About the Artist
Manming Luo
I am a third-year undergraduate student in Digital Media Arts, drawn to the space where designed objects meet human vulnerability. My practice begins with people who are often overlooked in the design process — children navigating hospital stays, elderly users confronting unfamiliar technology, individuals whose emotional states shape how they interact with the world around them. I believe that the most meaningful design happens not at the frontier of capability, but at the threshold of need. Lumina Echo represents my current thinking made physical. It asked me to move across disciplines — conducting ethnographic research in pediatric wards, prototyping electronic systems, crafting physical form — and to hold all of it together with a single question: what does a frightened three-year-old actually need from the room they are stuck in? I am pursuing graduate study in Human-Computer Interaction and Interaction Design because I want to develop the research methods and technical depth to ask harder versions of that question. I am interested in how interactive systems can be designed not just for usability, but for dignity — for the moments when people are least able to advocate for themselves. Design, at its best, is an act of attention.
About the Artist
Manming Luo
I am a third-year undergraduate student in Digital Media Arts, drawn to the space where designed objects meet human vulnerability. My practice begins with people who are often overlooked in the design process — children navigating hospital stays, elderly users confronting unfamiliar technology, individuals whose emotional states shape how they interact with the world around them. I believe that the most meaningful design happens not at the frontier of capability, but at the threshold of need. Lumina Echo represents my current thinking made physical. It asked me to move across disciplines — conducting ethnographic research in pediatric wards, prototyping electronic systems, crafting physical form — and to hold all of it together with a single question: what does a frightened three-year-old actually need from the room they are stuck in? I am pursuing graduate study in Human-Computer Interaction and Interaction Design because I want to develop the research methods and technical depth to ask harder versions of that question. I am interested in how interactive systems can be designed not just for usability, but for dignity — for the moments when people are least able to advocate for themselves. Design, at its best, is an act of attention.
About the Artist
Manming Luo
I am a third-year undergraduate student in Digital Media Arts, drawn to the space where designed objects meet human vulnerability. My practice begins with people who are often overlooked in the design process — children navigating hospital stays, elderly users confronting unfamiliar technology, individuals whose emotional states shape how they interact with the world around them. I believe that the most meaningful design happens not at the frontier of capability, but at the threshold of need. Lumina Echo represents my current thinking made physical. It asked me to move across disciplines — conducting ethnographic research in pediatric wards, prototyping electronic systems, crafting physical form — and to hold all of it together with a single question: what does a frightened three-year-old actually need from the room they are stuck in? I am pursuing graduate study in Human-Computer Interaction and Interaction Design because I want to develop the research methods and technical depth to ask harder versions of that question. I am interested in how interactive systems can be designed not just for usability, but for dignity — for the moments when people are least able to advocate for themselves. Design, at its best, is an act of attention.





