SUSTech School of Design Makes Debut at CIFTE: From Connecting and Inspiring to Exploring and Leading

 

May 22–26, 2025, The School of Design at Southern University of Science and Technology participated in the 21st China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair. Under the curatorial theme “Design as a ‘Meta-Discipline’ and Design Exploration as Innovation-Driven,” it showcased 19 cutting-edge research and teaching projects. These works explored the connections between design + technology and the cultural industries, the inspiration knowledge brings to cultural industries, and the role of academic inquiry in guiding future industries. Through these academic showcases, the exhibition positioned design as a “meta-discipline,” inviting audiences to contemplate “What is design, and what does design do?”

 

SUSTech School of Design Booth

 

On the opening day, distinguished speakers included Guan Daowen, Dean of the School of Innovation and Creative Design at Southern University of Science and Technology; Qiu Xinxian, Distinguished Visiting Dean of the School of Future Design at Harbin Institute of Technology's International School of Design; Zhao Lu, Deputy Director of the Graphic Design Committee of the China Artists Association; Wang Fangliang, Dean of the School of Fine Arts and Design at Shenzhen University; Huo Yuda, Dean of the School of Creative Design at Shenzhen Tech University; and Gao Peng, Dean of the School of Future Design at Beijing Normal University (Zhuhai). The forum was moderated by Zhong Gang, renowned media commentator and Editor-in-Chief of “Dabianlu.”

 

Future Design Education Forum

 

Address by Guan Daowen, Dean of the School of Innovation and Creative Design

 

The China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair is a premier national, international, and comprehensive cultural industry exposition certified by the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI). It has evolved into China's most prestigious, largest-scale, and most effective and influential exhibition in the cultural industry sector, acclaimed as “China's Premier Cultural Industry Exhibition.”

 

Nineteen Academic Projects Interpreting the Essence of Design as a Meta-Discipline

 

This exhibition features 19 carefully selected achievements and ongoing research projects from faculty and students' academic and teaching work. These span topics directly relevant to cultural industries—such as intangible cultural heritage preservation and development, gaming, cultural heritage and tourism, and cultural-health integration—as well as pioneering fields like virtual reality cinema, the metaverse, and human-machine collaboration that may inspire or even shape future industries. (See the end of this article for a list and brief descriptions of the 19 exhibits.)

 

Graduate students from the Academy explain the digital interactive intangible cultural heritage work “Night Tour of Painted Lanterns” to guests

 

The School's exhibition at the Cultural Expo represents a profound implementation of the “Design + Technology” philosophy and a pioneering exploration of the paradigm shift in design academia during the AI era. Through deep integration of interdisciplinary research with industry demands, the School has established an innovation ecosystem spanning fundamental theory to applied practice. This approach injects technology-driven momentum into design disciplines while offering humanistic yet technologically sophisticated concepts and solutions for addressing the sustainable development of complex social systems.

Looking ahead, the school will maintain its forward-looking perspective of “design as a meta-discipline,” focusing on cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and biomedicine. It will deepen the collaborative innovation mechanism integrating industry, academia, research, and application, driving the paradigm shift of design scholarship from within the university system toward building an innovation ecosystem. By cultivating more interdisciplinary design talents equipped with cross-disciplinary thinking, social responsibility, and technology transfer capabilities, the School will continuously explore the boundless potential of design in bridging technology and humanity, people and nature, knowledge and economy. It will contribute SHUST's wisdom and design strength to Shenzhen's development as a “World Design Capital,” industrial upgrading in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and global sustainable development.

