NUMA
Co-regulation through closeness.
NUMA began with a broader question: how can design help children navigate their emotions while strengthening their relationship with their parents?
As I explored the problem, I realized it was too broad to approach as a single design challenge. I had to narrow it down to a specific moment where emotions, attachment and everyday routines intersect: nighttime awakenings.
NUMA became a response to those moments when a child wakes up during the night and needs comfort, while a parent also needs a way to respond without completely disrupting their own rest.
- Year
- 2025
- Field
- Industrial Design / Visual Communication
- Role
- Research / Design / Development
NUMA is a modular sensory pillow system designed around nighttime co-regulation.
The system creates a gentle connection between parent and child during nighttime awakenings, offering physical comfort while helping both return to a calmer state.
The design focuses on creating a sense of closeness without requiring the parent to remain fully awake or physically present throughout the entire process.
The final concept combines a supportive adult pillow with a baby module, creating a shared system that responds to the emotional needs of both.
Visual communication was developed alongside the product to translate the concept, experience and final design into a clear visual narrative.
NUMA transformed a broad emotional challenge into a focused design opportunity.
The project allowed me to explore how physical design can participate in moments of emotional connection, while also considering the experience from both sides of the relationship.
More than designing a product, NUMA became an exercise in understanding how design can make an intimate, everyday moment feel a little easier.
