PARSONS SCHOOL OF
DESIGN PRESENTS:

Immersense

Fatima Ashraf

Creative Technologist & Experience Designer
Fatima Ashraf is a creative technologist and experience designer whose work lives at the intersection of embodied interaction, sensory design, and data-driven insight. With a commitment to reimagining how we connect with ourselves, with others, and with our environments, her installations transform ordinary spaces into immersive worlds that invite presence, introspection, and human connection.Informed by affective computing, somatic design, and multisensory storytelling, Fatima’s practice explores the human sensory apparatus as both interface and language. Her work has been internationally recognized, including the selection of her installation Feedback at the Madrid Design Festival. Beyond the experiential realm, Fatima brings clarity to complex systems through data analysis and visualization, translating raw data into poetic structures of meaning. As founder of Cou-wed, she collaborates with early-stage startups, combining deep analytical insight with a refined, human-centered design approach. Her vision is to reframe technology as a medium for emotional resonance, social impact, and systems that not only perform, but resonate.
Thesis Faculty
Kurt BiegNamreta Kumar
Immersense

‘Everything begins within’

Immersence is a virtual reality experience that investigates how internal coherence, emotional presence, and embodied awareness can drive interaction and connection within immersive environments. Through gesture-based input and real-time audiovisual responsiveness, the project transforms subtle bodily movements into dynamic changes in sound and visuals to evoke states of introspection, regulation, and relational readiness. By centering internal state as the mechanism of interaction, Immersence challenges dominant paradigms of XR focused on realism and performance, proposing instead that meaningful digital connection begins with attunement to the self.

At the core of Immersence is the belief that meaningful connection begins with self-attunement. The experience is divided into four distinct scenes, each representing a sensory metaphor transformation, momentum, magnetism, and expansion. Each gesture triggers sonic and visual shifts, offering a layered interaction that draws from research in affective neuroscience, somatic design, and coherence.

Interaction

Gestures like pinching and motion tracking are used to influence the environment in real time. With MetaSound integration and Niagara particles, each scene becomes an extension of the user’s emotional and physical rhythm. Sound and visuals evolve based on subtle movements, offering a sensory feedback loop that heightens presence.