PhD applicant for 2027 · Human–AI Interaction
Shirui Fu
Interaction designer and researcher working across visual storytelling and relationship-oriented games.
I have long been interested in how visual and narrative media shape emotional experience. My practice began with drawing and storytelling, then expanded into interactive games and conversational AI. My research explores how interactive characters can make people feel recognised, and when that recognition becomes uncomfortable.
01 / Background
Education
MA Illustration, Distinction
Kingston University · 2024–2025
Creative Practice Foundation, Distinction
Kingston University · 2023–2024
BA Visual Communication · Dual degree
Birmingham City University · First Class
Wuhan Textile University · Outstanding Graduate
2019–2023
Experience
Creative Planner
Narrative staging and AI-assisted production for games
System Design Intern · Alibaba
Relationship-oriented game systems and personalised character interaction
Independent Prototype Research
CARROT DUCK and embodied companion systems
Selected recognition
Academic Impact Award nominee
Kingston School of Art · 2024
National Second Prize
Milan Design Week China · 2022
Downing Enterprise Award
Cambridge · 2021
02 / Research interests
When does an AI response feel meant for this particular person?
I use Perceived Personal Recognition (PPR) as a working term for feeling that an agent's response reflects a shared history, rather than a retrieved personal detail. I want to understand when this feels attentive—and when it becomes presumptuous.
My game-design practice informs two companion prototypes: one on screen and one embodied in a robot. I plan to use interviews and controlled comparisons to examine how remembered context and its expression shape that experience.
- Focus
- Personal recognition and relational boundaries
- Planned methods
- Interviews and controlled comparisons
- Contexts
- Games and AI companions
03 / Selected projects
Projects across games, AI companion systems, and embodied robotics.
Working prototype · Relational AI
CARROT DUCK
A screen-based companion built to examine why remembered information can feel attentive in one moment and merely retrieved in another.
Repeated interaction · controlled comparison · interviewsView project →
Working prototype · Human–robot interaction
CARROT GOOSE
Carrot Goose explores how a conversational companion can address a user through physical expression on the TonyPi platform.
Interaction design · physical prototypingView project →MA thesis · Completed 2025
MOUNTAINS
A serious visual novel and documentary developed from contextual research, field inquiry, and hand-drawn interaction design.
Field inquiry · narrative research · Research through DesignView project →04 / Professional practice
Selected Professional Work
AI-assisted media production · Collaborative workflow
Auralis
A media workspace that keeps generated outputs connected to their references and revision history.
View project →
Stranger Things collaboration · Third-anniversary campaign
Top Heroes — Promotional Video Production
Creative planning, scriptwriting, and storyboarding for collaboration and third-anniversary promotional videos.
View project →
Systems Design
代號鳶 · Code: Yuan Project
Qixi event gameplay followed through production, and an interactive prop system designed around different characters.
View project →
Project STAR · Otome game
Character Performance Design
Performance specifications and an edited demonstration translating a supplied script into requirements for the art and programming teams.
View project →05 / Independent projects
Personal Practice
JX3 · Performance and filmmaking
Machinima Production
Character performances and films created with an Unreal Engine-based production tool.
View project →
Dynasty Warriors-inspired · Design proposal
Combat & Level Design
A combat systems and level design proposal connecting enemy behaviour to mission progression.
View project →
Personal practice · Material storytelling
Illustration
Selected picture books and illustration projects exploring climate, childhood, identity, and tactile forms of storytelling.
View project →