Amity

A reflection and connection machine, and a social experiment in how a campus finds itself again

Program

Stanford Product Design capstone

Team

Four designers

My role

Concept, research, fabrication, brand

When

January to June 2022

Someone just passed you a secret note.

Amity Someone just passed you a secret note Go to the Amity machine at the d.school. Enter the code to dispense. OT98
QR code Scan in. Pass it on.

Hover to turn it overTap to turn it over

Spring 2022

A class of freshmen arrived on campus having spent their entire first year on Zoom. There was no structured way to meet people, and no spontaneous one either. Everyone was a little out of practice at being around each other.

So we asked: what is the smallest thing that would make one stranger reach for another?

From cardboard to kiosk

01 / 06
Lina inside the cardboard Maker Machine
01

The machine was me

The first prototype cost less than $10. I hid inside a cardboard vending machine and handed out quotes, riddles, life hacks, and quizzes to 50 people at a trade show.

quotes, keptriddles, returnedlife hacks, returnedquizzes, returned
02

What people kept

Quotes went into wallets and phone cases. Everything else was set back on the table. People held onto meaning and nothing else. That became the brief.

03

A mirror you can carry

Laser-engraved mirrored acrylic: you see your own face before you read the prompt. We made 20 of every card. Each is reusable, with a QR code on the back.

04

A ritual, not an interface

We made a short film to teach the gesture: find a card, pass it on, enter the code, read your message.

Final card: someone just passed you a secret note
05

So the message became a secret

Visible messages felt too exposed to hand to a stranger. The final card carries only a code. You write privately. The recipient prints the note. Then the card is wiped clean.

06

The reflection machine

An iridescent kiosk where the note finally appears, printed on paper you can keep

The prompts

Every card opened with the same invitation. Each ended one of four ways. Each was a small, specific reason to walk up to someone.

Pass this along to someone who you want to thank Amity
Pass this along to someone who you miss Amity
Pass this along to someone who you want to get a meal with Amity
Pass this along to someone who made you smile Amity

What the cards revealed

150 scans in the first week, from orchestra rehearsals to dining halls to dorm rooms

5 people deep: the farthest a single card traveled across campus

But vulnerability travels short distances. Tender, visible messages stayed between close friends. Secret notes reached strangers.

Printed, kept, passed on

Amity · note 001

It was 10:49. I was tired. I was looking around, shocked that I recognized zero faces. I felt sad, felt out of place.

Then he approaches, we look each other in the eye, and he passes me this. Silver, shiny, reflective card.

Late night, a dining hall
Amity · note 002

I really needed this today.

I've been having a really tough week.

A recipient
Amity · note 003

A cellist in my section handed it to me on break at rehearsal.

An orchestra member
Amity · note 004

I love the mirror look!

It is helpful especially in the meal to check if I have food in my teeth!

Invited to a meal

The build

Four people, one cabinet, no kits

Raspberry PiThe brain: reads each card code and sends the message to print
Thermal printerTurns a stranger's words into paper you can keep
Microsoft SurfaceFirst generation, repurposed as the touchscreen
Hand-built cabinetWe drilled the cabinetry, wired the electronics, and wrote the code ourselves

Then we wheeled it into a freshman dorm, where 100 freshmen used it. Afterwards it stayed at the Stanford d.school as an installation for years.

Still curious

Every card left a trace. Together the traces drew a map of who reaches for whom, and which words travel farthest. I was offered a grant to keep going. I still wonder what we could build with that map for a whole city.

Next project

Slack × Salesforce →