What it does
Clean-Clang is a tool that redefines the photo-cleaning experience: turning excess photos into personalized music boxmelodies and tangible keepsakes. lt helps users overcome digital hoarding anxiety, reclaim storage space, and build sustainable digital habits
Your inspiration
Nowadays, digital hoarding fuels a growing e-clutter that auietly becomes a modern burden. Many people accumulatethousands of photos on their devices but feel anxious and reluctant to delete them, fearing the loss of memories.Existing cleaning tools focus only on effciency and often evoke a sense of loss, stress, and guilt, reinforcing the cycle olhoarding anxiety. Clean-Clang reimagines this process by transforming deletion into a positive ritual. The idea emergedfrom combining behavioral psychology with the emotional power of music boxes, creating a rewarding experience thatreconnects users with their digital past.
How it works
Clean-Clang changes photo cleaning from stressful task into a meaningful and even joyful interactive ritual through itsmodular kit and algorithmic APP. The system introduces a reward-driven mechanism: every deleted photo becomes a musical note. By analyzing eachimage's HSV: where Hue determines chords (with primary colors matching chords like A, D, G, etc.), Value (brightness) defines tonality (vibrant images generate the cheerful major triads), and Saturation controls complexity (muted photos yield single notes), it crafts unigue 50-note music box melodies that capture the emotional essence of the images. Once the melody is generated, the modular kit prints a perforated music box tape encoding the 50-note composition. When the tape is inserted into the music box module and hand-cranked, it recreates the personalized tune while internal lights glow through the holes like sonic physical footprints. Finally, it turns deletion into a multisensory keepsake.
Design process
The design process began with research into digital hoarding behaviors and Cognitive Behavioral Theories (CBT). After analyzing existing tools and surveying 100 participants, I found users wanted a multisensory, multi-context experience to make cleaning more engaging. Drawing from CBT, I explored how reframing negative emotions with positive reinforcement could reduce avoidance. This insight inspired a concept blending photo deletion with the ritual of music creation. The first prototype combined an iOS app built in Swift and hardware driven by an ESP32 microcontroller. The app analyzed each photo’s HSV color data to generate 50-note melodies, while the hardware printed perforated music box tapes. Early tests with 6 users confirmed feasibility but revealed issues: the device was too bulky, the appearance generic, and the interface unclear. I refined the PCB layout to cut components from 11 to 5 modules and shrink the size. The second prototype introduced a modular design with dedicated printing and music box modules. I redeveloped the app with richer features and improved the experience. Visually, its symbolic balance-scale form reinforces the photo-to-music ritual. Testing with 28 users showed higher satisfaction and confirmed multisensory interaction eased deletion anxiety.
How it is different
Clean-Clang stands apart from conventional photo-cleaning tools by transforming deletion into a joyful, multisensory ritual rather than a purely functional task. Unlike apps that simply sort and erase images, Clean-Clang rewards each deletion by generating a unique music box melody and a tangible keepsake. The combination of HSV-based algorithmic composition, modular hardware with an integrated thermal printer, and a symbolic balance-scale design creates an experience that blends emotional reflection with positive reinforcement. This holistic approach reframes digital cleaning from a source of stress into an interactive, meaningful journey that supports sustainable digital habits.
Future plans
Looking ahead, I plan to leverage the engineering resources and research platforms at my university, an engineering-focused institution, to conduct iterative prototyping in dedicated labs. I aim to launch a small-batch production run to validate the market and gather real-world feedback. My longer-term vision is to build partnerships with digital storage services and wellness platforms, scaling Clean-Clang into a broader ecosystem that helps people manage digital clutter through rewarding, multisensory interactions. Ultimately, I hope it inspires a cultural shift toward healthier, more mindful relationships with our digital memories.
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