 

Research Projects

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1. Virtual Reality Film “Gaze-Based Editing”

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Luo Tao

 

 

2. Designing Future Technology and Nature: Revealing Shenzhen's Material Characteristics from Within “Yisu”

Project Leads: Assistant Professors Marcel Sagesser, Enza Migliore

 

 

3. Audiovisual Speculations on Shenzhen's Digital Future

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Marcel Sagesser

 

 

4. Designing Exciting Force-Feedback Virtual Reality Experiences

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Shengyu Zhu

 

 

5. Rainbow Forest: Designing Assistive Learning Tools for Gamified Classroom Learning in Children with Autism

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Xuelang Li

 

 

6. TherAIssist: Facilitating Art Therapy Homework and Client-Therapist Collaboration Through Human-AI Interaction

Project Lead: Assistant Professor An Pengcheng

 

 

7. Boundless Communication: Reconstructing Physical Boundaries and Interactive Experiences in Contact Improvisation Through Digital Media

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Zhang Wanlin

 

 

8. Night Tour of Painted Lanterns: Interactive Innovation Reviving Bianjing's Lantern Culture via AIGC

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Zhang Wanlin

 

 

9. Exploring Underwater Archaeology Robot Applications from a Socio-Technical Perspective

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Zhang Wanlin

 

 

10. Reconfigurable Underwater Exoskeleton for Diving Assistance

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Wan Fang

 

 

11. Future Archaeology: Experiencing, Discussing, and Testing Dynamic Archives through Hakka Cultural Examples

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Enza Migliore

 

 

12. Negative Times Negative Equals Positive: A Stage Designed for Sharing Pressure

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Mirna Zordan

 

 

13. Generative AI as Artistic Agents: Enhancing Live Exhibition Experiences

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Xiao Ruowei

 

 

Course Projects

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14. Firefighting-Themed Multiplayer Asymmetric Combat Game: Firefighting GO

Student Team: Zhang Jinlong, Wen Rusi, Cao Liecheng, Jiang Yutong

Course & Instructor: [Undergraduate Course: Game Design] Assistant Professor Xiao Ruowei

 

 

15. Data Divine Implantation

Student Team: Zhang Luwen, Xu Yuxuan, Ji Jiali

Course & Instructor: [Undergraduate Course: Sound and Sensory] Assistant Professor Xu Qiusheng

 

 

 

16. Sound Encounter at Yuanling: Interactive Audio Tour for Cultural Accessibility in Shenzhen

Student Team: Gong Xi, Wang Yucen

Course & Instructors: [Undergraduate Course: Sound Design] Assistant Professors Marcel Sagesser, Zhang Wanlin

 

 

17. Slow Exploration of Yuanling: Service Design for Sustainable Cultural Development in Yuanling Community

Student Team: Cao Liecheng, Jiang Yutong, Li Futian, Zhao Yong, Zhou Qijunxiao

Course & Instructor: [Undergraduate Course: Service Design] Assistant Professor Zhang Wanlin

 

 

18. Culinary Connections: AR-Enhanced Kitchen Experiences

Student: Zheng Yuxuan

Course & Instructor: [Undergraduate Course: Personal Systems Design - Physical] Assistant Professor Zhu Shengyu

 

 

19. 2050 Shenzhen: Wearable Garment Design Integrating Traditional Chinese Medicine Functions

Student Team: Li Haolong, Li Zinan, Cheng Sirui

Course & Instructor: [Graduate Course: Design Innovation in Industrial Applications and Practice - Shenzhen 2050] Professor He Jingzhi

 

 

Exhibition Project Overview

 

Research Projects

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1. Virtual Reality Film “Gaze-Based Editing”

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Luo Tao

This project addresses challenges in narrative and editing within the field of film and television virtual reality (VR), specifically tackling issues arising from the medium's unique characteristics. It explores new editing languages and narrative approaches tailored for VR cinema.

Research Content and Innovation

• Theoretical Exploration: Investigates the impact of VR media on traditional cinematic montage language, analyzes why conventional editing techniques fail in VR films, and proposes the concept of editing without fixed frames. This introduces new editing theories and concepts to the VR film field, partially filling gaps in VR film editing theory and advancing VR film theory development.
• Practical Application: Explores gaze-based editing methods that construct narratives by controlling audience vision and attention. This approach addresses the blurring boundaries between film and games in VR while balancing audience demands for interactivity and narrative coherence. It aims to provide VR filmmakers with novel editing techniques and narrative tools, enhancing creative quality and viewer experience to advance the VR film industry.

