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Ripple — Making Social Energy Visible

Inspiration

Ripple was inspired by a simple but often invisible problem: people make social plans, then later realize they no longer have the energy for them.

Through our research and interviews, we saw the same pattern again and again. Internal states like stress, fatigue, overstimulation, and emotional exhaustion shift quickly, but people often notice them too late. That leads to guilt, burnout, and last-minute cancellations.

What We Built

This led us to Ripple — a speculative tool that makes social energy visible. Inspired by interoception, Ripple translates internal signals into a living ripple visualization that reflects stress, stimulation, mental load, recovery, and readiness for social interaction.

Challenges

One of our biggest challenges was balancing novelty with clarity. We wanted the experience to feel future-facing, but still grounded in a real human need and easy to understand.

Reflection

Ripple became more than an app concept. It became a way to explore how design can make invisible internal experiences more understandable, actionable, and compassionate.