Sticka

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Inspiration

Many people, especially young adults, struggle to manage their social energy. Spaces that feel comfortable today may feel overwhelming the next, and there’s no way to anticipate how draining a social environment or event might be before arriving.

We were inspired by the idea of a “social battery” , a common way people describe their mental energy in social settings. We wanted to explore whether that invisible feeling could be measured, visualized, and used to help people prepare for social environments.

Sticka imagines a future where sensory signals like noise, crowd density, and movement help users anticipate how overwhelming or stimulating a space might feel before they enter it.

What it does

Sticka is a speculative tool that estimates and visualizes a user’s social battery and helps them anticipate the social intensity of different environments.

The system analyzes signals such as crowd density, noise levels, and past user patterns to estimate how demanding a space might feel. Users can preview environments at specific times and see visual indicators of activity levels through anonymous avatars and environmental cues.

Rather than telling users where to go or avoid, Sticka helps them prepare for environments and manage their energy more intentionally.

How we built it

We designed Sticka as a prototype that estimates the social energy of environments using sensory signals like noise levels, movement, and crowd density.

Users can contribute short recordings of spaces at different times, allowing the system to build a shared understanding of how environments feel throughout the day. Sticka then combines this community data with personal social battery patterns to estimate how demanding a space might feel for each user.

We designed the interface and interaction flows in Figma, focusing on how users could preview environments, understand social intensity through visual cues, and receive suggestions to prepare before entering a space.

Challenges we ran into

One challenge was figuring out how to measure something as subjective as social energy. Different people experience the same environment very differently, so we had to design a system that balances environmental signals with personal user patterns.

Another challenge was addressing privacy concerns when sensing environments. We solved this by abstracting people in shared spaces into anonymous avatars, ensuring individuals are never identifiable.

Accomplishments We're Proud Of

We’re proud that Sticka pushes sensory tracking in a new direction by imagining social energy as something measurable and interactive, even though it’s usually invisible and difficult to quantify.

We also explored a futuristic factor: Sticka as a small sticker patch that automatically tracks bodily signals such as heart rate, stress levels, and energy patterns, and can be controlled through the user’s cognitive commands. This allowed us to think beyond current devices and imagine what future sensing technologies might look like.

Finally, we designed Sticka to work not just individually but collectively, using shared environmental data from other users to help people anticipate how different spaces might feel before they arrive, while still considering privacy, consent, and user control.

What we learned

This project taught us how difficult it is to design systems around subjective human experiences. Unlike tracking steps or heart rate, social energy depends heavily on personal preferences and context.

We also learned the importance of responsible sensing design, especially when collecting environmental data in shared spaces. Designing with safeguards and transparency became an essential part of the process.

What's next for Sticka

Next, Sticka could continue improving personalization by learning from users’ social and sensory patterns over time, allowing the system to better estimate how different environments might affect an individual’s social battery.

As more users contribute recordings and feedback, Sticka could build richer community-generated datasets, helping predictions about spaces become more accurate.

Future versions could also adapt the tool for different user needs and sensory preferences, supporting people with varying comfort levels in social environments.

Ultimately, Sticka could evolve into a system that helps people anticipate and navigate sensory environments with greater awareness and control.