Client
Graduation Project · Solo ( 100% )
Period
Jun–Nov 2024
Services
Speculative Design
Product Design with AI
Tools
Midjourney
Rhino 3D
Photoshop
Overview
Every scroll is a transaction.
Scrolling through your phone may seem like it costs nothing. But every time we do it, we’re paying with our attention and our time. Platforms store this data, yet users are unaware of just how much information they’re giving away. Even when we casually tap the “Accept Cookies” button, a vast amount of information we don’t even realize we’re sharing is being used for free.
Bubblify gives shape and definition to these invisible transactions.
Users pay with their attention, and the platform keeps the receipts. Bubblify is a tool that returns those receipts to users as tradable assets.
01 — Currency
Attention is spent. Nothing marks the spending.
Design move: treat scrolling as a withdrawal. Each session has a visible balance before it opens, and a visible balance after it closes.
The Premise · 01
02 — Balance
The bubble above the head belongs to the platform.
Design move: make the platform's balance sheet physical. The bubble fills on the user's side of the room, where they can see it.
The Premise · 02
03 — Terminal
A transaction needs a close.
Design move: every session ends with a gesture and a sound. The rotary ring returns to zero; the Orb exhales. The receipt is delivered before the next session can open.
The Premise · 03
Challenge
Design
Designing the form of an object that does not exist in the world.I contemplated what materials, weight, input methods, and sounds could make this transaction feel like a real one.
Decision
I spent two weeks sketching designs for an organic, matte-finish futuristic payment terminal, and ultimately selected the form marked with a yellow circle as the final concept. I abstractly modeled the shape of a human head and used it as a reference for a Midjourney generation.
Approach
Design
Designing the form of an object that does not exist in the world.I contemplated what materials, weight, input methods, and sounds could make this transaction feel like a real one.
Decision
I spent two weeks sketching designs for an organic, matte-finish futuristic payment terminal, and ultimately selected the form marked with a yellow circle as the final concept. I abstractly modeled the shape of a human head and used it as a reference for a Midjourney generation.
Spec
Orb 01
Material
PLA + matte poly finish
Height
210 mm
Weight
1.1 kg
Input
Rotary ring, 360° free
Finish
Satin white / black ABS base
Results
Gallery note · Day 01
"A stranger rotated the ring, the Orb hummed, and they looked at their friend instead of the object."
I removed the instruction card after day one. Visitors still completed the interaction — rotate the ring, watch the bubble, wait for the exhale — without prompting. Silent usability was the outcome I wanted most.
— Day 01
AI Design Award · 2025
AI Design Award '25 — Student Winner.
Selected in the Conceptual Design · Student category. Judged on concept clarity, material execution, and exhibition context.
Seoul · March 2025
What the prototype proved.
The Orb works without explanation. Visitors perform the gesture, wait for the exhale, and leave understanding the metaphor without ever being told it. That was the design result I was after.
The project points to a shelf of adjacent objects — the Ledger, the Receipt, the Returns Desk — each a household fixture for the same hidden economy. Bubblify is the first. The rest is a thesis in progress.
Sydney Hong
Province, RI, United States
© 2026 Sydney Hong