 

2. Designing Future Technology and Nature: Revealing Shenzhen's Material Characteristics from Within “Yisu”

Project Leaders: Assistant Professor Marcel Sagesser, Enza Migliore

This technology-driven design research, jointly conducted by the Materiality Research Group and the Sound Research Group, uses Shenzhen as a case study. It employs interdisciplinary methods to reveal the material hybridity and dynamic evolutionary logic of urban environments.

Research Content and Innovation

• Multi-dimensional Data Collection: Long-term sampling across Shenzhen's mountainous urban forests, high-tech development zones, and traditional commercial districts to construct a composite database encompassing materiality, sound, magnetic fields, vibrations, and digital traces. This analyzes how human, geological, industrial, and technological forces collectively shape the city's material ecology.
• Speculative Technology Integration: Combining data visualization, sonification, and microscopic material amplification techniques, the project creates an immersive cube exhibition space. This multimodal experience guides audiences to understand the city as a “dynamic assemblage,” transcending the singular perspectives of traditional urban research.
• Innovative Value: Provides an “micro-macro” interconnected analytical framework for urban research, advances the integration of technology and sensory experience, and inspires forward-thinking about future urban forms.

 

3. Fragments and Micro-Leaps: Audiovisual Speculations on Shenzhen's Digital Future

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Marcel Sagesser

This project, conducted by the Sound Research Group, explores audiovisual digital media art. Set in Shenzhen's Longgang District, it employs AI and virtual reality technologies to predict the future evolution of urban landscapes.

Research Content and Innovation:

• Cross-Media Narrative Experiment: Integrating AI-generated urban models, 360-degree sound installations, and first-person virtual tours to construct contrasting narratives of “nature-city” and “low-tech-high-tech,” exploring Shenzhen's suburban spatial transformation amid the Greater Bay Area's industrial upgrading.
• Integration of Locality and Technology: Field-collected historical imagery and sound data from Longgang District are processed through AI to predict the visual and auditory characteristics of its “high-tech corridor” over the coming decades. A three-part installation (outdoor soundscape, virtual tour, algorithmic photography) blurs the boundaries between reality and simulation.
• Innovative Value: Expanding the interdisciplinary field of “urban design - digital art,” this project offers an artistic methodology for future urban visualization research, revealing technology's potential impact on urban sensory experiences.

 

4. Designing Immersive Haptic Virtual Reality Experiences

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Shengyu Zhu

The Immersive Design Research Group focuses on haptic feedback technology in virtual reality (VR), exploring how multimodal interaction can enhance user immersion and address current technical limitations in VR's tactile perception capabilities.

Research Content and Innovations:

• Interdisciplinary Technology Integration: Combining hardware development (e.g., haptic feedback devices), software design (multimodal interaction systems), and user experience research to construct a triadic haptic enhancement framework—“digital avatar - interaction - environment”—enhancing the embodied nature and emotional resonance of VR experiences.
• Application Scenario Expansion: Collaborating with local Shenzhen enterprises, we utilize manufacturing technologies like 3D printing, PCBA assembly, and injection molding to achieve prototype mass production, driving practical applications of haptic VR in education, healthcare, industrial design, and other fields.
• Innovative Value: Provides a systematic approach to haptic design for VR/AR and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) domains, fostering “technology-perception” co-innovation and pioneering new dimensions of immersive experiences.

 

5. Rainbow Forest: Assistive Learning Tool Design for Gamified Classroom Learning in Autistic Children

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Li Xuelian

This project, developed by X-GROUP, is a special education assistive tool designed for autistic children's classroom needs. It creates a gamified learning system based on multisensory stimulation.

Research Content and Innovation:

• User-Centered Design Process: Through iterative testing conducted in collaboration with special education schools, we observed children's interaction patterns with telescopic tubes and modular components. This informed the optimization of multimodal feedback mechanisms integrating tactile (texture), auditory (crisp sounds), and visual (LED lighting) elements.
• Modular Educational Functions: Supports activities like color matching, structural building, and social collaboration. Educators can integrate the tool into teaching objectives for mathematics and social skills by setting rules, while preserving space for free exploration to promote sensory development and active learning.
• Innovative Value: Provides empirical evidence for autism education, human-computer interaction (HCI), and mental health design. Validates the effectiveness of multisensory tools in interventions for special populations, advancing “technology-education” inclusive innovation.

