Design Map · Eindhoven
Data Graphology
Graduation project by Maja Bay at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
Each swipe on a smartphone leaves a trace. In 'Data Graphology', these gestures are translated into data points, drawn and analysed live by two pen plotters on a textile conveyor belt. As users swipe, lines accumulate. At the same time, analyses of the lines are written on top, layering to form a growing record of interaction.
Swipes on a touchscreen translate bodily gesture into line of code. Like handwriting, each swipe is unique, and while unassuming, this data can generate infinite amounts of information. Here, the data is analysed borrowing from graphology, a pseudoscientific method used to infer personality traits from handwriting, creating increasingly complex user profiles.
As online privacy erodes, data is used to predict and shape future behaviour. What is inferred about users influences what they are shown, and ultimately who they might become. Simple traces of gestures and pseudoscientific methodologies become powerful tools of control.