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2026 Galleries // 2026 Spark: Spring Student // On-Yeon Mat

On-Yeon Mat

Winner - Bronze

Competition: Spark: Spring Student
Designer: Soobeen Lee
Design Type:
Company / Organization / School: SungshinWomen'sUniversity
Team Members: Soobeen Lee, Yerim Kwon, Hyomin Kim, Chaeyeon Wang, Seungwoo Jo & Chaemin Lee

On-YeonMat is a smart mat-based product service system that helps families and loved ones living apart stay emotionally connected. The name “On-Yeon” combines the Chinese Characters “溫(On)”, meaning warmth, and “連(Yeon)”, meaning connection. It reflects the idea of warmly connecting people’s everyday lives, even when they are physically apart.
Today, many families and close relationships are physically separated, but care and concern for one another still remain in everyday life. However, phone calls and messages require people to set aside time and actively start a conversation. In a busy routine, even checking in on a family member can feel like an obligation or an emotional burden. At the same time, people may want to know that their loved ones are safe and well, but continuous sharing of detailed information, such as location or specific daily activities, can feel like surveillance. Therefore, relationships such as parents and children, family members living alone, couples living apart during the week, and long-distance partners need a quieter and more natural way to stay connected—one that is neither disconnection nor monitoring but offers reassurance while respecting each person’s independence.
On-Yeon Mat was designed from this problem. The product senses everyday actions, such as sitting at a table, placing tableware on the mat, or starting a meal. Signals detected through pressure and temperature sensors are sent to a connected person’s mat. On the other side, the mat expresses these signals through soft light, warmth, and lingering visual traces. Without making direct contact, users can feel a small sign of presence, such as “They are having a meal now” or “They are doing okay today.”
The core idea of On-Yeon Mat is not to show information directly, but to interpret it through the senses. A user’s mealtime, presence, and simple interactions are saved as data, but they are not shown to the connected person as numbers or notifications. Instead, they are delivered as a gentle flow of light and subtle traces. This allows users to feel connected without feeling watched, while the connected person can feel reassured without the burden of checking directly.
The service works together with a dedicated app. In the app, users can set who they want to connect with and adjust the range of sharing and notification settings. For example, when a user is connected to several people, such as a parent, child, or spouse, they can choose the person they want to send a note or emotional signal to depending on the situation. This allows users to naturally share a short and warm message without having to explain everything in words.
On-Yeon Mat also places great importance on privacy. It does not use cameras or voice recording. Instead, it uses non-intrusive sensors such as pressure and temperature. This design choice allows the service to share only the necessary emotional signs of presence without looking too deeply into the user’s daily life. Users can control what they want to share, and connections can be changed or stopped at any time.
Shared moments are also collected in the app as a “digital garden.” Small records, such as meals, notes, and emotional signals, remain as a history of the relationship. Over time, users can calmly look back on how their connection has continued. This is not just a record-keeping function, but an experience that visually builds up the warmth of a relationship.
On-Yeon Mat aims to change care and daily check-ins into a quieter and softer experience. It helps people feel each other’s presence without direct contact, feel reassured without constant checking, and share their feelings without pressure. Rather than placing technology at the center, On-Yeon Mat quietly blends into everyday life. Its goal is to reduce the emotional distance between families and loved ones and make distant relationships feel gently closer.