 

6. TherAIssist: Human-AI Interaction for Art Therapy Homework and Client-Therapist Collaboration

Project Lead: Assistant Professor An Pengcheng

This project addresses challenges in art therapy homework guidance and tracking by developing a generative AI-driven multimodal interaction system that supports clients in completing reflective creations within daily contexts.

Research Content and Innovation:

• Dual-End Application Architecture: Client End: Utilizes AI co-creation canvases (color semantic mapping, low-threshold drawing) and large language model dialogue agents to guide emotional expression and deep reflection.
• Therapist End: Customizes AI agent dialogue principles, generates personalized assignment themes, and optimizes treatment plans based on AI-compiled historical data.
• Empirical Research: A 30-day field study involving 24 clients and 5 therapists demonstrated the system significantly improved assignment completion rates. Therapists could integrate professional styles and techniques using AI tools.
• Innovative Value: Breaks traditional art therapy's setting constraints by enhancing treatment continuity through a “creation-dialogue” closed loop, establishing a technical paradigm for remote art therapy. Transforming AI into a psychological therapy adjunct, it integrates artistic creation, verbal expression, and data tracking, advancing the standardization and personalization of digital art therapy.

 

7. Boundaryless Exchange: Reconstructing Physical Boundaries and Interactive Experiences of Contact Improvisation in Digital Media

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Zhang Wanlin

This project, part of the Resilient Culture Research Group's digital art studies, explores bodily interactions in virtual spaces by translating dance improvisation concepts into cross-media experiences.

Research Content and Innovation:

• Interaction Mechanism: Real-time motion capture generates users' digital avatars, enabling interaction with pre-set virtual dancers or historical user footage through a “touch - attract/repel - trajectory response” dynamic feedback loop. Users customize projection colors (emotional symbols) and text (touch memories), enhancing personalization and narrative depth.
• Technical Implementation: Integrating computer vision (OpenCV) and projection mapping technology to construct an immersive space merging virtual and real elements. Supports continuous multi-user interaction across time (via historical image retention mechanism).
• Cultural Metaphor: Deconstructing physical boundaries through digital touch to explore trust-building and emotional transmission in virtual social contexts. Offers a new narrative perspective on the “body-technology” relationship for digital art and interactive installations.
• Innovative Value: Transforms the philosophical essence of dance improvisation into replicable interactive models, demonstrating digital media's potential to simulate human tactile perception and emotional exchange while expanding new media art's expressive dimensions.

 

8. Night Lantern Tour: Interactive Innovation Reviving Bianjing's Lantern Culture via AIGC

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Zhang Wanlin

The Resilience Culture Research Group focuses on digitally preserving Song Dynasty Bianjing's lantern culture. Utilizing AI-generated content (AIGC) and immersive interactive technology, it constructs a “drawing-generation-experience” cultural regeneration system.

Research Content and Innovation:

• Cultural Gene Extraction and Technological Transformation: Drawing from the seven-generation craftsmanship of Bianjing's “Zhang Lanterns,” the project extracts design elements from palace lanterns and rotating lanterns, along with Song Dynasty painting and calligraphy mounting aesthetics. AIGC algorithms are trained to generate virtual lantern patterns consistent with Song-era styles. After visitors sketch lantern outlines on iPa1d, the system instantly renders 3D lantern models adorned with traditional patterns, achieving “user creation + AI-empowered” cultural reinterpretation.
• Immersive Experience Design: Combining infrared laser rod-lifting technology with dynamic scroll projection, visitors physically “lift” virtual lanterns to trigger AI-driven animations within the “Along the River During the Qingming Festival: Lantern Festival Edition” scene—such as flowing crowds in the lantern market and flickering light effects. Breaking the traditional one-way viewing model, this transforms viewers into participants in cultural storytelling, achieving a closed loop of “viewing - creation - interaction.”
• Innovative Value: Integrating multimodal interactions to construct a cross-media cultural experience chain. Utilizing AI dynamic narrative generation to render scenes in real-time based on user-created content, ensuring uniqueness and freshness in every interaction. Exploring application paradigms of AIGC in revitalizing intangible cultural heritage, demonstrating technology as a bridge between traditional craftsmanship and contemporary experiences, and providing reference pathways for the digitalization of cultural IPs like the Forbidden City and Dunhuang.

