SCAN TO PLAY 2026
Scenes from the showcase.
Cover photo by Mark Cocksedge @markcocksedge
Prototype Island is a showcase presented by the DesignSingapore Council @designsingapore , curated by Hunn Wai @hunnwai and Eian Siew @eiannnnn . Open from 21 to 26 April 2026 during Milan Design Week, the showcase unfolds across three themes to holistically examine what it means for a country to treat itself as a living prototype.
Visit bit.ly/dsgprototypeisland to learn more!
SCAN TO PLAY 2026
What new meanings and interactions can we design for with the humble barcode?
SCAN TO PLAY presents visitors with six mini games that challenges our understanding of barcodes and what they can be. Each game distorts the barcode through graphical manipulation, animation, and interactivity, which in turn prompts the player to move their hands and bodies to scan in unfamiliar ways.
_________________
Play SCAN TO PLAY at
Prototype Island
Exhibition: 21 - 26 Apr 2026, 10am - 7pm (CEST)
Singapore Night: 22 Apr 2026, 7pm - 11pm (CEST)
Panel Talks: 21 - 22 Apr 2026
Foro Buonaparte 54, Brera Design District
Free admission
Prototype Island is a showcase presented by the DesignSingapore Council @designsingapore , curated by Hunn Wai @hunnwai and Eian Siew @eiannnnn . Open from 21 to 26 April 2026 during Milan Design Week, the showcase unfolds across three themes to holistically examine what it means for a country to treat itself as a living prototype. Visit bit.ly/dsgprototypeisland to learn more!
What are we really interacting with when we scan a barcode?
Interactive Materials Lab presents 𝘚𝘊𝘈𝘕 𝘛𝘖 𝘗𝘓𝘈𝘠 at 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝗜𝘀𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱, transforming the functional barcode into something you can move, touch, and play with. By turning a familiar graphic pattern into a tactile interface and embedding it across sculptural surfaces, interaction shifts from passive scanning to active exploration. Removed from their commercial context, the barcode becomes a tool for provocation and discovery.
By scanning with devices and cameras, participants trigger responses to reveal how something as ubiquitous as a barcode shapes behaviour, movement, and exchange across the systems we rely on daily.
𝘚𝘊𝘈𝘕 𝘛𝘖 𝘗𝘓𝘈𝘠 is created by the experimental arm of the Interactive Materials Lab (@interactive.materials ), led by Clement Zheng (@clement.zheng ) and Yong Zhen Zhou (@thezhen10 ). Their practice explores the friction between the digital and physical worlds, extending the gaming experience beyond the screen.
Plan your visit to Milan Design Week 2026, and experience 𝘚𝘊𝘈𝘕 𝘛𝘖 𝘗𝘓𝘈𝘠 in person.
𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝗜𝘀𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱
Exhibition: 21 - 26 Apr 2026, 10am - 7pm (CEST)
Singapore Night: 22 Apr 2026, 7pm - 11pm (CEST)
Panel Talks: 21 - 22 Apr 2026
Foro Buonaparte 54, Brera Design District
Free admission
Visit bit.ly/dsgprototypeisland to learn more.
Images courtesy of Interactive Materials Lab.
–
𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦 𝘐𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 is a showcase presented by the DesignSingapore Council, curated by Hunn Wai and Eian Siew. Open from 21 - 26 April 2026 during Milan Design Week, the showcase unfolds across three themes to holistically examine what it means for a country to treat itself as a living prototype.
#DesignSingaporeCouncil #MDW2026 #MilanDesignWeek #PrototypeIsland
Memory is not a perfect recording; it is reconstructive, fading and changing over time. In dementia care, these gaps can make it difficult for residents to anchor their own stories.
In this research, we explore how "synthetic memories" created with Generative AI can serve as a beneficial resource. Rather than replacing lost photos with "fake" records, we use AI to co-construct visual handles that help a person navigate back to their own narrative.
These images don’t need to be perfect. At 70–80% accuracy, and in the hands of skilled therapists, they create the resonance needed to spark deep storytelling and piece memory fragments into a life well-lived.
Read the full paper on arXiv: 2602.17083
Rememo is more than just a digital webapp; it is a system designed for the tangible realities of care.
While the physical prompt cards are used to input data into the webapp, they serve a much greater purpose in the session. By holding and selecting these cards, residents exercise autonomy to decide for themselves which memories to share.
It is within this deliberate blend of the digital and the physical that meaningful connection happens. Moving the interaction off the screen and into the hands of the resident ensures the technology serves the person, fostering agency in a space where it is often lost.
Read the full paper on arXiv: 2602.17083
"Human-in-the-Loop" commonly refers to systems where AI does the heavy lifting while humans step in to audit or correct the output at points.
Yet in reminiscence therapy for dementia care, the "loop" is the actual therapy session. In this delicate context, the human touch matters most and we believe AI-in-the-Loop is the more appropriate paradigm here.
AI should support the therapist's workflow, providing relevant generated content when needed. When we put AI in the loop of care, rather than forcing humans into the loop of an AI process, the human connection is elevated.
Read the full paper on arXiv: 2602.17083
Traditionally, reminiscence therapy requires hours of preparation work before the session itself—guessing what might resonate and hunting for the right photos or objects. Rememo moves this labour into the session itself, allowing the conversation to lead the content.
By using prompt cards to generate imagery on the fly, the therapist can respond to and riff off a client’s spontaneous sharing in real-time. This makes the session more personalized and targeted to each client’s interests while reducing prep time.
Read the full paper on arXiv: 2602.17083
What if we treated Generative AI as a material for care?
At the Interactive Materials Lab, we explore how materials can be shaped to support human connection. Our latest work on Rememo looks at GenAI not as an automation tool, but as a pliable material within the dementia care toolkit—right alongside old photos and physical objects.
But a new material doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It sits within and contends with a complex sociotechnical system of care. We found that for AI to be effective, it must respect the expertise of therapy staff, the rhythms of the care home, and the delicate nature of reconstructive memory.
Read the full paper on arXiv: 2602.17083
✨Upcoming CHI paper✨
We are happy to be presenting a new paper titled “Rememo: A Research-through-Design Inquiry Towards an AI-in-the-loop Therapist’s Tool for Dementia Reminiscence” at the upcoming @acm_chi conference!
⏰ Celeste will be presenting this work at CHI 2026 on Wed, 15 April, 11:51, at the Bodies, Care & More Than Human Places session taking place in P1 - Room 113.
Authors: Celeste Seah (@lecetse_work ), Yoke Chuan Lee, Jung-Joo Lee, Ching-Chiuan Yen (@yenchingchiuan ), Clement Zheng (@clement.zheng )
Project Credit: Interactive Materials Lab in the Division of Industrial Design (@did.nus ) at National University of Singapore (@nus_singapore )
We adapted the ancient five steps to imbue the paper with interactive and computational properties, such as incorporating conductive materials during pulp preparation, modifying fiber properties through soaking, and customizing sheet texture through watermarking, multi-layering, and laminating with bioplastics.
1—Textured paper through watermarking;
2—Conductive paper through mixing carbon fibers;
3—Color changing paper through soaking in pH sensitive red cabbage extract;
4—Multilayered functionality through stacking;
5—Laminating paper with bioplastics.
#chi25 #papercraft #interactiondesign #maker #paperart
Zoom in on the microscopic beauty of paper! Revealing the intricate web of fibers that gives our paper its strength, unique texture and special properties.
1-Fiber absorbing red cabbage extract (500x magnification)
2-Close look at mulberry bark (50x magnification)
3-Carbon fiber mixture paper (500x magnification)
#chi25 #paper #craft #hci #design #material
