Nikunj Bafna

Interaction Designer • Multidisciplinary Artist

Nikunj (he/him) is a product designer from Mumbai, India. Enthusiastic about making use of the latest tools and trends, he crafts digital experiences that play meaningful roles in people's lives. His work ranges from building strategic solutions for products; to visualizing intuitive + functional pathways; and developing engaging user interactions that focus on aesthetics and enhance usability. His work at DT primarily focuses on exploring different facets of the human condition. "Shaping what's next" serves as his guiding mantra, embodying his forward-thinking approach and dedication to innovation.

Thesis Faculty

Jesse HardingFran HoepfnerChao Hui TuEthan Silverman

Cognite: Dream, Document, Discover

Dreams have captivated the human imagination throughout history, leading to various interpretations across different cultures and ages. There is a universal inclination towards sharing and discussing dreams; a collective desire to extract something from these short-lived experiences, perhaps to better understand oneself, or explore connections with others. With my thesis, I aim to harness this tendency to share, enabling individuals to find meaning, relate to shared experiences, and perhaps unveil new dimensions of our human continuance.

Cognite is a digital space that explores the world of dreams, promoting self-awareness and fostering a sense of community through shared dream experiences. By enabling users to document and materialize their dreams, Cognite transforms these fleeting experiences into keepsakes for sharing. These keepsakes serve not only as personal mementos but also as a gateway to shared interpretation in a global repository. It is a step towards quantifying the abstract, making them accessible and meaningful in the waking world.

“A dream is, therefore, among other things a projection: an externalization of an internal process.” – Freud

Like taking notes in your favorite note-taking app, this platform is a way for users to revisit every time they have a dream to catalog. It takes place in 3 stages:

The Input: Individuals can use this platform to input their experiences, through textual descriptions on cue, which would generate a keepsake. Not unlike going on a holiday and keeping a souvenir.

The Documentation: After feeding in their experience, it would allow users to track their dreams over time, potentially identify recurring themes, and explore the meaning of their dreams. They may be exported – and may also be submitted to a global repository of dreams, a dream database.

The Collective: This space would be a way to share dreams with others and learn from each other’s experiences. The overarching objective is to gain a more comprehensive understanding of people’s diverse experiences.