Arianna Copa: Happy Monitor

Happy Monitor is a project that visually translates some of my computer’s parameters, while also allowing direct user interaction.

The underlying idea is to represent the system’s status through simple and immediate visual language. When the computer’s performance is optimal, a smiley face appears within the widget, symbolizing balance and proper functioning. Performance information, displayed as a percentage, is always described at the bottom.

The widget changes appearance and behavior depending on its position on the screen:
When it’s on the left side, the data displayed is:
Battery → represented by the opacity of the elements; greater opacity corresponds to a lower battery level;
CPU Load → indicated by the rotation of the smiley face’s left eye;
RAM Usage → represented by the size of the smiley face’s right eye;
Mouse Position → displayed by the movement of the mouth, which follows the movement of the user’s cursor on the screen.

When the user moves the widget to the right side of the screen, the display inverts, taking on a “negative” appearance. In this mode, the data represented is:
Mouse position → displayed by the movement of the smiley face, which follows the movement of the user’s cursor on the screen;
System uptime → expressed by the rotation of the smiley face;
CPU temperature → visualized by the opacity of the elements; the higher the opacity, the lower the temperature.

Each part of the smiley face thus becomes a visual indicator, transforming computer parameters into an expressive and interactive language.