 

9. Exploring Underwater Archaeology Robot Applications from a Sociotechnical Perspective

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Zhang Wanlin

This Resilience Culture Research Group project examines robots' role and collaborative mechanisms in underwater archaeology from a sociotechnical lens.

Research Content and Innovation:

• Interdisciplinary Methodology: Employing convenience and snowball sampling, the study conducted in-depth interviews with 7 technical experts and 3 archaeologists. Thematic analysis identified core human-robot collaboration needs. It proposes three auxiliary robot roles: “Guide Dog” (sensory extension), “Patrol Dog” (safety assurance), and “Carrier” (operational support), emphasizing their position as ‘assistants’ rather than “replacements.”
• Technical Challenges and Design Principles: Identified technical bottlenecks including perception fusion, real-time communication, and intuitive interfaces. Advocates for tools compatible with existing archaeological workflows (e.g., mapping, documentation) while prioritizing artifact and personnel safety. Stresses trust-building in team collaboration, recommending adaptive task allocation and real-time data synchronization to enhance human-robot synergy efficiency.
• Innovative Value: Pioneers the systematic integration of archaeological practice requirements with robotic technology characteristics, proposing a dual-dimensional “socio-technical” design principle to fill methodological gaps in underwater cultural heritage preservation.
   

 

10. Reconfigurable Underwater Exoskeleton Robot for Diving Assistance

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Wan Fang

The Machine Intelligence Design + Learning Lab project focuses on diver-robot collaboration scenarios, developing wearable exoskeleton robots to enhance underwater operational efficiency and safety.

Research Content and Innovations:

• Hardware and Interaction Design: Utilizes carbon fiber tubes and 3D-printed waterproof housings, supporting four modular configurations including handheld thrusters and wearable backpacks, with a maximum operational depth of 30 meters. Achieves hands-free, contactless control by capturing head movements (6-action recognition) via IMU and throat microphone vibration signals (MFCC feature extraction + LSTM classification).
• Human-Machine Collaboration Strategy: User tests in a VR simulation environment (Unity+Pybullet) demonstrate that multimodal interaction reduces operation frequency by 30% in complex tasks, with cognitive load decreasing significantly as proficiency increases. Shared control strategies dynamically allocate human-machine permissions, enhancing safety and task completion efficiency in path-following operations.
• Innovative Value: Serving commercial diving (e.g., welding, installation) and scientific exploration scenarios, it enables multitasking through limb liberation. Breaking traditional reliance on limb-based underwater interaction, it establishes a “head + throat” non-contact control paradigm, providing a reusable hardware and algorithm framework for human-robot collaboration in diving robots.

 

11. Future Archaeology: Experiencing, Discussing, and Testing Dynamic Archives through Hakka Cultural Examples

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Enza Migliore

The Materiality Research Group's Urban Archaeology and Cultural Heritage project addresses cultural amnesia amid Shenzhen's rapid urbanization, exploring how digital technologies can innovate traditional historical narratives.

Research Content and Innovation:

• Living Archive Theory: Proposes the “Living Archive” concept, integrating physical material remains with digital technology to construct an open-source, evolvable narrative system. This breaks the limitations of linear historical writing and supports community-participatory archaeological practices.
• Technological Application: Using Shenzhen's Pingshan Hakka culture as a case study, this approach employs AI algorithms and community co-design to reconstruct fragmented memories. It creates interwoven narrative spaces (e.g., open-source API-driven digital platforms) that bridge historical and contemporary identities.
• Innovative Value: Provides a “technology-humanities” interdisciplinary methodology for interaction design, ethnographic research, and human-computer interaction, challenging traditional archival paradigms and advancing urban heritage studies toward dynamic, participatory approaches.
   

