First stab at a thesis statement

Connection

Peacefulness of interacting with an object or experience purely and haptically.

How do I develop a language of connection between the user and their world around them that calms and refreshes. One that embraces a simpler, cleaner and more humanist appeal.

Where I struggle with this is that it so easily could either be an Interaction or an Industrial direction, but I feel so strongly that the two are so often the same. I feel like I could define this and exclaim it as my ‘Definition Of Interaction Design” and still do mostly 3d, Industrial design….. tasty.

Unclutter.

This is another word that comes to mind when I think about what I want people to get out of my project, that life can be simplified and taking moments in your day to focus very clearly leads to a happier overall person. Wow, that sounds like some late night infomercial type bs, with nothing really to solidly back that up apart from a hunch, lets take a step back.

I like yoga+meditation+zen buddhism+japanese design <- This is where I want my project to live, in these spheres, because then it makes me happy, and fuck it, why not? Fuck you

These all approach a life in a way that is more about engaging in sensorially rich way, engaging us on a more human level. Yoga embraces the act of stretching and relaxing through movement. Meditation asks us to slowing down and claming and refreshing not only our physical selves but our mental (and possibly spiritual) selves also. Zen buddhism is a fascinating culture concept that asks us to listen to the world around us so we can connect to it on a deeper level and come to peace with things. Finally Japanese design because it is so (to steal Kenya Hara’s beautifully perfect word) haptic and embraces a more direct and simple connection from the user and the design.

These all make up for a project that can fit in awareness? Let’s think about that for a while.

I like this word because I can see the yoga and meditation in it, the awareness of ones own body through yoga and with ones surroundings through meditation. Awareness of this haptic feedback (Sorry kh) between the user and what they are pushing into the world.

Here’s where I don’t want to divebomb into a tech space…

So I love these concepts but their problem right now is they are tied up in things that aren’t realised in peoples everyday lives; they work best when engaged en masse but ignore the fact most people won’t leave their digital lives and so discredit it. So what do I do about this? I’m fascinated by technological aspects (nerdy disposition doesn’t hide that well) but think of them as aspects of the whole, more physical approach to the problem, more humanist.

Technology suffers from an excitement issue and the fact that it is an open slate to build the system of interactions you want, we allow them to have remarkable pushback on us for a digital object. They hold a highly controlling pscyhological dominion over you whereby they actively ask you to commit to more and more time on them. So in this way my approach of bringing awareness and decluttering the a style of life we live where we don’t turn off.

That’s a strange thought, we don’t stop, the young entrepreneurial person? We live a life so connected with a small technological marvel in our pockets that the world is everywhere, and it’s busy!

I’m not saying we should all stop using apps, or make some app that magically stops you using apps, but I fucking hate that shit. No argument against the advancement of technology will ever win and the users will simply push it into a small niche. All I want to aim to do is to show them their ‘digital shadow’ and make them more aware of how they are projecting themselves into this new space. We upload scores of data on ourselves to the web for sharing but don’t really get any feedback from how it connects us. I suppose in a way: Where does it go when we shout into the digital abyss? A possible route for a project down this way would be to look at license agreements for popular companies and actually read and highlight the parts people will find interesting. Meh, move on..

So, possible project entrapment from the tech sphere….

But this isn’t where I want to spend my time, sure later I want it to apply to it, but later, once it has developed as a more haptic and human experience.

Where do I see the 3d side…

What problem would I be solving?

Embracing life and embracing new things are too closely linked, what happened to the pride we have in an object when we have owned it a for a while. This is awareness of the object is something we lose with a disposable lifestyle, so what do we have that truly feels like us? This attachment is something that is distinctly human as we attach lives stories to them, our objects become a part of us. We bond with objects through use, just like we bond with animals and other humans through repeated contact and awareness of. This is also true for these artifacts, you can not only use them but get used to it’s nuances and marks from regular use how you project yourself into the world…..