Studio Session 1: Monday March 25 - Friday April 5

In design, we overwhelmingly privilege our sense of sight and, and for good reason – an MIT study indicates that half of the human brain is devoted directly or indirectly to vision. In his influential work “The Eyes of the Skin”, Juhani Pallasmaa writes

“In Western culture, sight has historically been regarded as the noblest of the senses, and thinking itself thought of in terms of seeing. Already in classical Greek thought, certainty was based on vision and visibility…Plato regarded vision as humanity's greatest gift, and he insisted that ethical universals must be accessible to 'the mind's eye'.”

That said, our other senses connect us emotionally, viscerally, and physically to the world around us.  Our sense of smell, for example, is physiologically centered in the limbic system which regarded by scientists as playing a major role in controlling mood, memory, behavior and emotion. It is often regarded as being the old, or primitive, part of the brain, because these same structures were present within the brains of the very first mammals. This is why a smell can trigger a whole-body memory of some childhood event more powerful that any words or sight. This is known as “odor-evoked autobiographical memory” or the Proust phenomenon, after French writer Marcel Proust. In his famous novel In Search of Lost Time, the narrator dips a madeleine cookie into a cup of tea and is transported back into time as long-forgotten memories of his childhood come flooding back.

This studio encourages students to question how the juxtaposition of multiple sensory exposure defines our experiences and our memories of those experiences and how such sensory information can trigger responses that engage us beyond the rational mind. Through the graphing of sensory impacts on activities, investigating how poetry and art affect us through visceral experience, and exploring examples of synesthetic and multisensory design, students will develop projects that innervate common actions and activities with new meaning. Students will design devices, interactive installations, and products that allow users to experience the world through previously unfelt sensory connections.

Bella:
A pulley system that is stimulated by the tap of a foot, moving a back scratcher up and down a user's back, bringing about a wave of relaxation. Stress, nervousness, fidgeting, anxiety, and worries are apart of peoples' daily lives. Many have trouble finding a seamless method that instantly releases this nervous energy. Many have to go out of their way to relieve stress, like going for a walk or going to the gym. Others simply convert this stress into negative energy. This product appeals to users who tend to tap their feet when nervous. When a user stomps or taps their foot on the pedal, it pulls a mechanism that is attached to a soothing tool, such as a back scratcher. When the pedal is engaged, it pulls the back scratcher down, and lifting weight off the pedal brings the back scratcher up the user's back. The overall goal of this product is to for a user to take their stressful energy and turn it into positive energy. In addition, it physically calms a user's nervous system by giving them an instant massage at their own pace.

Christian:

A stress relieving device that incorporates a pulley system powered by stress energy to initiate the movement of a back scratcher and turning the users stress energy into stress relief. The core mission of the Relaxation Installation is to help the user relax. The treatment of stress and anxiety is very important and always overlooked. For instance, the millions upon millions of students who have stress and anxiety issues over their school work each and every day. They are so overwhelmed by stress and anxiety that it actually gets in the way of them doing their work. The relaxation Installation works by using the users stress energy and turning it into stress relief. The user will tap their foot on a drum kick type pedal that is connected to a pulley system attached to a back scratcher. Once the user begins tapping on the pedal, the back scratcher will begin moving up and down in unison to the tempo of tapping. The pedal is made out of wood and has a spring which creates the bounciness of the pedal. There is a dowel connected to a string that moves back and forth when the pedal is pushed and that is the pulley system. The string is connected to the dowel and the back scratcher creating a makeshift pulley system that works at the same tempo as the pedal. Our targeted audience is high school students because the students are the people that need the most help with managing their stress.

Cooper’s Brief:

The Smell Step is a shoe accessory that creates in others an association between a personalised scent and the wearer. With every step, a spray bottle on the shoe disperses a scent that is meaningful to the user to be smelled by those around the user. When someone who has spent time with the wearer encounters a natural occurrence of the smell, they will think of the wearer and understand why the smell was meaningful. The Smell Step consists of an upside-down spray bottle connected to one shoe with its lever connected to the other shoe by a length of string. When one foot moves forward to take a step, it pulls the lever, spraying scented mist into the air

Tinna's Brief:

The smell step is a shoe accessory that leaves the wearer’s presence, through scent, in a room to form a connection with the wearer and the people they encounter on a daily basis who over time will form a connection between the wearer and the scent. This forms a deeper connection with the wearer and also more vivid memories of the wearer in the minds of the people they’ve encountered. The scent has a personal connection to the wearer, through a memory or an experience they've gone through. The Smell Step transform the connection between the scent and memory for the wearer into a new memory of the wearer for people the wearer encounters on a daily basis.

