UX of Human Senses
Brief: Conceive, make and wear a design that reimagines a place through the senses.
Group: Anushka, Dylan, Jin, Rachel
Research Methods: Sensory observation
Week 1
Embankment Station
Inspired by our location at the entrance hall of Embankment Station, our group’s initial project focused on the human sense of proprioception. This term, coined by Charles Sherrington, is made up of the words “ceptus” (the act of receiving), and “propius” (one’s own). It refers to the sensation of awareness of the body's position in space, irregardless of vision (Ashton-Miller et al., 2001).
When inspecting our surroundings, we took notice of two different users interacting with the space. The first group were those who seemed well-versed in their commute, assumably local Londoners. Their movement was quick and intentional, as they appear familiar with this station and confident with their ability to navigate it. The second group were tourists and other visitors who weren’t as acquainted with the place. They moved cautiously, observing their surroundings and checking their phones for information. They often carried luggage (see below) and blocked others’ way due to their slower pace.
Another insight we observed was the change in speed with which passengers entered the station compared to exiting. As it was raining that day, people rushed into the roofed entrance. In contrast, people were slowing down before leaving the station and sometimes halted entirely, perhaps waiting for the rain to stop or to fetch their umbrellas, blocking one another’s way as they did.
As we were standing still as a group and discussing, we began to realise how obstructive we were being. This was due to the area being designed for traffic flow, a flow we were interrupting by coalescing, even though we stood to the side and attempted to make ourselves as small as possible to get out of people’s way.
This observation led us to design an item that would highlight how inappropriate we felt taking up space in that location.
We also wanted to incorporate visual elements from the station, like the hostile architecture motifs we saw and the general mixture of serviceability and perfunctoriness we felt was built into the location.
↑ Passengers walking into of the station.
↑ Passengers carrying luggage in the station.
↑ Anti-pigeon devices laid out around the station.
Taking inspiration from the day’s rainy weather, we decided to develop a design centering around a puffer jacket that would inflate as it senses someone passing nearby. It reminded us of animals such as pufferfish and porcupines who’s defence mechanism is to “puff up” when they sense possible danger.
On the one hand, it provides the wearer with protection against a stranger possibly invading their personal space. On the other hand, its inflation makes the wearer take up even more space, thus obstructing the path even more and increasing one’s sense of discomfort.
↑ sketching out ideas based on animals and armours (Sketches made by: Jin, Rachel, Stav).
↑ We took inspiration from Japanese Origami to create sharp edges using paper.
Result:
↑ Jacket “in action”
↑ Jacket “inflated”
↑ Jacket “deflated”
Week 2
The Reflection Garden
Discovering our allocated location was an experience in itself - There was no signage to suggest where we were. Some of us even went to St. Paul’s Cathedral by mistake. Once we arrived at the right place, we conducted a sensory observation research: writing down what we notice sense by sense - sight, smell, sound, taste and touch. When we compared notes, it revealed a common experience:
While the space looked serene, we were taken aback by the loud sounds of central London, where the garden is located.
We were under the assumption that the garden was a place for personal reflection, which made us wonder how that would be possible in such a loud space.
We decided to base our design on the contradiction between the sound and the sight we experienced.
↑ Gaps in the greenery provide a reminder that we’re in a city centre.
↑ Benches spread around the garden, professionals working nearby were eating lunch at the time.
* This clip contains audio
↑ Hostile architecture hints that this isn’t a place we’re supposed to stay at for long.
↑ Video of the sounds in the garden (click to play)
Inspired by our visit, we landed on an idea for a pleated skirt. The outside pleats showcases nature while the inside represents the sounds of the city. We prototyped with paper and cardboard and iterated the width of the pleats to allow more movement, as we wanted to incorporate industrial materials that will create a boisterous sound as the wearer walks while wearing the skirt.
Speaking to our tutor Tonicha, she advised us to expand the design beyond just the skirt. Moreover, we began to worry that our design was too representational rather than interpretive, as the brief asks to “reimagine” a place, whereas we were using rather similar visual elements.
↑ Group brainstorming and exploratory ideation.
↑ The pleats were too wide and created a rigid structure, so we made them narrower in the next iteration.
↑ Testing the movement and sound of the skirt (click to play).
↑ The skirt’s final form.
↑ Constructing the skirt from fabric, artificial plants mirrors and beads.
We brainstormed again. Dylan expressed his feeling of confusion and claustrophobia, feeling overwhelmed by the tall city buildings surrounding the garden.
We came up with a second design: a spiral, to represent confusion, made of foil, to represent the urban settings as well as the ripple of water. The item also constricts the wearer’s movement, emphasising the suffocating feeling Dylan experienced.
↑ Sketching out the new idea, focusing on the spiral as a reimagined shape for confusion, wrapping the wearer. Altogether the item resembles a tree.
↑ We contemplated adding the spiral as vines around the limbs alongside the skirt, which eventually led to the decision to make a completely new item based around the spiral.
↑ We started out with a spiral made of paper as our initial prototype, but realised we had to reinforce it in order for it to hold its shape around the wearer.
↑ Adding reinforcements to the spiral.
Final Outcome:
Feedback:
Presenting both items to the class (the skirt and the spiral), it was apparent the skirt was a crowd-favourite. We were suggested to have merged both designs rather than scrapping the skirt and starting entirely over.
Reflection:
This brief was a good exercise in cultivating confidence in your design ideas, which we lacked and resulted in the decision to pivot to an entirely new design. I agree we should’ve added on top of the skirt design and expanded upon it rather than casting it aside entirely. We spent the majority of our time working on the skirt, and therefore ended up slightly disappointed with both end results. Additionally, upon further research, we realised our assumption of the location’s purpose was incorrect. Had we conducted preliminary research we would have possibly experienced it differently which would have resulted in different designs.
References:
Ashton-Miller, J.A., Wojtys, E.M., Huston, L.J., and Fry-Welch, D. (2001) ‘Can proprioception really be improved by exercises?’, Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy, 9(3), pp. 128–136. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s001670100208