Yoonji Lee이윤지
Home About Projects Publications
Selected Work
2021 – 2026 · HCI + Design Researcher

An-nyeong-ha-se-yo! ("Hello" 👋🏼 in Korean) I am PhD candidate in the Industrial Department KAIST.
I design and build interactive systems that utilize various materials — plants, ice, soil, thermochromic elements — to create expressive digital experiences.

P1 — CHI 2026WHEN PLANTS PLAY
CHI 2026 · 🏆 Best Paper Award (Top 1%)When Plants Play: Rethinking Plant Materiality in Digital Games→ View project 👀
P2 — DIS 2024ICY INTERFACES
DIS 2024 · Full PaperICY Interfaces: Exploration of Ice’s Ephemeral Features for Digital Game User Experience→ View project 👀
P3 — SIGGRAPH ART GALLERY 2025PLANT.PLAY()
SIGGRAPH 2025 · Art GalleryPlant.play()→ View project 👀
P4 — TEI 2024THERMO-PLAY
TEI 2024 · Full PaperThermo-Play: Exploring the Playful Qualities of Thermochromic Materials→ View project 👀
P5 — UIST POSTER 2025SILENT SUSPENSE
UIST 2025 · Poster + GwangJu Design Biennale 2025Silent Suspense: Multimodal Haptics for Horror Film Experiences for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) Audiences→ View project 👀
P6 — CHI LBW 2023GLOW THE BUZZ
CHI 2023 · Extended Abstract · 🏆 Student Game Competition FinalistGlow the Buzz: a VR puzzle adventure game mainly played through haptic feedback→ View project 👀
P7 — SpaceCHI 2023 + IAC 2022SPACE-GROUNDED
SpaceCHI 2023 + IAC 2022Space-Grounded: Developing an antidepressant inhalation device using natural materials to enhance crew well-being
P8 — RETAIL + EXHIBITION 50,000 Timepieces
Seoul Design Festival 2021 · DDP50,000 Timepieces→ View project 👀
YOONJI LEE HCI × DESIGN RESEARCHER Based in Daejeon,
South Korea 🇰🇷
I am currently a third-year PhD candidate of the Industrial Design department at KAIST. I am advised by Prof. Chang Hee Lee at Affective Systems and Cognition (ASC) Lab.
Open to fun and interesting research / art / design collaborations🖤 Reach me out by: leeyoonji {at} kaist (dot) ac (dot) kr  ·  LinkedIn
You can also see my CV HERE!
MY FIRST PROFILE PICTURE!
THE PERSON BEHIND THE PAPERS..🤓
Research Statement

My research lies at the intersection of HCI and Material-Driven Design, with a strong focus on multisensory play and inclusive experience. I study, design, and develop interactive systems that leverage the unique physical properties of unconventional materials — such as plants, ice, and thermochromic elements — to create expressive digital experiences. Recently, I have been exploring the integration of living materiality and ephemeral features into digital games to rethink interactivity and investigate how sensory-rich feedback can enhance user engagement and emotional resonance. While my research is closely related to game enthusiasts, exhibition audiences, and DHH communities, I am also interested in exploring the potential of generative AI and physical computing to build adaptive environments.

ME AT UIST 2025 BUSAN,
PRESENTING SILENT 🤫 SUSPENSE 👻
Research Interest
Material-Driven Design Digital Game
Thermo-Play
When Plants Play
ICY Interfaces
Glow the Buzz
Human-Nature Interaction
Multisensory Experience
Inclusivity
Plant.play()
50,000 Timepieces
Silent Suspense
DHH Music Education
Projects
Selected projects made with strong passion and love (2021 – 2026)
CHI 2026 · Full Paper · 🏆 Best Paper Award
When Plants Play
Rethinking Plant Materiality in Digital Games
Living MaterialsPlantsDigital Game Experience
SIGGRAPH 2025 · Art Gallery
Plant.play()
Interactive installation reimagining the relationship between plants, humans, and digital space
InstallationExhibitionPlantsDigital Game
DIS 2024 · Full Paper
ICY Interfaces
Exploration of Ice’s Unique Ephemeral Features for Digital Game User Experience
Ephemeral MaterialsDigital Game ExperienceIn-game Navigation
TEI 2024 · Full Paper
Thermo-Play
Exploring the Playful Qualities of Thermochromic Materials
MaterialityThermochromismPlayfulness
UIST 2025 · Poster · GwangJu Design Biennale 2025
Silent Suspense
Multimodal Haptics for Horror Film Experiences for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) Audiences
Deaf and Hard-of-HearingHaptics/span>
DIS 2026 · Full Paper + Ministry of Science and ICT Award
DHH Music Education
Co-designing Haptics for DHH Music Education with a Reconfigurable Prototyping System
Deaf and Hard-of-HearingCo-designHaptics
CHI 2023 · Extended Abstract · 🏆 Student Game Competition Finalist
Glow the Buzz
VR puzzle adventure game mainly played through haptic feedback
VRDigital Game ExperienceHaptics
Seoul Design Festival 2021 + Retail
50,000 Timepieces
Crafts and experiments proceeded with the concept of the intangible element called 'time'
ExhibitionRetailProduct DesignMateriality
Under Review 🤞
Plant.play(mode="worlding");
Biological life grows an autonomous digital infrastructure
Living MaterialsPlantsDigital Ecosystem
← Projects
When Plants Play
Rethinking Plant Materiality in Digital Games