 

12. Negative Times Negative Equals Positive: A Stage for Sharing Stress

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Mirna Zordan

The Future Spatial Visualization Lab explores interactive mechanisms for stress sharing through responsive environments. By constructing dynamic systems using electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, the project visualizes and modulates participants' psychological stress states, fostering mutual perception and empathy regarding stress among individuals.

Research Content and Innovation:

• Interdisciplinary Approach: Integrating human-computer interaction, biomedical engineering, and environmental design to focus on innovative stress management solutions. Transforms abstract psychological states into perceptible physical/digital experiences through technological means.
• Technical Implementation: Real-time monitoring of participants' EEG signals via dedicated equipment. Algorithms compute stress indices to quantify individual stress levels and trigger environmental responses. Develops stress visualization mechanisms for responsive environmental design. Forming a complete stress interaction loop from EEG signal acquisition, particle dynamic responses, to pattern generation and dissipation. Validating the effectiveness of the stress-sharing mechanism by comparing pre- and post-experiment EEG data (e.g., changes in α and β wave power). Analyzing participant feedback to explore the environmental impact on stress perception and the technology's potential applications in mental health.
• Methodological Breakthrough: Constructing a “Measurement-Visualization-Intervention” closed-loop system demonstrates that environmental response technology can serve as an auxiliary tool for psychological state regulation, complementing existing stress intervention methods (e.g., meditation, counseling). Exploring the role of non-verbal communication patterns in emotion management provides interaction design references for scenarios such as autism spectrum disorders and cross-cultural communication.
• Innovative Value: Pioneers real-time conversion of EEG signals into environmental interaction language, transcending static physiological monitoring to achieve dynamic coupling between physiological states and physical environments. Introduces the concept of “stress sharing,” transforming individual psychological states into social experiences to pioneer new stress management pathways. Advances the integration of biosensing technology with public space design, inspiring future innovations in emotion-responsive office and educational environments.

 

13. Generative AI as Artistic Agent: Live Exhibition Experience Enhancement

Project Lead: Assistant Professor Xiao Ruowei

Positioned within the art exhibition domain, this project seeks to disrupt conventional exhibition models. By integrating generative AI (AIGC) with art exhibitions, it creates a novel, AI-enhanced exhibition experience driven by audience interaction.

Research Methods and Innovations:

• Technology Integration: Centered on the Stable Diffusion model, combined with Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA) technology to fine-tune the model for generating artworks in specific styles. Simultaneously, integrating Virtual Reality (VR) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies to construct a hybrid virtual-physical interactive interface.
• Interactive Experience: Visitors interact with virtual art content via RFID-tagged physical objects (e.g., tickets, exhibits) and immerse themselves in the exhibition through VR devices, establishing a novel creative bridge between artists and audiences.
• Innovative Value: Applying AIGC technology to art exhibition creation and presentation provides novel technical means for generating artworks and showcasing exhibitions. This breaks the traditional one-way display model, fostering communication and co-creation between audiences and artists through AI art agents. It constructs a new exhibition ecosystem featuring deep audience participation and virtual-physical interaction, offering fresh directions for the art exhibition industry.

 

Course Project

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14. Firefighting-Themed Multiplayer Asymmetric Combat Game: Firefighting GO

Course and Instructor: [Undergraduate Course: Game Design] Assistant Professor Xiao Ruowei

Project Positioning:

An asymmetric combat XR educational game co-developed by Xiao Ruowei's team and Shenzhen Fire Department, integrating RFID and VR technologies to deliver immersive fire safety knowledge.

Core Content:

1. Technical Architecture: Interaction Design: Police players wear RFID-tagged firefighting gear, triggering virtual fire suppression actions by scanning tags; adversaries create fires by identifying virtual flammable objects, reinforcing the cognitive link between “real-world tool selection” and “virtual task execution.”

Scene Innovation: Utilizes a 2v2 competitive mode, embedding fire safety knowledge into character missions and narrative clues, while enhancing learning motivation through social gameplay.

