HACKLES: Simulating and Visually Representing the Anxiety of Walking Alone
Sydney Pratte, Anthony Tang, Shannon Hoover, Lora Oehlberg · 2024
In this work, we compare the designs of two fashion-tech garments that communicate the anxiety felt when walking alone. While the two garments share a common vision, they are designed to be worn in two radically different settings and to communicate to different audiences: one directly communicates an empathetic experience to its wearer; the other a model wears at a runway show and must share its story to a general audience. We used Research Through Design (RtD) methods to design both fashion-tech garments. Then, we recorded and analyzed the design process for both garments via an annotated portfolio to compare how the audience and setting influenced the design approach and the final wearable. In this paper, we describe both fashion-tech designs and a comparison of their respective annotated portfolios. Our analysis highlights how wearable technology must respond to context to continue communicating its story to its intended audience.