The device attaches to the user's shoes and legs and is comprised of a spray bottle and string. The string is attached to the spray bottle lever and to one of the user's legs. When the leg moves forward it pulls the string triggering the lever of the spray bottle, causing the scented mist to be dispensed. The spray bottle is filled with water and essential oil which produces the smell. 

Abby Burgess: An art piece in the form of a plant that displays an array of different textures designed to engage a user's tactical and auditory senses. This plant features leaves decorated with different materials ranging from smooth to grainy to crinkly.

All of the leaves on the plant vary in size and material. Materials used to fabricate the leaves include lace, foam, glue, and other forms of fabric.  Connected to each leaf is a contrasting sound to toy with the expectations based on the senses. To interact with this product, one must touch and fiddle with the leaves of the plant. It only works when one touches the leaves. The purpose of this project is to allow people to feel and hear a visual piece of art. 

Gwyn McClear: A plant that is altered as a textile art piece that people can touch, move, and manipulate in whatever way they choose. The plant is altered with glued fabrics, metal, foam, and other materials on the leaves and stems to make a tactile playground for the user.

This project was created to allow people to interact with different textures in a way that they may not have experienced before. In addition, it is also a personalized piece that allows users to explore the plant in whichever way they choose, allowing for a diversity in experiences and understandings of the piece.  The plant leaves feature different textures and patterns, which allow users to have a different and unique experience depending on the leaf.

Aoife Brief: 

The Sunrise Symphony: A musical coffee shelf that enhances the ritual of making a morning cup of coffee by adding a calming, musical sensation to intensify the senses during the coffee brewing process. The shelf has placeholders for coffee beans, a coffee grinder, a french press, a kettle, and a mug. The table represents the ritualization of brewing coffee and adds an element of music, thus uplifting and energizing the morning.  

The Sunrise Symphony is for the average person who enjoys a fresh french press coffee in the morning. This benefits users in the morning by creating a serene environment. The song produced at the end of the coffee-making process can elevate a user’s morning, which in effect, can improve their entire day. The shelf uses coded photo-resistors that act as a switch to play music when light is shown on them. When a user removes an appliance, like a kettle, the first beat will start as the light shines on the vacant kettle resting place. At the very end, users cane joys their hot coffee while listening to the five-layered track song. 

Ollo Brief:

A table which enhances the process of creating a morning coffee by adding a musical aspect to help a user wake up and further intensify the ritual of brewing coffee.

The Coffee Music Table acts as another dose of something to wake someone up,  specifically targeted to stimulate a user's auditory system early in the morning. Underneath the table, there are photoresistors acting as motion sensors which play music when an object is removed.  As users move through each step of making french pressed coffee, a new layer of music is added, creating an entire song loop by the end. The jazz is the genre of music featured in the machine. This product contains sensors that activate when an object is removed from the table, triggering an mp3 shield to play the corresponding layer of music. While many products on the market bridge the gap between music and coffee by adding a melody to a coffee machine, the Coffee Music Table brings music into the ritual of the coffee making and consumption process.  The product is designed for those who do not like mornings, avid coffee drinkers, and/or music listeners.

Brenna's Brief:

Sleep Sense: a pillow created to influence a user's sleep patterns by releasing calming and nostalgic scents throughout the night. The pillow reacts to a user's sleep movements: the more movement, the more the pillowcase releases its soothing scent.

Sleep Sense was made to help those with issues with sleeping. Whether it be nightmares or insomnia, Sleep Sense seeks to initiate a calm and peaceful sleep by rewiring how the brain is feeling using all natural smells. Sleep Sense is a fabric pillowcase filled with little stuffing for comfort, as well as nostalgic smells. Instead of using chemicals or pharmaceuticals to ensure sleep, Sleep Sense releases scents in each stage of sleep to ensure a user will rest throughout the night. For example: if a user is stressed from a long day, the smell of their grandma's cookies or roses emanating from Sleep Sense would calm the user when they rest on the pillow. Sleep Sense tracks the user's sleep. The pillow contains four layers of scents. Scents are released depending on the stage of the sleep cycle. The goal is for the user to break through one layer of scent per sleep stage. Each layer of scent contains all natural ingredients within pods, such as tea leaves, flower petals, etcetera. When you toss and turn in your sleep, the leaves and other ingredients within the pods crumble and crack, allowing for the smells to be released. The first layer will be released during stage NREM1, the second will be released during stage NREM2, and so on. This product is meant to be used by the general public, however, they can be custom made in order to fit each user's sensory needs. The product works best when Sleep Sense is tailor-made towards their personal nostalgic smells!