2. Technical Advantages: Leverages passive RFID's power-free nature to build a low-cost virtual-physical interface. The system rapidly adapts to diverse scenarios like education and tourism, offering high scalability.

3. Application Value: Breaks traditional safety education's one-way indoctrination through a “technology + entertainment” model. Validated by Shenzhen Nanshan District Fire Brigade, it significantly boosts public engagement and knowledge retention.

Innovative Value:

Pioneers the cross-industry application of “murder mystery games + public safety,” demonstrating XR technology's effectiveness in emergency knowledge dissemination and providing a replicable technical framework for similar educational products.

 

15. Data Implantation

Course and Instructor: [Undergraduate Course: Sound and Sensory Perception] Assistant Professor Xu Qiushí

Core Objectives:

Explore the biological future of data storage by envisioning plants transformed into sound data storage media through synthetic biochemistry. Reflect on material consumption and media innovation in the data era. Integrating design studies, biochemistry, and futurology, this project examines the symbiotic relationship between data and nature through installation art, proposing the speculative concept of “Plants as Data Centers.”

Core Content:

Conceptual Framework: Addressing future material resource demands driven by data explosion, proposes the “plant data carrier” concept—engineering plants via synthetic biology to store audio data. Aligning with sound's emergence as a dominant future medium, constructs a closed-loop logic: “so und capture → plant storage → data visualization.”

Installation Design and Implementation: Physical Form: Mechanical floral installations crafted from tin foil, iron wire, and wooden panels. Interwoven wires simulate plant roots and stems, evoking a futuristic “data plant” aesthetic.

Interaction Mechanisms: Sound-Triggered Response: Upon detecting sound, LED strips shift from blue to red while mechanical petals open and close, symbolizing data storage activation. Sound Feedback: A buzzer emits the “D, D” data transmission sound, reinforcing the technological aesthetic and metaphor of data flow.

Innovative Value:

Speculative Innovation:

1. Introduces the concept of “biological data mediums,” challenging traditional physical storage forms (e.g., hard drives, cloud storage) and offering interdisciplinary pathways for data sustainability.

2. Critiques the data era's overexploitation of natural resources through the unnatural “plant-data” connection, advocating a future vision of “data ecologization.”

Design Methodology Breakthroughs:

1. Employs a hybrid approach of “technological metaphor + artistic expression” to translate abstract biochemical concepts into tangible installation experiences, lowering the barrier to understanding future technology.

2. Explores multisensory interaction (visual, auditory) in data visualization, expanding dimensions of information transmission.

 

16. Sound Encounter in Yuanling: Shenzhen's Interactive Audio Accessibility Tour

Course and Instructors: [Undergraduate Course: Sound Design] Assistant Professor Marcel Sagesser, Zhang Wanlin

Project Description:

This sound design course project, led by Marcel Sagesser and Professor Zhang Wanlin, focuses on cultural accessibility. It leverages audio technology to enhance the inclusivity of the Yuanling community for diverse visitors.

Core Content:

Technology Applications:

1. Developed a sound tour mini-program integrating geolocation and audio storytelling to convey community history, resident narratives, and intangible cultural heritage, enabling independent exploration for visually impaired individuals.

2. Installed sound souvenir installations at subway exits, allowing users to generate personalized musical keepsakes from collected audio fragments to reinforce experiential memories.

Inclusive Design:

1. Guided by the principle “Sound Knows No Borders,” the project addresses the needs of Paralympic athletes, tourists, and local residents. Multilingual audio and emotional sound design (e.g., environmental soundscapes) lower cultural comprehension barriers.

2. Courses collaborate with the Shenzhen Accessibility Association to integrate sound interaction as assistive technology into community accessibility renovation standards.

Interdisciplinary Approach:

1. Integrating acoustic engineering, interaction design, and community anthropology, the program explores innovative digital applications in public cultural services through a “sound collection - narrative construction - technical implementation” process.

