DESIGN & MEDIA

Explore Parameters

You will work with a set of five annotated
p5.js sketches provided in class.

Your task is to explore how the system behaves
by making small, intentional changes to existing parameters, rather than adding new logic.

As you experiment, pay attention to:

• What runs once versus continuously
• Which parameters affect timing or motion
• How subtle changes lead to differences

If you need assistance, try looking at the Reference first. You may also use chatbots like Claude or GPT to assist with explaining the code.

INSTRUCTIONS

FIRST STEPS

🛟

There is no expectation to produce finished or “good” results. The purpose of this activity is observation, experimentation, and familiarity.

thinking in Systems

INSTRUCTIONS

GROUP ACTIVITY

DISCUSSION

We now turn from theory and conceptual framing to practical inquiry.

This activity is not about producing polished diagrams or definitive answers.
Instead, it is about learning how to read a system by observing how inputs, rules, and feedback shape behavior over time.

This activity introduces a mode of thinking that will be revisited throughout the course: treating audio-visual work as a system in flux, not a static output.

SCHOOL OF ART,
DESIGN & MEDIA

eVERYDAY sYSTEMS

In groups, you will analyze a familiar system by breaking it down into its underlying structure.

The system does not need to be digital or computational. What matters is that it operates through rules, timing, and feedback. Describe and map the system using four components:

INPUT — what triggers or feeds the system
PROCESS — the rules, or transformations applied
OUTPUT — what the system produces
FEEDBACK — how outputs influence future input

Systems are not limited to code. Many everyday processes already behave systemically, operating through repetition, constraints, and feedback over time.

INSTRUCTIONS

GROUP ACTIVITY

DISCUSSION

💭

The aim is not completeness or accuracy, but clarity. You are to make the system’s logic visible.

Authorship in Systems

Once a system is set in motion, much of its behavior unfolds without continuous human intervention.

Using the system you just mapped, reflect on:
 

Where does control actually reside — in the inputs, the rules, or the feedback loops?

What continues to operate once the system is running, what requires human decision-making?

If two people designed the same system differently, where would authorship become visible?

INSTRUCTIONS

GROUP ACTIVITY

DISCUSSION

📐

How does this way of thinking apply to the p5 sketches you explored earlier, where changing a single parameter altered behaviors over time?

KEY TakeAWAYs

CONCLUSION

HOMEWORK

In this session, we introduced audio-visual creative coding as the design of systems, rather than isolated sketches or visual outputs. We focused on how inputs, rules, parameters, and feedback interact to produce behavior over time.

Through some hands-on exploration, we also practiced reading systems before attempting to design or modify them — both in everyday processes and in p5js.

Concepts to carry into next session

Homework

CONCLUSION

HOMEWORK

Before the next session

Familiarize yourself with p5.js and the web editor if you have not already been using it before

Look at slides from DM2008 (Sessions 1—3) to revisit the basics of coding if needed

002

Motion & Perception

003

Analyzing
Audio-Visual Systems

Last Session

PREVIOUSLY

REVIEW

FRAMING

OBJECTIVES

In the previous class, we explored motion and perception as core design elements
in audio-visual systems.

We worked with time as a driver using frameCount, and utilized sin() and tan() functions both as motion curves and as spatial placement tools.

We discussed motion as an intentional design choice rather than superfluous,
and looked at how sound and movement together shape perception and meaning.

Paying attention to 

TIME

MOTION

PERCEPTION

Feedback

PREVIOUSLY

REVIEW

FRAMING

OBJECTIVES

We will review a selection of short clips from last week’s take-home activity.

These works are not being shown for critique or comparison, but as material
for observation.

As you watch, focus on how sound and movement relate to each other over time. Notice how changes in motion affect perception, and how audio cues shape the way visual behavior is read.

Things to keep in while watching these clips

Framework

PREVIOUSLY

REVIEW

FRAMING

OBJECTIVES

We have been working with audio-visual systems by editing values, modifying behaviors, and remixing outcomes.

