An expression
Touch · drawing · words
Gesture · pressure · rhythm
ART · HUMAN EXPERIENCE · ROBOTICS
Give form to
what cannot
be said.
A new language for the world within.
Exploring technology that helps us show
what it feels like to be us.
AN INDEPENDENT PROJECT · EARLY EXPLORATIONStep inside ↓
01 / THE SPACE BETWEEN
“I'm fine” can
hold an entire storm.
Sometimes the word afraid barely touches what is happening inside.
It might feel like a cluster of white strings, tangled so tightly you cannot find where you begin. Or a weight. A pulse. Something opening.
We want to make room for that kind of expression. A way to bring an inner experience into a form you can see, shape, and perhaps share with someone you care about.
OUR STARTING POINT
You are the author of what you feel. Your thoughts shape your reality.
The system does not tell you what you feel, it simply helps you show it.
A MOMENT BEFORE THE STORY
Separate the thought.
Meet the feeling.
What is happening within you—and what is your mind saying about it?
A thought can offer an explanation, a memory, or a prediction. A feeling can be approached through what you notice now: pressure, warmth, trembling, heaviness, or openness. Try giving each its own space.
“Thinking is that psychological function which, in accordance with its own laws, brings given presentations into conceptual connection.”
C. G. Jung, Psychological Types, “Definitions: Thinking”.
Our philosophical starting point: thoughts connect an inner, supersensory self with the sensory world, through the lens of past conditioning. The invitation here is to meet feeling in the present moment, before deciding what it means.
This is the project's contemplative perspective, rather than a claim that feelings have no history. Jung's technical use of “feeling” is distinct from the everyday sense used in this experiment.
THE THOUGHT“What story am I telling myself?”
THE FEELING“What do I notice in my body, right now?”
02 / AN EXPERIMENT IN EXPRESSION
What shape does
this moment take?
There is no correct form.
Start somewhere. Adjust until it feels closer.
WORDS AS STARTING POINTS
A feeling can hold more than one word.
Select a word to explore its form. Combine words to blend their shapes and qualities, then adjust the controls to make it yours.
Choose any words that resonate.
Choose a feeling word to explore its description and a moment of reflection.
EXPRESSION STUDY / 001
A little tangledLIVE VISUAL STUDY
MAKE IT YOURS
LooseTangled
GatheredExpansive
Folded inward and full, or open with room to explore.
StillRestless
IvoryEmber
A browser sketch of the idea. Your adjustments stay here; this study does not interpret or record your feelings.
NOTICE / LOCATE
Where do you feel
this in your body?
Choose the places that feel present. You can select more than one, or leave them unmarked.
Explore traditional chakra themes alongside your form. These are spiritual reflection prompts, not a diagnosis. Their meaning stays yours.
No points selected.
Select a point to explore its traditional theme and reflect on your current visual.
Traditional themes: Arhanta Yoga’s guide to the seven chakras. Questions connecting these themes to the visual are written for WITHIN/FORM.
Possible expressions, not universal meanings. The same form can mean something different to you.
03 / THE PRODUCT WE IMAGINE
A mirror for
an inner world.
An expressive instrument, shaped by the person using it.
Begin with touch, a drawing, a movement, or a few words. Adjust a living composition of shape, color, motion, light, and sound until you recognize something of yourself in it.
First, a visual experience. Eventually, a physical object that can gather, unfold, hold tension, and move alongside you. Something two people could sit with when conversation is difficult.
CURRENT STAGE / CONCEPT + VISUAL EXPLORATIONGive the feeling space to be.
WITHIN/FORM is a reflective tool for meeting the inner world before labeling it, assigning meaning to it, or giving it a reason to exist. A feeling does not need an explanation to be allowed space. In giving it room, we hope to give the person more room to be.
Jungian psychology offers an influence here: the shadow describes aspects of ourselves that we have difficulty recognizing, and projection can lead us to encounter those qualities in others. Looking inward invites curiosity about what our reactions may reveal.
Our guiding reflection is to face our own shadows with care, noticing how the world within can shape our experience of the world outside. This is an invitation to self-understanding, not a claim that everything outside us is a reflection of us.
Begin by noticing. Let the form exist. Meaning can emerge in your own time—or remain open.
- 01
Feel
Notice what is present. No label required.
- 02
Express
Offer a gesture, texture, word, or rhythm.
- 03
Shape
Change the form until it feels closer.
- 04
Reflect
Sit with it. Let its meaning stay yours.
- 05
Share
If you choose, invite someone to see.
04 / BEYOND THE SCREEN
What if a feeling
could take up
space?
A screen can show movement.
A physical form can share a room.
Robotics opens questions that images alone cannot: what might tension feel like as resistance? What might release look like as an object unfolding? Could a shared, responsive sculpture offer a place to begin a difficult conversation?
We imagine an abstract, tactile instrument. Its materials, movement, and presence would serve human expression.
These are directions to investigate with builders, not claims about a completed device.
05 / INSIDE THE SYSTEM
Human meaning.
Open possibilities.
A proposed architecture.
Every translation remains open to revision.
An adjustable language.
Map qualities into parameters.
Offer possibilities for the person to change.
A perceptible form
Visual composition first.
Motion, light, sound, and physical form to explore.
↳ The person responds, adjusts, and decides what it means.
QUESTIONS WORTH BUILDING FOR
We begin with
curiosity.
Art, interaction research, and engineering need to inform one another from the beginning.
How do we preserve the person's authorship?
Explore direct controls and editable suggestions. If AI becomes part of the system, its role would be to offer forms the person can accept, change, or reject—not to assign an emotion.
What makes a form feel personally true?
Invite people to create and describe their own forms. Study the choices they make without assuming that any color, shape, or rhythm has a universal emotional meaning.
Can a shared object help a conversation begin?
Explore optional, participant-led encounters. Ask whether the object supports expression and listening, while leaving room for ambiguity and disagreement.
Which materials and movements belong here?
Prototype simple structures with roboticists and material designers. Investigate quiet motion, comfortable touch, physical limits, and a clear way to stop the interaction.
What should remain private?
Begin with minimal collection and explicit choices. Future saving or sharing should be intentional, understandable, and controlled by the person expressing themselves.
06 / A PERSONAL STARTING POINT
“I can clearly see a shape,
like a cluster of white strings
that I can't untangle.”
THE EXPERIENCE THAT STARTED THIS PROJECT
This project began with a personal question: how can something so vivid inside be so difficult to communicate? Is there anything I can do about this?
The mission is to build tools that help us understand our inner worlds and connect more deeply with one another. One person, one expression, one encounter at a time.
As within, so without.
07 / AN OPEN INVITATION
Help give this
idea form.
For people who build with
curiosity and care.
We're looking for collaborators who can turn an early vision into thoughtful experiments: roboticists, creative technologists, industrial designers, artists, interaction researchers, and sound designers.
The first ambition is small and tangible: build an expressive prototype, put its controls in people's hands, and learn what feels meaningful.
Interested in building together or sharing feedback?
ritchiesimeon1@gmail.com