Presentation from the Desform 2012 conference in Wellington. Talks about my PhD research into touch and language.

1. Aesthetics of Touch
DesForM Presentation 2012
Vicky Teinaki, Bruce Montgomery, Nicholas Spencer, Gilbert Cockton
Northumbria University

2. Haptics & Aesthetics

3. Haptics
haptikos: ‘pertaining to the sense of touch’
Carnal? Embodied? Different from touch?
ARISTOTLE Merleau-Ponty Wsychograd
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakescreations/52190954

4. Haptics
active touch
(vs kinaesthesia)
Ranged of the Senses – Mainar and Vodvarka (2004)

5. Haptic Aesthetics in relation to visual aesthetics
Bauhaus, gestalt psychology
(Kepes, 1995)

6. Rudolf Arheim’s (1983) 4. Growth
set of ten criteria of 5. Space
visual perception: 6. Light / Dark
7. Colour
1. Balance 8. Movement
2. Shape 9. Dynamics
3. Form 10. Expression
Haptic Aesthetics in relation to visual aesthetics
Bauhaus, gestalt psychology
(Kepes, 1995)
Design principles as
explained by Virginia Elements
Howlett (1996) • Proportion
• Scale
Design Principles • Contrast
• Harmony • Colour
• Balance • Fonts
• Simplicity • Imagery
• Arrangement
Design Methods • Emphasis
• Refinement • Focus
• Restraint • Hierarchy
• Unity • Layering
• Modularity • Grouping
• Alignment
• White space
• Grids

7. Existing Research:
Languaging Design

8. Languaging Design:
Sketches or Language?
Sketches may contain 90%
of a design discussion, but
conversations cover 100% of it
(LAWSON 2005)

9. Existing Research:
Touch & Language

10. TOUCH & Language:
Methods of understanding
Lederman & Klatsky (1985)
Global dimensions of touch
Akerman et al (2010)

11. TOUCH & Language:
Consumer response centred
e.g. Dagman et al (2010), Hsu, Chang, & Chang (2000)
… or looks to rationalise designers
e.g. Kansei ENGINEERING (see Schüte (2005))
Is this the result on a focus on visual semiotics?
Jacucci & WAGNER, 2007
Image from Hsu, Chang, & Chang (2000)

12. TOuch & Language
Designers need to be able to articulate
touch in relation to wider systems
e.g. GIZMODO on the ‘SWAMP WAter JEll-o’ Brown Zune
(ASHLOCK, 2007)

13. Existing Research:
Apprenticeships

14. APPRENTICESHIPS:
Novices learn by picking up
language of experts
Seely BROWN et AL (1989)
There is a concept nexus
between touch & language
Ackerman et Al (2010)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elgincountyarchives/4306624931

15. Existing Research:
An Aesthetic Language?

16. Existing Research:
Aesthetic Perspectives
and The Role of Qualities

17. Bardzell (2011): Criticism and interaction design
Workplace study
Religious hermeneutics Porfolio Morscioism groups research
Boigraphical criticism (collection of works) Feminism CSCW
Psycholanalytical Reflective practictioner New historicism Contextual inquiry
Designerly style Activity theory
Author Groups Groups
Poet Environment Social Class
Architect Interaction Designer social Class Environment
Composer Usability Engineer race Race
Painter User Experience Designer gender GEnder
Creator (Designer) Social Context (Social Context)
Existing Research:
Interaction Criticism
Bardzell (2011)
Criticism
(Interaction)
Criticism helps inform perception;
spur us on to further action
Artifact (Interface) Consumer (User)
Novel Website GUI Reader End User
Church Videogame Viewer Manager
Script API Resident Consumer
Film Tangible UI Clothes-wearer Employee
Structure Listener
Post-structuralism Usability Literary hermeneutics Ethnomethodology
Semiotics Heuristics Reception theory Surveys, interviews
Narratology Prototyping Reader response Mental models
Formalism pattern language Cognitive walkthrough
New criticism Remediation HCI hermeneutics

18. Existing Research:
Worth Mapping
Cockton (2010)
Qualities relate to experiences
and value
Features
Materials designed Qualities co-produced Experience outcomes
(positive)
worth
outcomes
defects (negative)
evaluation
beneficiaries
means ends

19. Existing Research:
Summary
Touch and language should be
considered together as design
skills that are improved through
critique.