We often made things look or feel different without fully understanding why those edits produced particular outcomes.

Moving forward, we shift from producing results to reading systems. This means paying attention to what drives behavior internally, how decisions are made over time, and where agency actually resides.

What’s changing today

THIS SESSION

PREVIOUSLY

REVIEW

FRAMING

OBJECTIVES

In this session, we will learn how to read audio-visual systems rather than jumping into headfirst into making our own.

The goal is to develop the critical ability to observe and analyze how systems behave over time, and to articulate what occurs beyond surface visuals or sound.

You will also be introduced to diagrams as a thinking tool, and begin applying this approach toward Assignment 1.

We will also develop a shared vocabulary for this session

ANALYZe SYSTEMS

ANALYZE SYSTEMS

DISSECT BEHAVIOR

PARAMETERS

INTENTIONALITY

DIAGRAMMING

Analyzing AV systems is a creative skill, not an academic exercise. It allows us to understand how a work functions, rather than only responding to what it looks or sounds like.

By learning to read existing systems, we become better at:
 

• recognizing behavioral patterns
• understanding constraints
• identifying design decisions

These aspects all contribute towards shaping how a system evolves over time.

Analysis helps us to borrow structure without copying aesthetic qualities.

Structure

Rules

Behavior

Outcome

UNDERSTAND SYSTEMS

ANALYZE SYSTEMS

DISSECT BEHAVIOR

PARAMETERS

INTENTIONALITY

DIAGRAMMING

So far, we have been modifying sketches by adjusting parameters and changing values.

While this can produce interesting results, it does not always reveal why a system behaves the way it does. System Analysis shifts attention toward a given system’s internal logic:
 

• What drives change
• How behavior unfolds over time
• Which parts of the system have influence

This understanding becomes essential when designing systems intentionally, rather than by just trial and error.

INPUT

PROCESSING

TIME

OUTPUT

BEYOND THE SURFACE

ANALYZE SYSTEMS

DISSECT BEHAVIOR

PARAMETERS

INTENTIONALITY

DIAGRAMMING

When encountering an audio-visual work, it is easy to describe what we see or hear — colors, shapes, rhythms, textures, or sounds. While useful, such descriptions focus on presentation rather than behavior.

 

Reading a system means shifting attention away from surface qualities and toward what the system does over time — how it changes, responds, accumulates, or stabilizes as it runs.

Presentation 💖

Behavior ⚙️

how it looks

how it sounds

moment-to-moment

what changes

how it responds

who controls it

Reading Behavior

Focusing on behavior also encourages different questions. Instead of asking whether a system looks or sounds interesting, we ask how it behaves when left running, when interacted with, or when conditions change.

This includes paying attention to repetition, accumulation, decay, thresholds, and feedback — all of which shape how a system evolves and how meaning emerges over time.

ANALYZE SYSTEMS

DISSECT BEHAVIOR

PARAMETERS

INTENTIONALITY

DIAGRAMMING

TIME

QUESTIONS TO ASK
 

What changes, and what remains stable?

Does behavior repeat, drift, or escalate?

How does the system respond to input over time?

STATE

CHANGE

NEW STATE

BEHAVIOR

Control, Time & Agency

When analyzing an audio-visual system, an important question is not just what happens,
but who or what causes change.

Control in a system can come from many places: a performer, an audience, environmental
conditions, or the system’s own internal logic.

Time plays a critical role here as well. Some systems respond immediately to input, while others accumulate changes, delay responses,
or evolve autonomously over longer durations.

 

ANALYZE SYSTEMS

DISSECT BEHAVIOR

PARAMETERS

INTENTIONALITY

DIAGRAMMING

CONTROL
SIGNALS

PERFORMER

SYSTEM
LOGIC

TIME

BEHAVIOR

Understanding how control operates through
time helps reveal where agency actually resides.

SITING AGENCY

Agency in an audio-visual system does not always sit with a human operator. In many systems, decisions are partially or fully delegated to rules, thresholds, randomness, or environmental input.

Reading a system involves identifying where decisions are made, which parts of the system have influence, and which parts merely respond.

