Future Interfaces Research Jam: Comics as Research Interfaces

What might the future of research interfaces look like if surveys, interviews and AI-mediated interactions were designed not only as forms and chat boxes, but as visual, sequential and participatory experiences?

Future Interfaces Research Jam is a three-day online research event by Comic Survey Lab, taking place as part of Berlin Science Week 2026. The event explores how comics and sequential storytelling can be used as research and interaction methodologies across Human-AI Interaction, participatory design, survey research, UX, visual communication and design research.

Across three evening sessions, participants will join short provocations, live-streamed discussions, collaborative ideation and reflective exchange. Together, we will explore questions such as: How can comics make research tools more understandable? Can visual narratives support trust, reflection and participation in AI systems? What new methods might emerge when design research, HCI and comics meet?

The Research Jam is open to researchers, students, designers, AI practitioners, UX professionals, artists, comics scholars and independent researchers. No drawing experience is required. The focus is on thinking, discussing, prototyping ideas and imagining future research directions.

The event will be streamed live on YouTube. Registered participants will receive further details by email, including the livestream link, participation instructions, session sequence and, where relevant, their place in the presentation or discussion queue.

Selected discussion themes, ideas and collaborative outputs may be compiled into open proceedings and archived on Zenodo. Participants will be asked during registration whether they consent to being listed or included as contributors in the proceedings.