OpenSourceEmpathy is a studio working across hardware and software — concept development, product design, and experiential installation — grounded in Structured Empathy, a practice for understanding the people we build for.

Work & Experience

Concept Development

This is where ideas get to be ideas before the world has decided what they are yet. Work that earns its existence by asking the question before the industry knew to ask it.

Screenshots of a mobile app interface for customizing a trigger-based sound scene, showing options to select content, set world volume, and choose a location on a map.
Screenshots of a mobile app interface for customizing a trigger-based sound scene, showing options to select content, set world volume, and choose a location on a map.

Patterns
Personalized Audio for your diverse life
Bose

A split-screen showing a digital device tutorial on the left with dark background and instructional text about capturing moments with Bose, and a mobile app interface on the right with a photo of central park and details about a yoga scene, devices, location, and playlist tracks.
A split-screen showing a digital device tutorial on the left with dark background and instructional text about capturing moments with Bose, and a mobile app interface on the right with a photo of central park and details about a yoga scene, devices, location, and playlist tracks.

Alfred
A 4-month co-working project to imagine a fully connected audio product ecosystem
Bose

A man in glasses in a checkered shirt sitting at a desk, writing on a tablet with a stylus. In the background, whiteboards with handwritten notes, diagrams, and sketches of earphones are visible.

Gemini
Gestural & voice UI for wearables
Bose

A black and white comic-style sketch featuring people, with notes about fitness and focus. Included are a woman with short hair working out, another woman with headphones, and some sketches of people using gym equipment with annotations about workout modes and noise cancellation.

Headphones 2.0
Concepts & animatics for future wearables
Bose

A minimalist sketch of a table with a glass, a candle, and a plate, with orange circular lines around the glass, all drawn with black lines on a white background.

Bedside Sleep Product Intervention
Concept video for a product day in the life
Bose

A drawing of a carnival or amusement park scene with a large Ferris wheel in the background, a crowd of smiling people, and a performer in costume. The scene is lively and colorful with a blue sky and clouds.

Disney + Bose AR
A storybook detailing Augmented Reality experiences within Disney parks
Bose / Disney

Product Design

This is where things get real — shipped, used, and lived with by actual humans. If the Concept Development section is about asking "what if," this section is about answering "okay, but how." Hardware, software, and the space between — work shipped for Bose and Shark/Ninja.

Screenshot of the Bose app interface displaying settings for Bose QC Ultra Earbuds, including mode options such as Quiet, Aware, and Immersion, with additional features like Noise Control, ActiveSense, Immersive Audio, EQ, Shortcut, Tips, and energy level indicators for left and right earbuds.
Screenshot of the Bose app interface displaying settings for Bose QC Ultra Earbuds, including mode options such as Quiet, Aware, and Immersion, with additional features like Noise Control, ActiveSense, Immersive Audio, EQ, Shortcut, Tips, and energy level indicators for left and right earbuds.

Modes & ActiveSense
Making adaptive noise cancellation something a person can understand, control, and trust
Bose

Comparison chart of Sonos speaker models showing connection status and design features, with a collage of various music streaming app interfaces.
Comparison chart of Sonos speaker models showing connection status and design features, with a collage of various music streaming app interfaces.

SoundTouch Mobile App
Steering a historically-hardware-focused organization into an investment in user-facing software
Bose

Three black Bose smart speakers with rounded edges on a black background, one with a handle.

Smart Speaker Ecosystem
Lead UX and IxD for an ecosystem VPA-enabled (Amazon and Google) speaker
Bose

A collage of various electronic devices and a close-up of a man yelling or angry, with some music and content interfaces displayed.

Multi-modal Design System Guidelines
A researched and documented framework for designing multi-modal product ecosystems
Bose

A collage of skincare and beauty products with close-up shots of a woman applying cream and a woman with clear skin, along with images of skincare ingredients and product packaging.

Beauty/Tech Product Visual Language
A collaboration with an in-house team to explore visual languages for an innovative Beauty and Tech product
Shark / Ninja

Home Barista UX
Designing and prototyping UX/UI for a new coffee/espresso product
Shark / Ninja

Experiential Installation

Hardware and software converge here too — at the scale of a room rather than something you hold. A projection-mapped sculpture, light that answers to the music in a Cambridge bar, a touring stage built for a live set. Same problem as the product work, running live, with no chance to apologize.

Close-up of a modern, colorful LED light installation with blue and pink zigzag patterns.

Middlesex Light Sculpture
An LED and Vellum sculpture with different animations and patterns for the Middlesex Lounge in Cambridge, MA
Middlesex Lounge

A geodesic dome with reflective panels displayed in a dark room, reflecting various images including a scene with a computer and a person.

The Prometheus Clock
14 foot, projection-mapped sculpture designed to give folks the feeling of what it was like to be inside Prometheus’s head
Skeptic

A DJ performing at a music event with a futuristic, blue-lit stage design featuring glowing geometric shapes and a large, circular screen.

Shpongletron 3.0
Stage design for the artist Shpongle, with projection mapping and LEDs.
Shpongle / Zebbler

Clients & collaborators across 20 years

Two decades across hardware and software. Role and team noted on every project.

Black text reading 'BOSE' in a stylized font on a gray background.
Logo with a stylized building and the word "UNESCO" beneath it.
Black and white graphic with the words "THE CLARK" in bold uppercase letters, stacked with "THE" on top and "CLARK" below.
The text 'Shark' in bold black font on the left, divided by a vertical line from the word 'NINJA' in stylized black font on the right.
Black and white PBS logo with a skull icon and the letters 'PBS'.
Bar graph with multiple vertical bars in burgundy and one in gray, representing different data values.
Black and white New Balance logo with stylized letter B and the words 'new balance' underneath.
The Spotify logo, a green circle with three curved white lines inside, next to the green text 'Spotify' with a registered trademark symbol.
Microsoft logo with a four-colored square and the word 'Microsoft' in gray text.
A white background with the word 'PHILIPS' written in large blue letters at the bottom.
The image features the purple and white logo of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Black Disney logo on a white background.