IDE 495 is a new junior/senior studio course where students prototype physical, sensing, and responsive objects built to evoke a specific emotional response, using AI as a working partner rather than a shortcut. This page collects the workflow resources built for the course and its MicroArtistry 2026 pilot.
Every project in the course gets evaluated against these three lenses together: how it lands emotionally and functionally, whether it protects the dignity of the people it's for, and what your relationship to those people actually is.
Visceral, behavioral, reflective — how people process design on three levels at once.
Explore →Dignity, empowerment, sense of security — designing with people in vulnerable circumstances.
Explore →Naming your relationship to the people you design for — for, with, or as them.
Explore →Each guide covers one part of the prototyping stack: how to think about it, the tools that fit, a worked prompt structure, and the pitfalls that show up in practice. Start with the full field guide, or jump straight to the workflow you need.
The mental model, all five workflows, and the ethical commitments in one place. Start here if you're new.
Explore →Directing AI to write web/app behavior by describing intent and feel, not code structure.
Explore →AI-assisted firmware for Arduino/ESP32 sensors, actuators, and physical behavior.
Explore →Using AI as a diagnostic partner for wiring, power, and sensor problems.
Explore →Building web-based control interfaces and displays with an emotional register in mind.
Explore →Rapid visual ideation and concept assets, with prompt specificity as the core craft.
Explore →