How to contribute to body awareness through physical interaction by design
A.M. Vosmaer · 2012
This project starts with an analysis. Here, the design field will be explored by means of a literature study, user studies and a self-reflection study. The analysis aims to obtain a better insight in the subject. This is necessary in order to find out where the potential leads lie for design. Apart from that a good understanding of the subject is required, so a proper assessment can be made whether physical interaction (ph.i.) is an appropriate means to stimulate mindfulness (mf) and whether design can provide a contribition there. Subsequently I shall look how ph.i. and design can play a role in the stimulation of mindfulness. Based on the three types of study (literature study, user study and self-reflection study) a number of interesting leads for design have been identified, such as ‘finding your own path’, ‘train the body/mind shift’, ‘connection’, ‘grounding’, and ‘inner guidance’. Based on that framework I shall present a design goal and a vision, that will function as the starting point for the design. The goal of the design is to contribute to the self-awareness process by designing a product that stimulates advanced feelers to follow their own path in life. My vision is that this could be accomplished by increasing their sensitivity regarding their body. The product should aim at making the users more aware of their own bodies and to make them more sensitive to what is taking place within their bodies. By becoming more sensitive you come closer to your own feeling and you learn to feel what you want and what is good for you. You understand your body and your inner voice better and better. That way your life receives more direction from your own feelings instead of following a rational path. The product should aim to teach the user to take over the function of the product itself. The function of the product is to guide you to your inner world and to stimulate body awareness, resulting in awareness of your inner voice that can lead you on your own path. In the design explorations a description is presented of various methods that are used as an explorative ideation; whatsapp brainstorming, brainstorming concerning feet, ideation by means of personas and scenarios. Here a number of design paths are followed in parallel, in order to investigate what the design could contain for the various leads that appeared from the analysis, to contribute to the creation of the design goal and sharpening up the vision. These paths are about grounding, connection, your own path, your feet, respiration and balance. The explorations lead to a focus on a product that works, combined with respiration to come to the final concept. That development is described in the chapter on conceptualisation. An in-depth understanding of the experience process is obtained by designing with the use of scenarios. Three scenarios are presented. They contributed to the defining of the various interaction phases in user actions and product functions: sensing, approaching, communicating respiration, withdrawing, guiding the respiration and withdrawing altogether. These are illustrated in the concept idea storyboard, where the interactions are further defined. In the interaction character design, the various elements are explained that describe the character and the behaviour of the product-user interactions. This shows the way in which the product performs something. This will be done per interaction phase, also for a number of other interaction components that are of interest for the character design, like the development of the relationship over time of the product and the user. These interaction elements are described with the use of metaphors. From those a number of interaction qualities are derived: empathic, gentle, free, smooth, supportive and unobtrusive. These are used to translate the design concept to a more tangible level into tactual design elements. In the tactual design elements the physical interactions will be translated to tactility suggestions for design, whereby I aimed at translating the intended tactile experience and the interaction qualities to tactual properties and bodily sensations. This was done by means of an iterative design process, with the use of small evaluation experiments. These serve for direct evaluation of potential design options and provide suggestions how the intended interaction could be designed. The suggestions serve as explanations and inspiration for the designer who will continue with the design brief. This helps her/him to translate the design brief into a more clearly-defined product design. The final proposal acts as a design brief, where a definition of the concept is presented, followed by an overview of the features, character design and suggestions for the expression of the tactual experience. The storyboard concludes this chapter, illustrating the usage of the product in daily life. The reports is rounded off with an explanation how the findings are expressed in the design.