Swim and Color is a practice about taking play seriously. It started as a newsletter — part essay, part field notes — on why the things we make for fun carry so much of what we actually mean. It has since become the name for everything under it: the writing, the projects, the workshops, the small experiments that don’t fit anywhere else.
Made by Michelle Senteio, a creative technologist who spent eight years turning cutting-edge visual technology into things people want to play with, and taught at NYU Tisch’s Game Center.
The Newsletter
Essays and field notes on play, sent when there’s something worth saying.
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how to let loose and be you, PT 1
Jul 10
answering a reader question: “how to play in daily life”
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donkey kong country, mother’s day, god-making RPG, and water playgrounds
Jun 19
documenting little acts of world building in May
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make a “power up” list for sad days
Jun 9
inventory of healing
Projects
Games, tools, and objects made under the Swim and Color name.
No. 01 · Printable game
Character Select
A three-day game for loosening a belief that’s been running you. Pick the belief, build a character who wouldn’t hold it, give them three cans, three cannots, and one must — then play as them and find out what the belief was wrong about.
Fill it in and print a pocket card, or download the blank workbook.
Play it →
Past work — games, XR, and installation — lives on michellesenteio.com.
Workshops & Teaching
Sessions on play, game design, and making things that invite people in.
Not currently scheduled. If you’d like to bring one to your team, class, or space, get in touch.