Plant.play() is a novel digital game system where a living plant acts as the sole player in a pet-simulation game, driving in-game actions through its bioelectrical signals, environmental data, and circadian rhythms, with humans engaging only as observers. An in-the-wild study revealed that visitors initially sought direct control but then shifted to interpreting the plant's slow, unpredictable, and impartial behaviors as meaningful gameplay, fostering curiosity and attentive observation. Participants formed emotional connections with both the plant and its virtual pet, leading to reflections on care, empathy, and their broader relationships with nonhuman beings, demonstrating how plant materiality can invite new forms of interactive engagement.

Full Paper Link 🌱
PERIOD2024.04 – 2025.09
TYPEResearch · HCI
ROLELead Researcher & Designer
(Individual Project)
KEYWORDSMateriality · Plant · Digital Game ·
Plant-computer interaction
← Projects
ICY Interfaces
Exploration of Ice’s Ephemeral Features for Digital Game User Experience

This research introduces "ICY Interfaces" (MeltPress, FrostPad, and IceSquish), a series of digital game controllers that leverage the ephemeral qualities of ice to create novel user experiences. Through material exploration, a co-creation workshop, and a user study, the authors demonstrate how ice's physical disappearance, dynamic sensory changes during melting, and inherent unpredictability profoundly influence gameplay, player engagement, and foster unique interactive challenges. The findings highlight that ice's ephemerality shapes time perception, builds player attachment, encourages social interaction, raises environmental awareness, and offers diverse sensory experiences that enhance immersion and evoke nostalgia in digital gaming.

Full Paper Link 🧊Demo Video Link 🎬
PERIOD2022.11 – 2024.01
TYPEResearch · HCI
ROLELead Researcher & Designer
(Individual Project)
KEYWORDSEphemeral User Interface · Ephemerality · Materiality · Ice · Digital Game
← Projects
Plant.play()

Plant.play() is an interactive installation reimagining human-plant-digital relationships by enabling a real plant to act as the primary player controlling a virtual pet simulation game. The system uses various sensors to translate the plant's physiological states and environmental interactions into game inputs, with an Arduino Mega and Raspberry Pi processing this data into in-game decisions for the pet. Through the plant's ongoing choices, the virtual pet's appearance and personality are uniquely shaped, promoting a posthumanist perspective by presenting plants as active agents capable of engaging with digital creations.

Paper Link 🍀Demo Video Link 🎬
PERIOD2024.03 – 2025.01
TYPEInteractive Installation
ROLELead Artist & Developer
(Individual Project)
KEYWORDSMateriality · Plant · Posthumanism ·
Plant Agency
← Projects
Thermo-Play
Exploring the Playful Qualities of Thermochromic Materials

This paper explores the playful qualities of thermochromic materials through the creation and evaluation of four interactive projects. Evaluations using the PLEX framework and an ideation workshop identified physicality, color-dynamicity, and gradualness as key elements that evoke playfulness, particularly Captivation, Discovery, and Expression. The research provides new opportunities for designing playful interactions with thermochromic materials while also highlighting their practical constraints and diverse appeal.

Full Paper Link 🌡️Demo Video Link 🎬
PERIOD2022.09 – 2023.08
TYPEResearch · HCI
ROLE Researcher & Designer
(Group Project)
KEYWORDSMateriality · Thermochromism · Playfulness
← Projects
Silent Suspense
Multimodal Haptics for Horror Film Experiences
for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) Audiences

Silent Suspense presents four novel wrist-worn haptic devices (Texture, Locomotion, Temperature, and Pressure) engineered to convey horror film suspense through tactile sensations for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) audiences. A user study involving 12 DHH participants demonstrated that all devices enhanced narrative engagement, with the Texture device performing most effectively in evoking emotional responses. This work expands the design space for cinematic haptics, showing how diverse tactile modalities can significantly improve accessibility and immersion in horror films for DHH viewers.

