01 Limitations,
Going Braver

This first week was about confronting the reality of the finish line: the dissertation submission and Open Studios. Looking back, I realized I had been hiding in the comfort of technical feasibility. While Semester 1 was a rigorous period of building knowledges and skills, I found that my focus on systematic precision had inadvertently turned into a cage of restraint. This semester, I chose to move from "explaining the system" to "demonstrating the felt experience."

  • Week-one
    12 ~ 18, Jan, 2026
  • Journal-by
    Choi Yerin
  • Keywords
    • Milestone-Planning
    • Visual-Restraint
    • Technical-Feasibility
    • Designer-vs-Engineer

Limitations & Reflection

The Primary Concerns

01 Technical Limitations


I am a designer, not a full-stack engineer. Spending weeks debugging backend logic felt like a distraction when industry tools are evolving faster than I can code.


02 Visual Gaps


My focus on "isolating variables" led to an intellectually strong but visually restrained output. My project lacked the visual "wow" factor because I was too focused on usability rather than the design of the experiment itself.


03 The Identity Crisis


I realized I wasn't having enough fun. The research process was becoming over-constrained by technical execution. I want to spend more time designing interactive experiences and less time squashing bugs.

"I am a Designer, not an engineer." I finally got time to listen to myself better during the break, that my true interest lies in the creation of atmosphere and designing cohesive interactions, not just building tools, being dragged and limited by technicalities.

The Safe Zone

I realized that by striving to be systematic and practical, I had crawled into a box where I only sought straightforward, technical answers. I was so cautious about feasibility and academic rigor that I hesitated to explore playful or visually bold ideas.

The resulting risk was becoming a researcher who only explains parameters, rather than a designer who delivers the messages through curating memorable, atmospheric experiences.

To address this, I decided to shift my focus:

From Precision to Expression:


Moving beyond isolated UI elements like a single button, to entire interface environments. This will utilize diverse behavioral patterns and broader principles of interaction design.


From Theory to Application:


Prototyping real-world scenarios, dynamic interaction demos that embody a specific brand identity through its bodily felt qualities, rather than just throwing tools to users or saying it verbally.

Moving Forward

Fortunately, the technical labor of Semester 1 wasn't for nothing. I now feel significantly more confident in React, GSAP, and Spline. I also spent the break experimenting with Framer, which offers a faster bridge between design and high-fidelity interaction.

Useful Tutorial Videos


Framer for Beginners


GSAP ScrollTrigger

Weekly Objectives

To ensure I don't get lost in technical pursuits again, I’ve mapped out my weekly objectives leading to the milestone of dissertation submission on week 07. Main focus will be on experimenting to create more interactive demonstrations and experiences with bolder visuals and ideas.

Additionally I planned to finally conduct user testing on tools and reflect on it during week 05 to week 06, for me to understand my previous prototypes from users' perspectives, rather than self reflection alone. Subsequently, this will help me clearly document what I have built and identify areas for improvement before wrapping up the previous works.

Weekly Objectives & Slides

Next Steps

Following the timeline, the next step is to experiment with interactive demonstrations, including broader interactions such as scrollTrigger or page transitions, which will then be composed as a website prototype leading up to the user testing and dissertation submission.