RELATIONAL AI PERSONAS IN EVERYDAY UBIQUITY
Embodied & Situated Design Methods for Sustainable, Plural Futures
12 October 2025, A half-day workshop at UbiComp/ISWC 2025 – Espoo, Finland
AI agents are rapidly moving into our daily lives, appearing on our wrists, whispering through earbuds, and shaping our decisions. Yet how we design their “personas” is still at a very early stage.
This workshop, co-led by Julius Yls and Dr. KC Yeoh, does not present final answers. Instead, it offers a starting point that is grounded in our ongoing research and expertise. The aim is to open a space where researchers, designers, and practitioners can collectively explore how AI personas might be imagined, embodied, and situated in wearable and ubiquitous contexts.
Drawing from relational design, feminist HCI, and ecological thinking, participants will experiment, critique, and reimagine how AI shows up in everyday life. The focus is not on finished solutions but on sparking dialogue and building the foundations of a shared research community.
What to Expect
This is not a traditional lecture but a collaborative lab for playful design and critical reflection. Participants will explore how simple design choices such as color, shape, and interaction cues influence how AI personas are perceived and trusted.
Activities include:
• Visual Remix Sprint: Transform a neutral chatbot into contrasting personas.
• Gallery Walk: Share and critique prototypes in a supportive environment.
• Speculative Mapping: Reflect on cultural, emotional, and ecological footprints of design.
• Group Discussion: Surface questions and themes for future exploration.
The outcome is not polished solutions but a set of shared vocabularies, prototypes, and questions that can guide ongoing research and practice.
Activities include:
• Visual Remix Sprint: Transform a neutral chatbot into contrasting personas.
• Gallery Walk: Share and critique prototypes in a supportive environment.
• Speculative Mapping: Reflect on cultural, emotional, and ecological footprints of design.
• Group Discussion: Surface questions and themes for future exploration.
The outcome is not polished solutions but a set of shared vocabularies, prototypes, and questions that can guide ongoing research and practice.
Who Should Join?
This workshop is open to researchers, designers, and practitioners interested in shaping how AI personas emerge in everyday life. We especially welcome:
• Designers and creative technologists experimenting with identity across devices.
• HCI researchers and practitioners exploring inclusive and speculative approaches.
• Wearable and UbiComp enthusiasts working with embodied and ambient systems.
• Critical thinkers engaging with feminist, ecological, or posthuman perspectives.
No prior expertise in AI is required, only curiosity and a willingness to experiment.
• Designers and creative technologists experimenting with identity across devices.
• HCI researchers and practitioners exploring inclusive and speculative approaches.
• Wearable and UbiComp enthusiasts working with embodied and ambient systems.
• Critical thinkers engaging with feminist, ecological, or posthuman perspectives.
No prior expertise in AI is required, only curiosity and a willingness to experiment.
What Will You Do?
This is a hands-on, minds-on workshop where we explore together how design choices such as color, shape, and icon can shape the way people relate to AI systems.
You’ll:
• Experiment with key aspects of persona design, from behavior to visual identity.
• Explore how color, shape, and layout influence perception and emotional response on small screens like wearables.
• Remix a neutral chatbot into contrasting personas, for example: a reassuring caregiver, a strict advisor, or a playful friend.
• Create quick UI sketches or cards that express tone and intent through visual cues.
• Share and reflect on your designs in a supportive gallery walk.
Whether you sketch by hand or use digital tools like Figma, the goal is the same: to surface new ways of making the invisible feel tangible and open questions for further exploration.
You’ll:
• Experiment with key aspects of persona design, from behavior to visual identity.
• Explore how color, shape, and layout influence perception and emotional response on small screens like wearables.
• Remix a neutral chatbot into contrasting personas, for example: a reassuring caregiver, a strict advisor, or a playful friend.
• Create quick UI sketches or cards that express tone and intent through visual cues.
• Share and reflect on your designs in a supportive gallery walk.