This helps distinguish between systems that are reactive, systems that are playable, and systems that exhibit autonomous behavior over time.

ANALYZE SYSTEMS

DISSECT BEHAVIOR

PARAMETERS

INTENTIONALITY

DIAGRAMMING

One common way to go about this is to question who decides what is next.

RANDOMNESS

INPUT

RULES

ENVIRONMENT

BEHAVIOR

Intent in Systems

Not all behavior in an audio-visual system is deliberately designed. Some behaviors are intentional — explicitly planned, tuned, and anticipated by the artist. Others are incidental — emerging as side effects of rules, parameters, interactions, or environmental conditions.

When reading a system, an important task is to distinguish between behavior that was designed to happen and behavior that happens anyway.

ANALYZE SYSTEMS

DISSECT BEHAVIOR

PARAMETERS

INTENTIONALITY

DIAGRAMMING

DESIGN INTENT

CONDITIONS

rules / mappings

BEHAVIOR

Both can be meaningful, but they play very different roles in how a system functions and is ultimately experienced by someone.

noise / threshold

Fragility in Systems

Incidental behavior is not inherently a problem. In some systems, it produces richness, variation, or surprise. In others, it can reveal fragility — situations where small changes cause the system to break, collapse, or behave unpredictably.

Reading a system also involves asking whether behaviors remain meaningful under different conditions, or whether they only work within narrow circumstances.

ANALYZE SYSTEMS

DISSECT BEHAVIOR

PARAMETERS

INTENTIONALITY

DIAGRAMMING

This helps distinguish between fragile systems, which depend on specific conditions, & resilient
systems, which continue to operate coherently
as inputs, environments, or time scales change.

FIXED RULES

CONDITION A

CONDITION B

COHERENT

BROKEN

RESILIENT

FRAGILE

Diagramming as Thinking

In this class, diagrams are not used as technical schematics or pseudo-code.

They are a way to externalize thinking — to make relationships, influences, and behaviors visible.

Diagramming is also useful in slowing down observations, and shifting our attention away from surface outcomes toward structure, control, and behavior over time.

ANALYZE SYSTEMS

DISSECT BEHAVIOR

PARAMETERS

INTENTIONALITY

DIAGRAMMING

What matters most in this process is clarity of thought, not precision or accuracy.

What diagrams are for

What they are not

🙆🏼‍♀️

🙅🏻‍♀️

Diagramming as Thinking

We will use diagrams to read existing systems
before attempting to design new ones.

A good diagram captures what you believe is happening inside a system — where control sits, how time operates, and what drives behavior.

Different people may diagram the same system differently. This is expected. The goal is not correctness, but the ability to articulate and defend an interpretation.

ANALYZE SYSTEMS

DISSECT BEHAVIOR

PARAMETERS

INTENTIONALITY

DIAGRAMMING

What matters most in this process is clarity of thought, not precision or accuracy.

A good diagram

💡

IN PRACTICE

INSTRUCTIONS

GROUP ACTIVITY

ASSIGNMENT BRIEF

We are now shifting from discussion and analysis into practice.

The goal of this studio session is not to arrive at finished diagrams by the end of class. Instead, the aim is to begin reading a system using the ideas and vocabulary introduced today.

We will approach this in two passes. First, we will observe an existing work together and quickly establish a rough diagram to get a feel for the task.

SCHOOL OF ART,
DESIGN & MEDIA

Reading a System

INSTRUCTIONS

GROUP ACTIVITY

ASSIGNMENT BRIEF

Variations V (1965)

Variations V is an early large-scale experiment in indeterminate, technology-mediated performance. Dancers, performers, and electronic systems interact through sensing, chance operations, and environmental conditions.

Rather than composing fixed outcomes, Cage designed a system where sound and behavior emerge from interactions between bodies, space, and technology.

Assignment 1

For this assignment, you will analyze an existing audio-visual work as a system.

The focus is not on aesthetics or technical replication, but on understanding how the work behaves, changes, and makes decisions over time.

