Start with the situation
The course presentation describes comparing recent events, workarounds, frequency, and behavior change rather than asking whether people liked a proposed product.
MADE WITH
iPhoneSoftware filtering3D printing
SnowGo
A more adjustable view.
An iPhone-based viewing experiment that explores user control over visual input.
↗ Idea developed during NSF I-CorpsSee the prototype ↗
- Role
- Concept · interaction & prototyping
- Timeline
- 2026 · project archive
- Category
- Hardware · Perception control
01 · Overview
A different way to see the room.
SnowGo is a physical and software experiment in selectively changing what comes into view.
The actual setup
A phone.
A viewing shell.
A testable idea.
An inexpensive headset gave the camera-mediated view a physical context.
See the prototype record ↘SnowGo grew out of the broader question of agency during NSF I-Corps: what parts of an environment would someone choose to filter, and why? Instead of leaving that as an abstract idea, I made a phone-based viewing experiment.
I used an iPhone and an inexpensive headset to explore face blocking and blurring, alongside physical form studies. The prototype made the effect visible. The course work also helped separate an interesting capability from a strong first product direction.
The question
Could control over visual input feel understandable?
A visible effect was the first step. The person using it would still need to understand what changed and how to return.
My roleConcept · interaction · prototyping
OriginIdea developed during NSF I-Corps
PrototypeiPhone + physical viewing rig
StageExploration · later parked
About the project record Prototype & program context
The setup, software output, printed form, and source of inspiration come from the earlier portfolio. The owner confirmed that SnowGo emerged during I-Corps. The program presentation records the decision to park perception control as a parallel direction. New diagrams explain the setup; no comfort, accessibility, medical, or market outcome is claimed.
02 · Discovery
An interesting effect wasn’t enough.
I-Corps broadened the agency question beyond voice input, including situations where students change behavior because of their surroundings.
Separate discomfort from a preferred mechanism
The final presentation supports shared-environment friction, but does not support faces and gaze as the strongest first trigger for the proposed solution.
Keep the projects distinct
PadKey retained a focused private-input direction. SnowGo remained a useful perception-control exploration rather than a second validated business.
The resulting decision
Park face filtering as a first product direction. Keep what the prototype taught about camera-mediated viewing, physical form, and the consequences of filtering.
03 · Starting point
The idea started with an aperture.
The original project drew functional inspiration from narrow-aperture snow goggles made by Inuit and other Arctic peoples.
Take the interaction principle seriously.
Narrow slits admit less light while still allowing the wearer to see. That prompted a different, digital question: what would it mean to selectively alter visual input?
The physical and cultural context of snow goggles is distinct from this camera-based experiment. The prototype does not reproduce their protective function.
Smithsonian collection context ↗04 · System
Make the experiment with a phone.
The rig connected the environment, a phone camera and display, and a physical viewing shell.
The central tradeoff
Accessible hardware.
A limited but tangible experiment.
A phone headset made the idea inspectable without access to a purpose-built spatial computer. It also introduced questions about field of view, latency, weight, and camera placement.
- Capture / display
- iPhone
- Physical support
- Off-the-shelf phone headset
- Software evidence
- Archived paired filtered views
- Separate form study
- 3D-printed viewing form
05 · Prototype iterations
Try the viewing rig. Try the form.
The phone, camera, shell, and wearer each change what can be experienced. The archive records those relationships from several angles.
Two kinds of making, kept distinct.
The printed form explored appearance and fit. The phone rig explored the camera-mediated effect. They are not represented as one finished integrated headset.
06 · Interaction evidence
Before and after the filter.
The archive includes an example scene and photographs of filtering through the prototype. These are demonstrations, not a controlled before-and-after study.
What is visible
The archive shows obscured face regions and paired filtered views on the phone.
What remains a design question
How filtering is selected, adjusted, paused, and reversed needs a clearer interaction study.
What the photographs do not measure
Latency, visual comfort, task performance, accessibility, and bystander understanding are still open.
07 · What the prototype made possible
See the software output.
The phone output and the physical rig gave the next conversation a concrete object.
The value of this build
It exposed the relationship between the effect on screen and the object someone would wear. It also made the limitations harder to ignore: a technically visible filter is not the same thing as a comfortable, understandable, wanted product.
08 · Reflection
An interesting prototype can still be the wrong first product.
The work was useful because it made the question visible—and because the discovery process allowed the direction to be parked.
Swipe to read all six takeaways →
A real viewing rig makes an abstract idea easier to discuss.
01Prototyping
Environmental friction does not prescribe face filtering.
02Discovery
The form changes the experience before a setting does.
03Physical design
A filtered view needs a clear route back.
04Interaction
The effect on screen is only one part of the cost.
05Tradeoffs
Choosing not to pursue a direction is also design work.
06Judgment
The next experiment →
Revisit this as a separate discovery project only if a clear recurring need emerges. Then compare a stationary baseline with filtering, and measure understanding, latency, discomfort, and reversal before broadening the system.
Sources and project notes
Recovered project material
The earlier desktop-style portfolio supplies the prototype narrative, headset photographs, paired phone output, printed form, inspiration board, and the separately labelled AI appearance visualisation.
Program context
The owner confirmed that SnowGo was conceived during NSF I-Corps while PadKey participated in both Rev and I-Corps. The PadKey I-Corps final presentation dated 25 August 2026 records the broader environmental agency exploration and the decision to park face filtering and perception control as parallel directions.
Reference
Smithsonian Institution · Snow Goggles collection record provides context for narrow-aperture viewing. The project collage is retained as its original inspiration artifact.
New explanatory material
The homepage and header artwork are generated conceptual abstractions of selective vision: figures inside a viewing field remain crisp while surrounding silhouettes blur and fade. They do not depict a new product. Original prototype photographs remain separately labelled.
The system map and proposed experiment diagram were made for this case study. The proposal is not presented as a completed user test. No participant quotes, health outcomes, commercial validation, or production headset are invented.