Full Paper Link 👻
PERIOD2025.01 – 2025.08
TYPEResearch · HCI
ROLEProject Manager
(Group Project)
KEYWORDSAccessibility · Haptics · Horror Film
Experience · Multimodality
← Projects
Co-designing Haptics for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Music Education
with a Reconfigurable Prototyping System

This work introduces a co-design approach for developing haptic cues to enhance music education for Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) learners, addressing challenges posed by limited auditory access. Researchers utilized a novel reconfigurable haptic prototyping system, featuring modular tactors and MIDI-triggered mapping, in co-design workshops with educator-learner dyads to enable hands-on exploration and iteration. Findings indicate that vibrotactile cues can be pedagogically effective, making musical concepts tangible as formative feedback and serving as interpretable, sharable references for inclusive music learning.

Full Paper Link (to be updated) 📄
PERIOD2024.05 – 2026.01
TYPEResearch · HCI
ROLEResearcher
(Group Project)
KEYWORDSDeaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) ·
Music Education · Haptic · Co-design ·
Accessibility
← Projects
Glow the Buzz
A VR Puzzle Adventure Game Mainly Played Through Haptic Feedback

This work introduces "Glow the Buzz," a VR puzzle adventure game designed to investigate the potential of haptic feedback as the primary mode of interaction, moving beyond its traditional supplementary role. The game features three haptic-centric puzzle types—rhythm, texture, and direction—which were refined through iterative playtests to explore how players distinguish diverse tactile stimuli using wearable haptic devices. The research demonstrates that haptic feedback can successfully serve as a core gameplay element, enhancing immersion and enabling problem-solving, and offers insights into effective design for discriminable haptic stimuli.

Full Paper Link 🐝Demo Video Link 🎬
PERIOD2022.09 – 2023.01
TYPEResearch · HCI
ROLEResearcher & Designer
(Group Project)
KEYWORDSVirtual Reality · VR Games · Haptics
← Projects
50,000 Timepieces

During my time at Studio When, I independently spearheaded the "50000 Clock Projects." What began as a lighthearted joke—"Let's make 50,000 clocks"—evolved into a rigorous exploration of form and materiality. Each "one-in-a-million" piece was handcrafted through daily experimentation, aiming to redefine how we perceive the passage of time in the absence of numbers. The project ultimately reached a broader audience: the pieces were successfully sold at prominent retail shops like CAVA LIFE, 29CM , and Heights Store, , and showcased at various exhibitions including the Seoul Design Festival .

PERIOD2021.04 – 2021.12
TYPEExperimental Product · Product Design
ROLELead Product Designer & Maker
KEYWORDSMateriality · Clocks · Lifestyle ·
Time Perception
← Projects
Plant.play(mode="worlding";)

Coming Soon / To be updated ⚠️

Full Paper Link (to be updated) 📄Video Link 🎬
PERIOD2025.09 – 2026.03
TYPEInstallation · Interactive Art
ROLELead Designer (Group Project)
VENUETBD
KEYWORDSMateriality · Plant · Plant Agenct ·
Digital Game
C(a)rtphoto · art · movie · music · books · ideas · life ···
PHOTO
Tokyo, July 2020
Photo taken with Fuji X-T20.
MOVIE
Prometheus (2012)
Pure inspiration just from watching this.
MOVIE
Project Hail Mary (2026)
Must watch 👎
LIFE
Umbrella Charm
I try to fill my daily surroundings full of cute stuffs!
PHOTO
Daejeon, February 2025
Photo taken with Fuji X100VI.
GROUP PROJECT FROM INTERACTIVE SPACE CLASS
Installation: Confess to Stone  → Watch video on YouTube
What's with the stones? We viewed them as ancient observers with a silent wisdom that far outlasts humanity.
📍
WEBSITE
Material Aesthetics Lab (TU/e)
PHOTO
Maldives, March 2025
Photo taken with Leica Minilux.
PHOTO
Kawaguchiko, April 2019
Photo taken with Fuji X-T20.
LIFE
iPod Class 5th Gen
There’s something so satisfying about analog mechanics.
GROUP PROJECT
Modular Stackable Candles
We made modular candle set! It can turn into various-looking flowers.
MOVIE
Everything Everywhere All at Once
It was a total mental reset.
GAME
Pokémon Pokopia
Daily detox.
Contact → Yoonji Lee · 이윤지 · Made with Love🖤 Link to my secret hobby