Toluwani Popoola
She/her
An industrial designer focused on creating intuitive, emotionally resonant experiences. With a user-centered approach and emphasis on empathetic research, balancing function with meaning.
She/her
Airplane ear, also known as ear barotrauma, occurs when there’s a pressure imbalance between the air inside the middle ear and the external environment, most commonly during take-off and landing.
This imbalance can cause discomfort, pain, muffled hearing, or long term effects such as hearing loss and ruptured eardrums.
Lissn’s Alto-Sense are pressure-sensing and monitoring earphones designed to help air travellers prevent and manage the symptoms of airplane ear before the effects compound into damaging long-term issues.
Created for frequent flyers, Alto-Sense empowers travellers to take control of their ear health, blending wearable technology with accessible, evidence-based support, and a community platform, making flights more comfortable, safer, and less stressful.
Each earbud is fitted with a baromatric pressure sensor and microphone, allowing the system to detect pressure imbalances between the outer ear canal and ambient cabin pressure.
When a risk of discomfort is detected, such as a broken ear-tip seal or rapid pressure change, the screen on the charging case and companion app provide real-time alerts, feedback and guides the user through medically approved and personalised equalisation techniques (like Valsalva or Toynbee manoeuvres).
The companion app logs pressure data, offers personalised feedback, and builds user confidence through visual summaries and expert tips.
The earbuds also feature an adjustable silicone hook for a secure fit and an ear-bud fit-test function to ensure effective sealing.
Lissn’s Alto-Sense user interface is designed to provide calm, medically credible guidance while remaining intuitive and unobtrusive during air travel.
The system consists of a minimal onboard screen on the earbud case and a companion mobile app, both visually aligned with the brand’s soft, reassuring aesthetic.
The overall UX prioritises clarity, confidence, and minimal cognitive load, ensuring users can engage with the product quickly, even in stressful or distracting travel contexts. The system is supportive without being technical, giving users autonomy over their in-flight health in an elegant, human-centred way.
The art direction embraces soft, clinical colour palettes (cool blues, greys, and white), clean, modern sans-serif typography, and high-contrast legibility, evoking both medical reliability and lifestyle elegance.
Slogans like “Take control of your journey” reinforce the brand’s dual focus on audio quality and health empowerment.
Designed for Pattern’s mission to celebrate and support textured hair, this compact trio pack offers a travel-ready solution for curly, coily, and tight-textured hair care.
The trio pack includes shampoo, conditioner, and leave-in moisturiser – essentials for maintaining hydration, definition, and health while on the go.
This project went on to win Highly Commended at Starpack Students 2024
Inspired by the delicate beauty of firefly-lit nights and the urgency of protecting their fading habitats, it responds to the Live Projects brief challenging designers to reduce the impact of artificial lighting on wildlife.
Hikari-Glow is a solar-powered, motion-activated lighting solution designed for firefly tourism parks in East Asia. Emitting a soft red glow, it guides visitors safely along paths while preserving the natural rhythms of nocturnal ecosystems.