The First Day

One of our first activities was to introduce ourselves. I didn’t realise until much later, while preparing for my final project, that even those introductions were already a form of data — small fragments of who we are, waiting to be connected.

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The three warm-up exercises were surprisingly eye-opening:

– Painting a face with different identities based on personal information helped me understand, for the first time, how data can be transformed into another form of existence.

– Using only shapes to represent ideas is harder than I expected, but it reminded me how limitations can unlock creativity.

– Writing together on a long roll of paper was my favourite part — I was asked questions I had never been asked before, and it was fascinating to see how everyone’s thoughts intertwined visually.

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Through these small moments, I realised that data is not just numbers — it’s traces of how we live, feel, and notice the world.

Projects

1. In My Fridge

1.1 Data Collection & Process

After arriving home, I pulled up a small chair, sat quietly in front of my open fridge, and began observing — this fridge that hadn’t known me for long, since I only moved in on the 26th of September. With a sheet of paper in hand, I started documenting and categorising everything inside.

I recorded the types of food, the material of their packaging, whether they were packed, opened, or almost finished, their state (fresh, opened, or expired), and their position inside the fridge.

It felt like a small act of mindfulness — a simple yet intimate way of getting to know my new home. Every label, texture, and colour suddenly became data, and data in turn became a mirror of my daily rhythm.

1.2 Visualisation & System

After collecting the data, I started to digitise it and explore possible visual directions for the final outcome.

I was inspired by some abstract paintings shown during the lecture, so I looked for further references on how abstraction could represent everyday life.

Instead of using the actual colour of each food item (which would have been too chaotic), I decided to use a representative colour for each type of food — for example, green for vegetables and red for meat.

I also unified the symbols for usage stage, status, and items that needed to be restocked, giving them a consistent shape and scale. This consistency provides a clear visual order, while the internal line compositions vary to express different meanings. For example, each variation in angle, curve, or openness reflects the status or stage of the item — making the system both structured and expressive.

1.3 Outcome

In the final composition, I overlapped both sides of the fridge, allowing the image to form a layered, semi-abstract pattern. What emerged felt like an abstract painting — soft, rhythmic, and balanced — but born entirely from data.

If someone had asked me to create an abstract painting like that from scratch, I would have had no idea where to begin. But with data, it happened almost magically — naturally and intuitively, like a quiet conversation between order and chance.

2. Main Project: Sanctuary

Everything about this project started on day one — when everyone in the lecture room was asked: “How are you feeling today?” and “What did you notice today?”

I can still clearly remember the answers: “It’s cold today.” “There’s no sunlight.” “I’m tired.” “I came from Leipzig — it’s a long way and that's why I'm late.” “My clothes aren’t dry.” ......There was almost no element of happiness in those words.

It made me feel a little sad — but later, during the workshop, something quietly shifted.

As I looked around, I found so many of them scattered across the papers on the floor — fragments of joy belonging to each of my classmates.

At that moment, I realised that even if the outside world is unpredictable and often beyond control, there might still be small, gentle spaces of certainty — little sanctuaries of happiness that we create ourselves.

That was the starting point of this project — a question that lingered softly in my mind：what are the moments, objects, or patterns that make us feel safe and quietly happy, no matter what happens around us?

I was always a stay-at-home-all-day person, but I never really thought about why I feel so comfortable and safe when I’m at home. 

But then, when the concept of “The controllable happiness” was raised in my mind, I suddenly realised: it’s because the place that holds the most of these certain kinds of happiness — is home.

So I decided to make this the direction of my main project — to materialize the happiness inside my room, turning invisible feelings into visible data.

2.1 Data Collection & Process

At the beginning, I felt completely overwhelmed by how many things were in my room — there were simply too many stories, too many emotions.

So I decided to start intuitively: I took my phone, turned on “Text to Speech” function, and slowly walked through each space — describing what I saw, how I felt, and why each object mattered to me.

Every item carried a different emotional resonance, and each emotion came from a different reason. Some were tied to material, others to function, others simply to memory.

When I started sorting the data, I quickly realised how complex it was — the number of emotional categories alone was almost unmanageable.