20. interviews
New Designers 2011

21. NEW DESIGNERS
Yearly June/July show of UK
graduate design students
(split across two weeks, one for
fashion, one for graphics/3D).
Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/30871685@N07/6012142057/

22. INTERVIEWS
Ten students across design/making
interviewed with their objects and
audiotaped. (Video not possible.)
Asked about:
• Products and process
• Qualities they liked
• Thoughts on materials, physical form
Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/dizajn/5890562387

23. INTERVIEWS
Products ranged from furniture
to jewellery.

24. interviews
10 students
ID Object(s) Materials noted
N Lampshade Concrete, copper, brass
Tape Dispenser Concrete, copper, brass
L Rings Coloured copper wire, previous materials (stones), silver
A Necklace Sheet aluminium, aculon, vacuum formed plastic
L Chair Ash, walnut (laminated),
Stoneware Stoneware/ silicon rubber
Bowl Pewter
C Jewellery Coper, brass (decayed)
C Rings Acrylic
Y Coffee table Ash (green)
J Chair Wood, pewter
E Bowl Glass
M Stool Glass, metal, wood
Clock Wood, acrylic
Transcribed, phenomenological coding.

25. Interviews
Results
CODES
Intent
Evaluation
References
Qualities

26. Interviews
Results
THEMES
A: Using Materials to
CODES Challenge Expectations
Intent
Evaluation B1: Limited Mention of
References Haptic Qualities
Qualities
B2: What They Did Mention

27. A. USING MATERIALS TO CHALLENGE EXPECTATIONS
“Y (wooden steam bent table): I’ve had a lot of people think that Designers sought
the underneath [the wooden table] is all was really soft and to disrupt audience
flowing, and they’ve had to come along and like, touch it, and expectations
make sure it’s all solid. But yeah, everyone loves it and making (ref Bardzell, 2010)
sure like, feeling all the curves and everything.
A (metal necklace):I’ve actually had someone come from up there
[the top floor of the exhibition] and go, “is it [the metal necklace]
rubber? It looks like rubber.” and lots of people have said, what is
it actually made of? It’s not plastic, but it’s usually the sound it
creates, you can tell it’s metal.
Designer Social Context
K (acrylic jewellery): If people have knowledge already about the
material and the processes, they come in and question more,
where’s the join, or how it is worked? If it’s people who don’t and
have no idea, they come and approach and question: is it glass? Artifact Consumer/User
‌
M (stool with metal strap): It wasn’t really intentional to bring the
strapping through and keep it the same aesthetic, it just sort of
ended up that way, without me realizing … I was er, surprised at
the number of people saying, “I thought it was fabric, how is it
standing up?” which I kinda like really.

28. B1. LIMITED MENTION OF HAPTIC Qualities
Not in high frequency
Haptic Verification
When it does occur, is used for McCullough (1995)
• Haptic verification Paterson (2007)
• Rationalising choice of materials
What did get mentioned frequently
• construction, absences
Features
Materials designed Qualities co-produced Experience outcomes
(positive)
worth
outcomes
defects (negative)
evaluation
beneficiaries
means ends

29. B. LIMITED MENTION OF HAPTIC Qualities
Terms comparing wood to acrylic in a laser-cut clock and related success
Acrylic Wood
Weighty, solid, finished Lighter, more flimsy (outcome:
(outcome: sold better), lego-like not as popular)
Material comparison for selection:
Glass Metal Plastic
“water-like, touchable” harsh, “though beautiful “not a material I enjoy working
polished”, didn’t flow with, it’s all wrong”

30. B2. What they did mention
flow: haptic/visual;
finish: six mentioned being proud of this;
comfort: angles or temperature;
thrown: only example of a term being translated
from one domain (clay) to another (wood).
Other terms that appeared:
tactility;
what it did not have (“no joins”, “no glue”);
‘natural’;

31. interviews
Discussion

32. DISCUSSION
The language around touch and
aesthetics may not be so much tacit
as situated (i.e. it needs to be seen!)

33. DISCUSSION
Limited ability to critique qualities
Comparable to cooking
Fine (2008)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emptyhighway/76726329

34. FUTURE WORK
Investigating the Language
of Designers

35. Future work
Investigating the situated language
of material expert designers.

36. FUTURE WORK
Investigating how the current apprenticeship s
n
rese
a l rep
pati
system of design could be improved ……
….to a
e.g. Sonnneveld (2004), …
el…
Jacucci & WAGNER, (2007) a mod
to
w …..
a sa
s from
ature
ial fe
ater
n of m
slatio es of
tran as trac
ls
t eria
o f ma
ment
ra nge
y ar
p orar s
s tem ssion
eek u
w disc
a
i t ag
ing
d stag
el an
e mod
in g th
.ch ang
…
From Material Moments, Jacucci & Wagner (2007) l
ode
day
s t he m
s of

37. DISCUSSION
Designers should be empowered
to be able to communicate an
aesthetics of touch, through
an improved vocabulary and
supporting practices.

38. References
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