Innovative Value:

Pioneering a “sound + accessibility” community tour model, demonstrating the unique advantages of auditory media in cultural dissemination, and providing replicable technical pathways for aging societies and disability-friendly city development.

 

17. Yuanling Slow Tour: Service Design for Sustainable Community Culture Development

Course & Instructor: [Undergraduate Course: Service Design] Assistant Professor Zhang Wanlin

Project Positioning:

Cao Liecheng's team leverages Shenzhen Yuanling Community's coffee culture to drive community rejuvenation and cultural dissemination through service design and immersive experiences.

Core Content:

Experience System Development:

1. Developed the “Yuanling Coffee Slow Tour Experience Kit,” including eco-friendly coffee cups, community guides, and walking route maps. Users collect cultural badges and souvenirs by checking in at participating cafes.

2. Designed a “DIY Personalized Commemorative Cup” activity, integrating coffee consumption with creative expression to strengthen emotional connections.

Dissemination Mechanisms:

1. Utilize social media “Share to Earn” incentives to encourage users to share check-in content, creating a closed-loop “offline experience - online dissemination” cycle.

2. Enhance community cultural recognition through visual symbol design on merchandise like canvas bags and Velcro accessories.

Sustainability:

1. Eco-friendly materials (reusable coffee cups) and local business partnerships balance cultural dissemination with commercial empowerment, boosting community economic vitality.

Innovative Value:

Using “coffee culture” as an entry point, this initiative activates younger demographics in aging neighborhoods through lightweight service design, offering a trinity solution of “culture-commerce-experience” for urban micro-renewal.

 

18. Culinary Connection: AR-Enhanced Kitchen Experiences

Course & Instructor: [Undergraduate Course: Personal System Design - Physical] Assistant Professor Zhu Shengyu

Project Focus:

Centering on everyday kitchen scenarios, this project explores deep integration of augmented reality (AR) technology into kitchen life to elevate living standards and cooking experiences. It falls under physical object design within personal system design.

Core Content:

1. Design Process: Guides students through a complete design cycle, starting from identifying everyday design opportunities and progressing through market research, user research, product requirement design, functional design, development, and product evaluation.

2. Technology Application: Emphasizes exploring innovative AR applications within kitchen environments, such as delivering novel interactive experiences in cooking guidance, ingredient management, and kitchen space planning.

Innovative Value:

1. Experiential Innovation: Integrating cutting-edge AR technology into kitchen scenarios disrupts traditional kitchen experiences, delivering immersive cooking and kitchen usage experiences.

Design Method Innovation:

Through a comprehensive and systematic design process, it establishes a reference paradigm for designing physical objects with new technology integration, fostering students' comprehensive design capabilities and innovative thinking.

 

19. 2050 Shenzhen: Wearable Garment Design Integrating Traditional Chinese Medicine Functions

Course and Instructor: [Graduate Course: Design Innovation in Industrial Applications and Practice - Shenzhen 2050] Professor He Jingzhi

Project Positioning:

The Li Haolong team designs smart wearable devices integrating traditional Chinese medicine therapy functions to address future health needs, exploring cutting-edge forms of traditional medicine and technology convergence.

Core Content:

Functional Innovation:

1. Multimodal Therapy: Built-in sensors and AI algorithms enable intelligent adjustment and personalized adaptation of TCM modalities including acupuncture, massage, moxibustion, and hot/cold compresses.

2. Cultural Symbol Transformation: Abstracts Yin-Yang harmony, meridian qi-blood flow, and Five Elements theory into garment patterns and color systems, visualizing traditional medical concepts.

User Scenarios: Designed for Shenzhen office workers, seniors, and sub-health populations, this portable wearable supports health management during commutes, work, and daily routines.

Technological Vision: Integrating Midjourney's 2050 technology feasibility predictions, it proposes conceptual designs like “luminescent circuit muscle activation,” advancing TCM wellness toward intelligent and fashionable transformation.

Innovative Value:

Breaking the usage constraints of traditional Chinese medical tools, this project builds a trinity health ecosystem—prevention, treatment, and cultural inheritance—through wearable devices, providing a design blueprint for the modernization of traditional Chinese medic