Under “Emotional Value,” I recorded feelings like:

Calm, Motivating, Comforting, Refreshing, Joy, Independence, Enjoyable, Safe, Satisfaction, Happiness, Identity, Cozy, Growth, Pride, Confidence, Feeling Strong, Hopeful, Warming, Relaxed, Security, Fresh... and even that wasn’t all of them.

To make sense of it, I reflected on what truly defines the positive impact of an object on my daily well-being.

I concluded that three elements are most essential:

— the material or feature of the object

— function

— emotional value.

These three became the core of my data structure.

While grouping all recorded items under these three main categories, I noticed that each could naturally be divided into seven subcategories.

To create visual harmony and conceptual coherence, I decided to represent them through a rainbow system — using seven consistent colours, each symbolising one subcategory, and different patterns to indicate further distinctions within each group.

2.2 Visualisation & System

Since my project was about the objects in my room, it was inevitable that I needed to show the spatial layout first — otherwise, the data would lose its context. But that also became my biggest challenge: I have never been confident in my graphic style, and before starting, I honestly couldn’t foresee what the final outcome might look like.

The only thing I was certain about was this — I didn’t want the result to become a cold, emotionless floor plan. I wanted it to feel alive — to show not just where things are, but how they make me feel.

Luckily, during the lectures, our teacher gave me a lot of support and shared many inspiring references — artworks and visual systems that approached data with warmth and emotion rather than strict precision. I started collecting my own moodboard of inspirations, which helped me slowly find a direction between structure and softness, between order and emotion.

I also searched online for more concrete graphic references, hoping to find a way to visualise my room that feels emotional rather than structural. 

I wanted both the space and the objects in it to have no strict boundaries — instead, to flow into one another, just like how my emotions constantly shift. The arrangement of my belongings often changes the atmosphere I feel, and I wanted my final outcome to reflect this sense of connection and movement.

Rather than a flat architectural map, I imagined a visual field where warmth, safety, and joy overlap softly — where data becomes something alive, intimate, and quietly poetic.

Then, I moved on to Procreate to translate these ideas into a more concrete visual form.

I experimented with curved lines that overlap and intersect — a way to represent my room’s layout without strict borders, where spaces blend and emotions connect.

Using the color and pattern system I had defined earlier, I began to assign them to each object, testing how these two layers — the emotional rhythm and the spatial structure — could harmonise together.

Since it was hard to make the objects stand out against a colourful background, I finally decided to use only lines to indicate the layout of my room.

I also refined the system of visual symbols for each object’s characteristics. In addition to the seven main colours, I decided to include each object’s actual colour as well — to bring a sense of randomness and richness into the composition. In the end, the overlapping forms in the four corners began to look like butterflies, or maybe flowers — fragile but full of life.

2.3 Outcome

When I looked at the final outcome, it felt almost magical. It was my first time creating a graphic without any predefined goal. I simply placed each piece of data where it belonged, and the visual slowly grew into something vibrant and alive by itself.

Some parts made me smile — for example, this little hourglass timer I use when brushing my teeth. It’s made of glass and gives me a feeling of calm and peace, because with it, I never have to worry whether I’ve brushed long enough. It belongs to the “Health & Wellbeing” category, which is represented by blue — and the hourglass itself also happens to be completely blue. I found that coincidence really beautiful.

I also loved being able to represent abstract but meaningful things in my own system — like the Taylor Swift poster on my wall, or the view outside my window. They might not be physical necessities, but they hold so much of my emotional landscape.

Reflection

I truly appreciate the feedback from both the teacher and the external reviewer. It’s true that my graphic focuses more on conveying atmosphere and emotions, rather than clearly showing the specific objects in my room. In the future, I hope to plan more carefully how to express both the emotional qualities and the detailed accuracy of data — to find a better balance between feeling and precision.

Through this project, I’ve also become more sensitive to data itself — I now notice how much of it quietly exists around me, waiting to be seen and recorded. It feels like this course has opened a new way for me to look at the world, to see the patterns hidden in my daily life.

I honestly wish this expertise could last longer than a week. My classmates’ topics and visualisations were so interesting, and I can easily imagine how powerful and beautiful the outcomes would be if we could continue our data journeys for months — it will be a magnificent banquet of data.

Final Presentations Slides