Jakob Kilian
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Making (Non-)Sense Workshop & Paper

  • project
  • areas: design, research
  • tags: AI, esp32, paper, tiny ml, workshop

As part of my work at KISD (2021 to 2025) and within the joint research project about the interplay between AI and design (gestaltung.ai) I developed a workshop with my colleague Rahel Flechtner from HfG Schwäbisch. It was held in 2023 both at the HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd and here at KISD  in Cologne with students from the respective universities and later again in Augsburg, Köln and Barcelona.

Next to this docu video, we also published a paper and an article about the course, and made the materials available online.

It aims to equip design students with the necessary “intuition” for AI technologies in order to develop sensor-based AI-supported interactions. It is structured in two parts: a role play, which provides a playful, low-threshold introduction to the basics of machine learning for classifying sensor data; and an exploratory part, supported by ready-made hardware and software modules, which enables active engagement with the technology to support creative ideation processes.

Course Material

We provide code and working materials to reproduce the workshop in our Gitlab repository.

Conference Paper at EduCHI 2024

Our conference paper about the workshop published at ACM and presented on 7th of June at EduCHI 2024.

Conference Paper at EduCHI 2024 (Author's Version)

You can also read and download an author's version PDF from HFG's website

Short Article

In a short article in a book published by the joint research project we describe the course in less detail.

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hi there!

I’m Jakob. I am a creative technologist, designer, maker and (re-)searcher, and this website shares my work and thoughts.

Privacy policy: I don’t track, I don’t collect or retain data.

tech

I often work on interceptions of design and engineering, bringing up some hardware or software (or both) projects, code bases and notes.

design

During my »Integrated Design« studies at KISD in Cologne, Germany, I worked in various design disciplines, fostering a holistic approach to design. While I explored traditional fields such as communication, industrial, service and interface design, my focus sharpened on these broader terms:

  • interaction: (inter-)action possibilities between humans and machines /computers.
  • experience: the aesthetic and sensory reception of audio/visual installations.
  • data: making raw data accessible and processable.
  • product: physical “things”.

research

This section showcases projects from my recent academic work. This includes projects from my own studies and the results of my work as a scientific employee at KISD from 2022 to 2025.

blog

Blogs are outdated. That’s why I started writing one.
All too often, I find myself down a rabbit hole, researching topics that haven’t received enough coverage on the internet yet, or simply stumbling upon ideas that are too valuable to keep to myself.
I’m passionate about sharing, which is why I started this blog. I hope you enjoy it!

music

Praqma is a producer and DJ of electronic music, blending diverse house and techno elements, a temporary utopia to escape the world’s imperfection.

Some of my early work is available on streaming and purchase platforms. Since 2023, I have focused solely on developing new hardware and software for techno live performances. See the »Modulator« and »Clipdeck« projects below, for example. In October 2025, I uploaded the first one-hour live set from this project.