Whether you sketch by hand or use digital tools like Figma, the goal is the same: to surface new ways of making the invisible feel tangible and open questions for further exploration.
Workhop Schedule
12 October 2025 . Room: HH, Aalto University
1. Opening & Framing (Julius)
2. Mini-Lecture: Designing Visual Hooks (Dr. KC)
3. Hands-on: Persona Remixing (Julius & Dr. KC)
4. Gallery Walk & Critique
5. Wrap-up & Discussion
2. Mini-Lecture: Designing Visual Hooks (Dr. KC)
3. Hands-on: Persona Remixing (Julius & Dr. KC)
4. Gallery Walk & Critique
5. Wrap-up & Discussion
Organisers
Julius Yls
Julius Yls is the lead organiser of this workshop and a Lecturer at the Institute of Creativity & Innovation (Xiamen University, China / University for the Creative Arts, UK). With over two decades of academic and industry experience across Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East, his work integrates AI-driven spatial computing, digital media arts, and interactive design.
Beyond academia, he has advised the early development of technology startups focused on VR environments, AI-powered education, and creative tooling. Julius has presented and published internationally at SIGGRAPH, ISEA, and Transmediale, and his creative research includes contributions to Objects in Air (University of Chicago Press).
His background in visual storytelling has also been internationally recognized, including the National Geographic Travel Photographer Award, enriching his interdisciplinary approach to design and technology. His current research explores innovative AI personas that foreground sustainability, inclusivity, and plural futures within ubiquitous computing.
Beyond academia, he has advised the early development of technology startups focused on VR environments, AI-powered education, and creative tooling. Julius has presented and published internationally at SIGGRAPH, ISEA, and Transmediale, and his creative research includes contributions to Objects in Air (University of Chicago Press).
His background in visual storytelling has also been internationally recognized, including the National Geographic Travel Photographer Award, enriching his interdisciplinary approach to design and technology. His current research explores innovative AI personas that foreground sustainability, inclusivity, and plural futures within ubiquitous computing.
Faculty of Digital Media Arts, Institute of The Creative Arts (ICI), Xiamen University, China & University of the Creative Arts (UCA), United Kingdom
julius.yls@uca.ac.uk
julius.yls@uca.ac.uk
Dr. Kok Cheow Yeoh
Dr. Yeoh is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Indiana University Southeast (USA) and a pioneering co-founder of the Visual Communication program at Nanyang Technological University’s School of Art, Design, and Media (Singapore). As a scholar-practitioner with 20+ years of experience, he bridges academia and industry through research in visual anthropology, sociolinguistics, and interdisciplinary design innovation—work thriving at the theory-practice nexus.
His investigations explore how visual communication intersects with societal frameworks, focusing on sustainability, cultural narratives, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Published in peer-reviewed journals and exhibited globally (China, Australia, UK, US, Malaysia, South Korea, etc.), he treats travel as both methodology and mindset, advancing design research into culturally grounded solutions.
Currently expanding his impact through partnerships, he collaborates on projects that redefine boundaries between design, human-centered systems, political discourse, and ecological resilience.
His investigations explore how visual communication intersects with societal frameworks, focusing on sustainability, cultural narratives, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Published in peer-reviewed journals and exhibited globally (China, Australia, UK, US, Malaysia, South Korea, etc.), he treats travel as both methodology and mindset, advancing design research into culturally grounded solutions.
Currently expanding his impact through partnerships, he collaborates on projects that redefine boundaries between design, human-centered systems, political discourse, and ecological resilience.
Follow-Up & Takeaways
Participants will co-create visual persona tiles, which will be documented in a collective gallery. After the workshop, a recap deck and an online group space will be shared for continued exchange. With consent, selected works may also be featured on the workshop page to showcase the diversity of approaches.
This workshop is intended as a first step, informed by our research and teaching practice, toward building a wider network of inquiry into AI personas and ubiquitous computing.
FAQs
Have questions?
for FAQ, Questions or register your interest, you can talk directly to Julius's AI Persona: Muse-5