You will select one work from the provided list and produce a visual analysis that articulates how control, time, behavior, and agency operate within the system.

What to do

Choose one assigned work

Observe how the system behaves

Identify sources of control and agency

Diagram your interpretation

This assignment is individual. You will begin research & diagramming in class today. We will review and discuss your diagrams next session.

INSTRUCTIONS

GROUP ACTIVITY

ASSIGNMENT BRIEF

What not to do

Write code / pseudo-code

Map out technical implementation

Recreate or simulate the work

Focus on visual polish or layout

🙆🏼‍♀️

🙅🏻‍♀️

Assignment 1

Please select one of these works to analyze

INSTRUCTIONS

GROUP ACTIVITY

ASSIGNMENT BRIEF

Ryoji Ikeda
test pattern (series)

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
Pulse Room (2006)

Golan Levin & Zachary Lieberman
Dialtones (A Telesymphony) (2001)

David Rokeby
Very Nervous System (1986 – 1990)

As you are working, ask yourself

KEY TakeAWAYs

CONCLUSION

HOMEWORK

In this session, we shifted from editing audio-visual sketches to reading them as systems. Rather than focusing on surface aesthetics, we practiced observing how systems behave and change over time.

We introduced a shared vocabulary — control, time, behavior, and agency — to help articulate what is happening inside a system, and learned to distinguish between intentional and incidental behavior.

Concepts to carry into next session

Homework

CONCLUSION

HOMEWORK

Before the next session

Continue developing your chosen system's diagram for Assignment 1
 

Be prepared to share and discuss your Miro board (or similar) in the next class

Prioritize clarity of thinking over visual polish

004

Interaction vs. Playability

Last Session

PREVIOUSLY

FRAMING

OBJECTIVES

REVIEW

In the previous session, we focused on reading audio-visual systems rather than producing our own original outcomes.

We practiced moving beyond surface visuals or sound, and instead paid closer attention to:

• how systems are structured
• how behavior unfolds over time
• where control and agency reside

This shift helped us describe what a system does beyond just appearances.​

Paying attention, again, to 

INPUTS

PROCESSES

BEHAVIORS

OUTPUTS

Framework

Being able to describe what a system does
gave us a shared analytical starting point.

However, descriptions alone does not explain why some interactive systems remain engaging, while others are
quickly exhausted.

We will begin to extend system reading by looking at the specificities of interaction over time. We will look beyond response, toward how interaction supports learning, exploration, and continued engagement.

What’s changing today

PREVIOUSLY

FRAMING

OBJECTIVES

REVIEW

THIS SESSION

In this session, we go from reading what systems are doing to examining how their interactions unfold over time.

The focus is on developing language to describe interaction quality — beyond immediate response, toward learning, exploration, and engagement.

Being the second-to-last theory class, this session will also support the ongoing work on Assignment 1, helping you articulate interactions more precisely.

We will develop a shared vocabulary for describing

PREVIOUSLY

FRAMING

OBJECTIVES

REVIEW

CHECKING IN

Assignment 1 is still a work-in-progress.

The goal of today’s check-in is articulation, making your system readings (diagrams) clearer to yourself and to others.

This activity is meant to:

• surface your current readings
• reveal where descriptions are (un)clear
• expose limits of our current vocabulary
   

You will work in small groups based on your chosen reference work.

Within your group, compare your system readings

PREVIOUSLY

FRAMING

OBJECTIVES

REVIEW

Focus your discussion on

Class Sharing

We will hear a small number of shared readings from the class.

One student from each reference work will briefly present their diagram, focusing on:

• how they read the system
• what became clearer through peer discussion, what requires rethinking
• where interpretations ended up aligning or diverging

The emphasis is on explaining a reading, not defending your interpretation.

While listening to your
peers, keep in mind

PREVIOUSLY

FRAMING

OBJECTIVES

REVIEW

Interact vs. play

DISTINGUISHING

REACTIVITY

PLAYABILITY

LEARNING CURVE

EXPRESSION

FAILURE MODE