QUALIA

Inspiration

Our project started with a simple conversation about cilantro.

Some people love it. Others say it tastes like soap.

It turns out both are right — a genetic difference changes how certain people perceive the herb. The exact same leaf can produce completely different sensory experiences depending on who tastes it.

That realization stuck with us.

If something as simple as cilantro can taste completely different to different people, how many other experiences are we misunderstanding every day?

Have you ever wondered if the red you see is the same red someone else sees?

We all call it “red,” but there is no way to know whether our internal experience of that color is actually the same. This idea is called qualia — the subjective, first-person experience of perception.

Two people can stand in the same room, hear the same sounds, see the same sights — and experience it completely differently.

Yet our tools for sharing experiences haven’t changed much. Every day, more than 5 billion photos are taken, capturing what happened — but never how it felt.

We built QUALIA to explore what might happen if we could change that.

What it does

QUALIA is a platform designed to track, quantify, and share subjective sensory experiences through an integrated system of a mobile application and a wearable neural-interface device.

Instead of simply recording events, QUALIA captures how a moment feels from the inside.

The platform enables three core experiences:

Share experiences to build empathy

Users can share a moment with someone else so they can experience it from their perspective.

For example, someone experiencing a panic attack in a crowded subway can share that moment with a friend. Instead of just hearing about it, the friend experiences the overwhelming lights, noise, and tension firsthand — creating a deeper understanding of what that moment actually feels like.

Experience the impossible

Through the Qualia Marketplace, users can explore experiences they could never safely or realistically have themselves — from performing parkour across rooftops to feeling the rush of a runner’s high.

Preserve meaningful moments

QUALIA captures not only the visual environment but also the emotional and sensory context of a moment. A parent could record the moment their child takes their first steps and revisit that memory years later exactly as it was felt.

In this way, QUALIA transforms memory sharing from watching moments to experiencing them.

How we built it

We designed QUALIA as an integrated hardware–software ecosystem combining a wearable device with a mobile platform.

The wearable Qualia Capture Device collects sensory signals and contextual information from the environment while capturing physiological cues related to emotional state. These signals are used to reconstruct a moment's subjective experience.

The mobile app allows users to:

Record Qualia experiences
Save them in a personal Qualia Gallery
Share experiences with others
Explore unique moments through the Qualia Marketplace

We designed three core interaction flows:

Share Qualia

Select a moment from the gallery
Send it to another user
The recipient can choose whether to experience it

Explore Qualia

Browse experiences in the marketplace
Select an experience
Enter immersive playback

Record Qualia

Capture a moment in real time
Record sensory and emotional signals
Save the experience to the gallery

To prototype the system, we built the full interface and interaction flows in Figma, creating interactive mobile experiences for the Gallery, Marketplace, and Recording features, along with immersive XR playback screens.

We also brought the hardware concept to life by 3D modeling, 3D printing, and programming a physical prototype of the Qualia capture device.

Built with

Figma – UI design and interactive prototypes
Figma Make – rapid flow testing and interaction experiments
Figma Slides – presentation and narrative structure
CapCut & Premiere – video editing and animations
Adobe Firefly – motion and visual generation for storytelling
Unity – 3D modeling of the wearable device
3D Printing – physical device prototype
Adafruit ESP32-S2 Feather – programmed UI for the wearable prototype

Challenges we ran into

Designing for subjective experience meant we couldn't rely on traditional UX patterns. Our biggest challenge was creating something immersive without becoming overwhelming especially for users with sensory sensitivities, which is one of our core use cases.

Integrating 3D and wearable elements within a short hackathon timeframe also pushed us to quickly prototype across multiple tools and mediums.

Another major challenge was designing consent flows that felt natural rather than transactional. Consent is central to QUALIA’s ethics, but if it feels like a legal disclaimer, it disrupts the emotional experience. Finding that balance required several iterations.

Finally, maintaining a cohesive visual language across mobile and XR interfaces while building a clear brand identity under time pressure was a significant design challenge.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Several moments stand out for us:

Opening the project with the Alice story, which grounded the concept in a deeply human moment
3D printing and programming a working hardware prototype within a single weekend
Designing ethical safeguards as a core feature, not an afterthought
Building three complete user journeys, each centered around a different emotional story
Developing the Qualia Marketplace, which introduces a new way to explore rare or inaccessible experiences

What we learned

This project reinforced several key lessons for us.

Empathy can be designed

Technology has the potential to help people better understand one another by making invisible experiences visible.

Storytelling is essential in speculative design

When designing technology that doesn't yet exist, storytelling becomes the bridge between imagination and understanding.

Ethics must be part of the design process

Systems that influence perception require careful consideration of consent, safety, and emotional wellbeing from the beginning.

Complex ideas become accessible through interaction

By focusing on clear user flows and relatable scenarios, we were able to translate a philosophical concept into an intuitive product experience.

What's next for QUALIA

If QUALIA were developed further, several directions could expand its impact.

Advancing sensory capture technology
Future biosensing and neural-interface systems could capture richer layers of human perception.

Improving experience reconstruction
Developing more advanced simulations could allow experiences to be recreated with greater emotional and sensory fidelity.

Expanding applications

QUALIA could have potential uses in:

Mental health and therapy
Education and experiential learning
Accessibility and neurodiversity awareness
Cross-cultural understanding
Creative storytelling and entertainment

Developing ethical frameworks

As technologies capable of sharing perception evolve, strong safeguards around privacy, consent, and emotional safety will become even more important.

Ultimately, our vision is simple:

*Experience life through someone else’s senses. A platform for sharing human experience, exactly as it was felt.