Jasmine S.C. Chou

Hi, I’m Jasmine. Welcome to my site!

I call myself a creative executive/producer working in film and TV. You can find more about my professional career on LinkedIn and IMDb.

I’m currently pursuing my master’s degree at the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at New York University. In this gallery space, I’ve curated some of my recent interactive work, along with bits and pieces from my learning process along the way.

Hope you enjoy exploring!

Linkedin
IMDb
EMAIL: scchou748@gmail.com

Recent Work

TREE, GROWN TOGETHER

Tree, Grown Together at the ITP 2025 Winter Show

Year: 2025
Medium: Interactive Installation, Physical Computing
Tools: Arduino, p5.js, WebSerial, Soft Fabrication
Role: Concept, Interaction Design, Fabrication, Programming

Overview

Tree, Grown Together is a collaborative interactive installation where participants a sun, and a water sprayer to nurture a digital tree together.

Hidden sensors inside handcrafted objects translate the players’ actions into a living p5.js animation of a tree growing, revealing a simple idea: growth isn't something we achieve alone—it emerges through care, patience, and the support of others.

Inspiration

I'm a terrible gardener. None of my succulents have survived. Yet somehow, gardening has become one of the most inspiring things I've ever done.

It taught me that growth is rarely linear. Sometimes you put in so much effort and nothing seems to happen. Other times, you stop worrying about the outcome, and everything suddenly falls into place. And sometimes, after weeks of wondering why a plant refuses to bloom, you wake up one morning to find flowers that weren't there the night before. The only thing you can really do is keep showing up.

Gardening also taught me that growth is never a solo act. A healthy plant depends on sunlight, water, good soil, temperature, humidity, care, you name it. None of these alone are enough, but together they create the conditions for something to flourish.

I had just turned 29 when this idea came to me in the winter of 2025. If I could tell my younger self one thing about growing older, it would be this: nurture yourself with the same patience you would give your favorite plant. Even when growth isn't visible, don't give up. Learn as much as you can and be grateful for all the help you get along the way and give back while you can. One day, you’ll realize resilience and patience are the best nutritions and outcome of growth.

That thought became Tree, Grown Together.

The Experience

The installation invites two participants to grow a tree together.

Each player is given one of two objects:
A sun (a flashlight)
A water sprayer (attached on the controller)

As they follow the instructions on screen, they shine sunlight onto the soil, and carefully water it with the sprayer. Every successful interaction helps the tree reach its next stage of growth, from a tiny sprout to a fully grown tree.

The experience is intentionally collaborative. No single person can complete every step alone, mirroring the idea that growth depends on many forms of support rather than individual effort.

The water sprayer and the knob that adjust the water level.

The flashlight as the sun.

Designing the Interaction

Rather than exposing the electronics, I wanted the technology to disappear into the experience.

The sensors are hidden inside soft, handcrafted objects to make the interaction feel natural and playful.

The soil contains hidden sensors that detect when the seed has been planted and when sunlight reaches the surface. The water sprayer is designed with controls that let participants "water" the tree through simple physical movements.

Together, these familiar objects transform gardening into an interactive storytelling experience.

Entire view of the controller. The sensors are hidden in the soft materials during fabrication.

How It Works

Behind the scenes, the installation is powered by an Arduino connected to several sensors, including photoresistors, infrared break beam sensors, and a potentiometer.

These sensors detect each player's actions and continuously send the data to a p5.js sketch through WebSerial.

The p5.js program interprets the amount of light, water, and the planting action to determine the tree's growth stage. As participants meet the conditions for each phase, the digital tree gradually grows in real time.

The goal wasn't to showcase the technology itself, but to let the technology quietly support the story.

Design And Fabrication of The Water Sprayer

A closer look at the IR sensor fabrication design. The IR break beam sensor’s receiver is attached onto the blue flower.

Created a hole on the side of the tailored laser-cutted box to accomodate the wiring of the sprayer.

A closer look at the IR sensor fabrication design. The IR break beam sensor’s transmitter is hidden into the sprayer.

How The Water Sprayer Works

When the sprayer is connected, the tank on the screen will give wate to the soil.

Demo video of how the sprayer works. You can adjust the water level knob to change the amount of water given to the soil. The soil will look more moisturized by turning into darker color.

Design And Fabrication of The Light-sensitive Flowers

Two photoresistors are hidden in the flowers. One in the yellow flower.

Another in the red flower.

The gauge on the right of the screen indicates whether the level of light is within suitable level.

Step 1: Fix the photoresistor into a segment of straw.

Step 2: Made holes on the soil to hide the photoresistor and straw into the soil.

Step 3: Use my hot glue to keep a proper size hole at the center of the flower while I was making it.

Look how pretty the hole is!

Step 4: Glue the flower onto the soil but keep the photoresistor exposed to light.

Design and fabrication of the controller box

Created a hole on the side of the tailored laser-cutted box to accomodate the wiring of the sprayer.

Made a paper prototype to test the wiring design and make sure the design of the box works.

A peek at the back of the final-fabricated controller. All the wiring are hidden inside the controller.

Created a hole at the front of the tailored laser-cutted box to accomodate the water level knob.

Laser-cutting in progress.

Interaction Steps
Following the instructions shown on screen, after the players press “Start Game”, they will find out their goal is to grow a cherry tree into a full bloom state. Then there will be instructions like “adding more water” or “adding more sunshine” to guide them through the process. Despite the texts shown, the players still have to figure our how much water or light to add.

Step 1 — Nurture the sprout 🌱

Step 3 — Grow the leaves 🍃

Step 2 — Grow the trunk 🪵

Step 4 — Bloom 🌸

How the Tree Decides to Grow (Input - Computation - Output)
The game is a forward-only state machine. Each growth stage has its own "comfort zone" for water and light. The two players must bring both sensor values into the zone at the same time and hold them steady for 3 consecutive readings before the tree levels up. Arduino IDE sends the input value of the sensors to P5 through serial communication, the P5 program then checks whether the values are in the comfrot zone designated for each growth stage. The tree will progress into the next stage only when the conditions get checked. The later growth stage will not get checked until the previous ones are.

Stage	INPUT (players do)	COMPUTATION (p5.js checks)	OUTPUT (screen shows)
🌱 Sprout	Tilt the sprayer, turn knob low	Watering active + water in 60–100 (very little — seedlings drown easily)	Trunk begins to grow; soil darkens
🪵 Trunk	Spray + shine light softly, hold steady	Water in 680–700 (narrow!) + light in 80–120, ×2 consecutive readings	Trunk and branches appear; streak counter fills
🍃 Leaves	Turn water to max + bright light, hold	Water in 1000–1023 + light in 200–400, ×2	Canopy of leaves bursts out
🌸 Bloom	Pull back — gentle water, medium light	Water in 300–350 + light in 300–500, ×2	Flowers bloom; completion moment
At Any stage	Values drift out of zone	Streak resets to 0	Gauges turn pink; tree waits

The thresholds for each stage are mapped to real-life gardening: how much light and water a plant actually needs at each point in its growth. Eg very little water as a seedling, a lot of water and light while growing trunk, and a gentle hand to bloom.

My Arduino codes

Link to My P5 Codes

People Interactincg with Tree, Grown Together at ITP 2025 Winter Show