Intention:

The goal of the How’s the Weather networking project was to design and prototype an interactive IoT device that leverages real-time communication to create a shared emotional connection between friends. By combining tactile interaction with visual feedback, the project aimed to explore how everyday emotional check-ins can be enhanced through tangible, responsive design.

Specifically, we sought to:

1. Enable friends to communicate emotional states (represented as weather patterns) using synchronized devices connected over a network.
2. Demonstrate real-time interaction, where a simple physical input on one device triggers a corresponding light-based response on a paired device.
3. Explore affordances for physical interaction—particularly through a bird-shaped touch interface—and refine how mood-based communication can be natural, expressive, and non-intrusive.
4. Investigate how metaphors like weather can provide accessible and universal representations of human emotions, encouraging deeper reflection and connection.