Hyerin Im



PROJECTS1. mistake makes meaning
    2. unspoken into the spoken
3. virfie
4. distortion studies
5. the cabinet of dr. algorithm
6. slight
7. spring rounds
8. promptcrafter

About
Writing

SLIGHT: Thermochromic Educational Light for Climate Change Awareness






How can something as invisible as carbon emissions become physically perceptible?

SLIGHT is an interactive installation that translates carbon emissions into heat, color, and material transformation. Everyday activities are represented by physical objects embedded with RFID tags. When placed on the installation, each object produces a different level of heat based on its associated emissions, gradually altering a thermochromic image of an iceberg. Higher emissions cause the image to disappear more rapidly. 

Rather than presenting climate data as numbers, SLIGHT turns it into a temporal and sensory experience. As the iceberg changes in response to each choice, an otherwise abstract environmental impact becomes something that can be seen, touched, and experienced through material change.




How?


Material Experiments 
The installation emerged through experiments with thermochromic ink, heat, light, and physical materials. We tested how different surfaces responded to temperature, using material transformation itself as a visual language for disappearance and environmental change.
Interaction
Six RFID-tagged objects (cattle, pigs, chickens, buses, cars, and bicycles) were assigned different carbon-emission values. An Arduino-based system translates each value into variations in light and heat, causing the thermochromic surface to transform at different speeds. 



Thermo Ink Testing / RFID

    The development of SLIGHT involved multiple rounds of material testing and iteration. Thermochromic inks were repeatedly tested to achieve the most effective color transformation in response to heat. 

    In parallel, various surface materials for the lampshade were prototyped and compared to ensure optimal heat conduction, durability, and visual clarity.



    An Arduino-based system connects RFID-tagged figures to the lamp, translating their carbon emissions into different levels of brightness and heat. As the thermochromic ink changes at different speeds, everyday activities become directly linked to their environmental impact through visual feedback.






    2021

    Hyerin Im, Jaehong Kim
     Media Interaction Design Exhibition @KAIST, 2021



    ©2026 Hyerin Im