Nomination
leomuehlfeld.at/large-language-writer
How will we write in the future, and why should we design “seamful” interactions? The Large Language Writer (LLW) is an experimental design project that explores honest interactions with Large Language Models (LLMs). While most digital tools obscure their mechanisms behind seamless “works like magic” experiences, the Large Language Writer suggests a different approach. It introduces an alternative workflow—one that places users within the generative process.
Photo: Fritz Enzo Kargl
Photo: Fritz Enzo Kargl
Photo: Fritz Enzo Kargl
Photo: Fritz Enzo Kargl
Photo: Fritz Enzo Kargl
Photo: Fritz Enzo Kargl
Operators can steer the text during its creation, offering a direct and intuitive means of control. Beyond software, the project asks how hardware design for AI-powered technology might evolve. Its modular construction allows it to adapt gracefully to obsolescence, proposing a future where devices evolve alongside their users. The project is deeply rooted in critical design discourse, questioning the current trajectory of generative AI integration and proposing an alternative that is transparent, empowering, and user-centric. Through Large Language Writer, we ask: How will we write in the future? And most importantly, how can we create tools that foster trust and agency in an AI-driven world where everything currently “works like magic?”
Credits
Supervision: University Professor Anab Jain, Design Investigations Studio Team (https://designinvestigations.at/) University of Applied Arts Vienna (https://www.dieangewandte.at/)
Project lead: Leo Mühlfeld
Design: Leo Mühlfeld, Lucy Li
Hardware development: Leo Mühlfeld
PCB design: Elias Mack
Software development: Alan Schiegl
Photography: Fritz Enzo Kargl
Special thanks to Ursula Gschlacht & the Angewandte library team, Max Kure, Florian Sapp, Stefan Schönauer, Viktor Windisch
Biography
Lucy Li (AT) is a designer and researcher working on playful and imaginative interactions with machines. Her works are sociopolitical, multispecies, and intrinsically optimistic. Lucy is a current PhD candidate at MIT Media Lab Tangible Media Group. Leo Mühlfeld (AT) is an industrial designer working in experimental settings, using design to translate research and ideas into engaging, tangible experiences. He sees design as a tool to connect disciplines. Alan Schiegl (AT) is a designer focused on free and open-source tools. He explores the societal impact of emerging technologies and develops thoughtful, experimental projects that engage with the ethics and futures of digital systems.