As digital interfaces increasingly shape the way we communicate, perceive, and interpret the world around us, the boundary between design, psychology, and culture continues to blur. Today, app design is no longer only about usability or efficiency — it is also about emotion, behavior, attention, and the invisible systems through which people understand one another.

Designer Lingjie (Mia) Guo works precisely within this intersection. With a background spanning human-computer interaction, psychology, visual design, and user experience, her work explores how technology can move beyond functionality and become a tool for reflection and perception. Her project EmpaSee — an AI and AR-based empathy training concept — asks an unusual question for the world of digital products: can an interface help people understand each other more deeply?

Artmag spoke with Lingjie (Mia) Guo about the changing landscape of design, the growing relationship between art and digital interfaces, the role of AI in creative thinking, and why projects like EmpaSee may point toward a more human-centered future for technology.

Today, design is everywhere — especially in digital products. From your perspective, what are the most interesting trends you see right now in app design and design more broadly?

I see app design moving from task completion toward more contextual and human-centered experiences. Products are becoming more adaptive, more personal, and more aware of user intent. I also see growing interest in slower design, emotional clarity, accessibility, and trust — not only speed and efficiency.

Many designers today move between disciplines. How do you see the relationship between art and app design? Are they becoming closer, or still fundamentally different?

Art and app design are becoming closer, but they still serve different roles. Art can focus on expression and ambiguity, while app design requires usability, structure, and function. For me, the overlap happens when digital products use visual language, interaction, and emotion to create meaning beyond utility.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the way we design and interact with technology. In your view, is AI transforming design in a meaningful way, or just accelerating what already existed?

For me, AI is meaningful because it supports the early and messy parts of design. It helps with ideation, reframing problems, and turning loose thoughts into clearer requirements. That does not replace design judgment. It gives designers a faster way to explore directions, compare options, and formalize what the product actually needs to do.

The real value is not that AI produces the final answer. It helps designers move from ambiguity to structure.

Your project EmpaSee feels quite different from most digital products. Can you tell us how the idea first emerged?

EmpaSee started from a simple observation: people often talk to each other, but still feel misunderstood. Many tools help people communicate faster, but not necessarily better. I wanted to create an AI-assisted reflection tool that helps users slow down, examine emotions, and see a situation from more than one viewpoint.

At what point did it become more than just a design project and start to feel like a deeper exploration of perception and human behavior?

It became more than a design project when I realized EmpaSee was not only about helping people “be more empathetic.” It was really about how people form meaning. The same moment can feel completely different depending on someone’s memory, fear, expectations, or relationship with another person.

In EmpaSee, users can see the same situation from different viewpoints. What did this idea reveal to you about how people interpret reality?

This idea showed me that people do not respond only to facts. They respond to meaning. A short message may feel efficient to one person and cold to another. EmpaSee shows that empathy is a cognitive skill: the ability to hold more than one interpretation before making a judgment.

Most digital products are built for speed and efficiency. Your project feels slower and more reflective. Was this a conscious decision?

Yes, it was a conscious decision. Most digital products are designed to move users quickly from one action to the next, but EmpaSee deals with reflection, emotion, and interpretation. Those things require a different pace.

I did not want the app to feel like it was pushing users toward an instant answer. The goal was to create a calm structure where users can pause, look at the situation again, and consider other viewpoints before reacting. In this case, slowness is not a lack of efficiency — it is part of the experience. It gives people enough space to think more clearly.

Your project also has a strong visual and experiential quality. How important is visual language when working with something as intangible as emotion?

Visual language is very important because emotion is difficult to explain through words alone. People often feel something before they can clearly name it. So, the color, spacing, motion, and overall tone of the interface help create the emotional framework for the experience.

For EmpaSee, I wanted the visuals to feel calm, soft, and reflective, while still remaining clear. If the design feels too clinical, users may not feel emotionally connected. If it feels too dramatic, it can become overwhelming. The visual language helps create a safe middle ground where users can slow down and reflect.

If EmpaSee were not an app, but an exhibition or an artwork, how would you imagine it?

I would imagine it as a quiet, immersive space about perspective. Visitors could move through one situation from several viewpoints. Each layer might reveal what one person said, what another person felt, and what each side assumed.

I imagine using mirrors, translucent screens, soft light, sound, and layered text. The goal would not be to tell visitors which interpretation is correct, but to let them experience how perception shifts depending on where they stand, what they notice, and what they bring into the situation.

And finally, looking ahead — do you see yourself collaborating with artists or working more closely within the art world? Are there plans to develop projects or applications specifically for artists or cultural institutions?

Yes, I can see myself working more with artists, cultural institutions, and interdisciplinary teams. My design work often deals with perception, emotion, memory, and interpretation, which are also important themes in art and culture.

I think EmpaSee could grow beyond an app. It could become an educational experience, an exhibition piece, or a tool for participatory storytelling. I am especially interested in projects where technology is used not only for efficiency, but also to help people reflect, understand others, and engage with human experience more deeply.