STUDENT WORK GALLERY
ID Project 1: Pop-Up Book
2026
INSTRUCTOR REFLECTION
I use this project to start the course because it introduces the fundamentals of interaction before a screen enters the topic. Interaction design is fundamentally about how people connect with objects— and a pop-up book exemplifies this because it’s one of the oldest and most genuine forms of interaction: you touch it, move it, and something responds. The mechanism itself is the interaction. When students create one, they realize that each reveal, fold, and tab is a decision about timing, order, and surprise—similar choices they will make later in Figma, but here they are made with paper and their hands. Students approaching it as a craft project learn craft; those viewing it as an interaction design challenge—thinking about what the reader does, when, and how they feel when the page opens—are already starting to think like game and interaction designers.
Student work
Curated selection across semesters
Student Project Reflections
"One of the most important lessons I learned came from the pop-up book project. At first, I approached it mainly as a creative storytelling piece about how humans gain the emotion of love through a mythological narrative. I focused heavily on symbolism, characters, and the emotional meaning behind the story. However, as I began constructing the physical pages, I quickly realized that storytelling alone was not enough. The engineering of the pop-up mechanisms required precision and planning. This is where quantitative reasoning unexpectedly became a major part of the process. Measuring folds, spacing paper structures correctly, and calculating how elements would move when the pages opened forced me to think logically and mathematically. If something was even slightly off, the entire mechanism would fail or not align properly. This experience helped me understand that graphic design, especially in physical formats, relies heavily on structure and accuracy. Creativity alone cannot function without technical execution." - Anonymous, 2026
"... It is also impossible to predict what your reader is going to do, and that’s kind of scary. You really can’t cut corners in pop-up book design, because everything has to work exactly as it should. I learned a lot about taking my time with the process and making prototypes that worked, first and foremost, before jumping into the design of the project.
I really like designing physically. I love preserving analog and physical design. I want to keep doing it! It is really rewarding to get to make something completely by hand, and it is different than digital design. It was also really great to design in a book format, as part of my design career dream is to go into publishing." - Anonymous, 2026
"Through material exploration, I learned a lot about how paper can be used to create depth and movement. I discovered that small changes in folding can completely change how a scene works. For example, V-folds helped create strong 3D effects, while parallel folds allowed scenes to open smoothly without breaking. I also learned that precision is very important, because even small measurement mistakes can affect how the mechanism moves.
In terms of interaction design, I focused on making the reader physically involved in the story. Users have to open flaps, pull tabs, and unfold sections to reveal parts of the narrative. This makes the experience more engaging because the reader is not passive. Instead, they are actively discovering clues and moments in the story. Each interaction is tied to a narrative reveal, so movement always leads to new information.Overall, I learned that designing physical interactions requires a lot of planning, testing, and patience. Unlike digital design, paper engineering depends heavily on material behavior and precision. I also learned that interaction is not just visual, but physical, and the way a user touches and moves through a book can become part of the storytelling itself." -Anonymous, 2026