Technology gives us too much to think about; here is a language that speaks to us anyway.
Up until digital technology created a world made of virtuality, existence was taken for granted. Yet, we still pay little attention to the physical language that feeds us a wealth of understanding. This is a language hidden in plain sight because it's almost entirely unconscious — we simply don't think about it. However, an subconscious language is valuable and powerful in an age of information overload.
1. PHYSICALITY
is a language
The most powerful communications
tool is what you don’t think about!
2. Intro
Perhaps it’s not surprising that an unintended
consequence of the digital revolution is to make people
more receptive to intuitive, unconscious signals — more
information makes us think less.!
Yet, an increasing exposure to technology is forcing a
new value on an old language — the innate human ability
to read meaning from the tactile qualities of
everything around us. As attention becomes increasingly
precious, here is a powerful way to talk to people who
don’t have time to think.!
3. Everything about an
object speaks to us
Size
Shape
Material
Format
Texture
Substance
Weight Construction
4. The language is
hard-wired
The ability to read objects is
hard-wired into every human
brain. Millions of years of
human evolution have honed
intelligence-processes that are
finely tuned to make sense of
the physical world (not the
digital one).!
5. Objects are
like us
Humans and objects are both
self-contained separate
entities. This seemingly obvious
and unimportant characteristic
defines how we see the world and
our relationship to it and gives
us an immediate affinity to
physical things.!
6. We see the
world as things
We conceptualise everything into
self-contained separate entities — we
place boundaries around abstract
ideas and concepts to understand them
— think about how often you use the
word things to describe separations
in your mind.!
7. We learn it
as infants
The first concept a human
infant learns is that the
world around him — and
including him — is made of
separate entities, which he
does by sticking objects in
his mouth (because it’s most
sensitive). As he does, he is
learning the basics of the
physical language. All humans
learn about physicality before
they learn to speak and think. !
8. Wabi-Sabi
Japanese cultural concept
of Wabi-Sabi sees human
frailty reflected in
objects — how they wear
with age and ultimately
deteriorate is a dignified
reminder that we’re all
mortal.!
9. Objects are
emotive
Tactile sensations are closely
associated with emotions — how it
feels is how it feels. !
Our relationship with objects is
intimate. We project our feelings
onto the things we own as a way of
learning about our own emotions
and ourselves. Objects root us to
the world we live in — we call our
possessions our belongings.!
10. Feelings really
are physical
Science is beginning to uncover the
physiological connections between
emotion and physicality. !
“Feelings are what arise as the
brain interprets emotions, which are
themselves purely physical signals
of the body reacting to external
stimuli”!
Antonio R. Damasio, University of Iowa!
11. A sophisticated
language
Scarcity
Transaction,
loss and
acquisition
Origin and
provenance
Culture
Intimacy
Emotion
Time and history Ownership
12. Everybody is
fluent
The ability to interpret complex
meaning from physical signals isn’t
restricted to age, race,
background, culture or gender. All
human beings share a common
evolutionary ancestry and an
infantile introduction to objects
is one of the very few universal
human experiences.!
13. We read without
thinking
Physical linguistics are
processed unconsciously —
speaking directly to our
intuitive and emotional minds
without cognitive intervention. !
14. A hotline to
humanity
Physicality transmits
signals that speak directly
to the unconscious processes
that drive people’s lives
and what makes us human.!
15. Direct emotional
communication
Because tactile and emotional
sensations are conflated, the
most effective way to articulate
emotional meaning is via physical
characteristics — in packaging,
printed materials, artifacts and
environments.!
17. Why now
The explosion of words and pictures
is reducing their currency — too
much to read and think about. !
Faced with endless information and
choices, the natural human response
to call upon faster, intuitive
processes to give more immediate
assessments that connect to our
emotions.!
The digital age needs a language we
don’t think about — turns out we
have one.!
20. ARTOMATIC helps companies talk to people through
the human language of objects and physicality.!
We create, develop and manufacture physical
communications (books, packaging and artifacts)
that make deep, emotional and lasting connections
with their audiences and customers.!
We make objects tell stories.!
21. Communications
made for humans
32-38 Saffron Hill
Ground floor
London
EC1N 8FH
Tim Milne
020 7421 9369 / 07831 219335
tim@artomatic.co.uk
@timARTOMATIC
www.artomatic.co.uk