Team: Alex Newson/ Max Hain/ Catherine Achieng / Zhaolu Song
Brief: Design an experience that manipulates human senses.
Time: 22.10.2020 – 29.10.2020
Brainstorming
After our journey at Watling Street, each of us came up with a few ideas that how we could replicate the senses we experienced in the studio, for instance, a relay race with eye covering, feeling the vibration of strings attached on the chair, keeping balance after spinning, finding the right way by coffee smell, etc.
My Idea
Based on our journey, I realized every sense is essential in human life, and with one sense blocked humans will magnify other senses automatically. So, my initial idea is that designing an interactive sensory game to awaken people’s awareness about the importance of human senses in our daily life.
The rule of the game is that players spin ten circles and try to walk in a planned straight line with eyes closed. We will put different textures on the straight road from soft to hard, which would help players to use proprioceptive sense to find a way.
Balance game idea. Image by me.
Design a game
After our brainstorming, we all agreed to design a spinning game. In this game, players need to spin ten circles with eyes closed and then walk on various textures by following a string. We prepared different textures in advance, for instance, bubble wrap, tinfoil, leaves, cardboard, and yoga mattress.
Making Process
Some materials. Photo by me.
Making process. Photo by me.
Gameday
On our presentation, we invited several volunteers to join in the game. The process went very successfully, and players said they were quite enjoyed. However, when we asked how they felt when walking with eyes closed, what they said was totally different from what I thought. Many of them thought it was interesting but also very scary when walking on the unknown things.
Game. Photo by John.
Game. Photo by John.
“It’s scary because it was hard to know what would happen for the next step, and the sound of bubble warp really freaked me.”- Maria Carolina
“The whole process was quite interesting. I was guessing what these textures are but I don’t know until I opened my eyes.” - Maria Shuttleworth
What I’ve learned
As designers, we can design things or rules the way we expected but sometimes the outcome could be different because everyone lives in different contexts, and people’s feelings could be very individual.
“Don’t try to guide participants if you want to get something from them.” - John
This project reminds me of the urban design process. What urban designers are doing is not designing a specific city or the public space but just a way to make the city more organic, organized, and efficient by the city itself. They leave more flexible possibilities for the future and the design will be finished by time.
So, just keep curious, wait for their response, and let the magic happen!
References
Bradford, A. (2017) The Five (and More) Senses. Available at: https://www.livescience.com/60752-human-senses.html (Accessed: 22 October 2020).
Lupton, E. and Lipps, A. (2018) WHY SENSORY DESIGN? Available at: https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2018/04/03/why-sensory-design/ (Accessed: 27 October 2020).
Santos-Longhurst, A. (2019) What Is Proprioception, and Why Is It so Important? Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health/body/proprioception (Accessed: 26 October 2020).
Shelly, K. (2016) Mindsets, Tools and Terminology of Experience Design. Available at: https://medium.com/digital-experience-design/mindsets-tools-and-terminology-of-experience-design-7c25befd439e (Accessed: 27 October 2020).
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