Tactile experience

Tactile experience

V.J.A van der Burgt (Vivian) s081013 B2.2 Industrial Design

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Table of content

Introduction

p.3

Definition experience

p.4

Experiment

p.5

Results & Discussion

p.7

Redesign

p.8

Reflection

p.8

Appendix A

p.9

Appendix B

p.19

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Introduction This report shows and explains an investigation on finding the appropriate materials for a product/object with a certain experience. In this case the experience is exciting.

Most of the time materials that are used in products are judged on how they look and what kind of functions it has, but not on the experience of touch on the material, the tactile experience of a material.

Materials influence the use- interaction and personality of a product. So it is very important to know more about different experiences with materials.

In this report it is investigated which experience you have with materials by touching them, the tactile experience.

First of all the definition of the experience exciting is defined. After that 10 words and antonyms were made that describe the experience in different ways. Then seven materials were chosen: three materials with exciting properties and three materials that are the opposite of exciting and one material that is in the middle. This is based on an expectation beforehand. After this the experiment is conducted with 10 participants. Based on results and a conclusion, a redesign is made that is the ultimate exciting artifact.

All this will be explained further in this report.

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Definition experience First of all the definition of exciting had to be defined. For me exciting is really being thrilled and into something which makes you happy. The ten words and antonyms that describe exciting in different ways are below:

Key word

Antonym

1. Enjoying 2. Surprisingly 3. Thrilling 4. Exciting 5. Attractive 6. Interesting 7. Remarkable 8. Pleasant 9. Soft 10. Smooth

Saddening Predictably Phlegmatic Calming Deterrent Boring Unobtrusive Annoying Hard Rough

I made a scale of my assumption on what exciting materials have. I described the experience in sensorial properties of materials. Smoothness goes with positive emotions as lively, exciting, modern, elegant, and comfortable. How softer a material becomes, how more exciting it becomes. Soft, shiny, smooth, bendable, are properties that fit the experience exciting. When knowing this, finding materials that express the chosen experience through their tactile qualities was easier. A translation of the sensorial properties into physical properties was done and seven materials were chosen for the experiment: Carpet fabric Velvet Very soft wool Floral foam Scourer, rough cleaning sponge Stainless steel Wax The carpet, velvet and wool are all three soft but in different levels. In this way I can find out if this is a big difference in the experience. With the floral foam and wax you can manipulate the material. I want to find out if this contributes to different experiences of excitement. Further the floral foam is rough so not exciting in my expectations. The stainless steel is smooth but hard. I want to find out which aspects of the materials way more in experiencing exciting. My assumption is that the carpet, velvet and wool are the exciting materials. On the other hand the steel, scourer and wax are the non-exciting materials.

The floral foam is putted in the middle.

Experiment 4|Page

The experiment is only about the tactile experience of materials so the participants weren’t allowed to see the materials. With a blind box seven materials were given to the participants (all students). The materials were only surfaces so they couldn’t hold the object, only rub the surface or press on it. This was also told to every participant in the beginning. Further it was told that it was only about the touch experience.

First, all the materials are introduced; participants could feel all the materials once. After that they had to feel the materials one by one. While touching it they had to rank their experience on a scale of two antonyms. The list of antonyms was randomized. In this way it is not obvious for the participant which ranking you expect. In the end the question was asked which material they found the most exciting and why. In this way the results can be compared with the most exciting experience of the participants.

Figure 1: Visual representation of the different stages of the experimental setup.

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The antonyms were shown as below: Enjoying (+3) (+2) (+1) (0) (+1) (+2) (+3) Saddening

The participants got only to see two antonyms at one time. So they couldn’t see what they already filled in.

(Appendix A)

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Results & Discussion The answer on the question in the end of the experiment, which material they found the most exciting, was for five people the very soft wool, for three people the wax; one said the carpet fabric and one the floral foam. Also the people start guessing what they felt. Most of the participants knew that they were dealing with floral foam and scourer (cleansing sponge). All the participants also thought that the steel was glass. Start guessing and having an object in mind influence the answers on the adjectives. Then it is not anymore about the touch but also about the look.

All of the participants that found the very soft wool the most exciting ranked it as enjoying, calming and soft. In my assumption calming was not in comparison with exciting.

One participant had all the positive words on wax but didn’t found it as the most exciting. I think that is because the wax is unknown and a bit scary when you don’t see what it is. Other participants were very thrilled and excited by the wax. They were not deterred of the wax. The experience of touch depends on personality.

What I found out further is that the surface underneath the material is very important for the softness.

For example some people ranked the velvet as soft but others as hard because the surface was hard.

The velvet was found as not exciting because it was not soft. This was a surprise for me.

The rank of softness between the carpet, velvet and very soft wool has no big difference only that some participants ranked the velvet as hard material.

The words soft-hard and rough-smooth give a lot of information why people choose certain material as exciting. The words remarkable-unobtrusive don’t say much and are no good words to use I found out.

Most participants didn’t know what to choose or they ranked it with a 1. Unobtrusive is also a difficult word for people I found out. They don’t know what it means so choose for remarkable or in the middle.

(Appendix B)

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Redesign For the redesign I wanted to combine the very soft wool with the wax. I want to create a soft surface with also soft, bumpiness aspect underneath the surface. Because the velvet, and also the very soft wool did have a hard surface underneath, it was not very exciting. The wax has the aspect of bumpiness, so that can create a softer surface underneath. With these two results I am going to make a pillow with the very soft wool as the surface filled with wax. The aspect of the sticky and smoothness of the wax is then gone, but because I make a pillow you put it under your head. So that sense of touch will be totally different then with your hands. So that’s why I use the aspect bumpiness of the wax and not the smoothness.

Reflection Within our Industrial Design department we almost don’t pay attention to materials, form and senses and aesthetics of a design. There are a few opportunities to get awareness about it but that is too few.

We should be getting more knowledge about these aesthetics because the color, the form, the feeling it arouses, are the first things people perceive and feel when seeing a product. After that the touch is very important when using or holding the product. That is what we investigated in this assignment. I’ve learned that the touch is very important and contribute to the experience of a product. I’ve learned which properties of a material arouse which experience. It is a very specific assignment only about the touch, which was very interesting, but I want to learn more about materials. By doing a user test you can find out which properties of materials arouse a certain experience. What I’ve learned is that the perception of touch is very personal and different for people. Further this assignment was useful for getting user perspective and set-up and conducts a user test.

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Appendix A --------------------------------------------------------Number 3 Very soft wool Enjoying (+3) (+2)x (+1) (0) (+1) (+2) (+3) Saddening

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Predictably (+3) (+2) (+1) (0) (+1)x (+2) (+3) Surprisingly

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Thrilling (+3) (+2) (+1)x (0) (+1) (+2) (+3) Phlegmatic

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Calming (+3) (+2)x (+1) (0) (+1) (+2) (+3) Exciting

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Attractive (+3) (+2)x (+1) (0) (+1) (+2) (+3) Deterrent

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Boring (+3) (+2) (+1) (0) (+1) (+2)x (+3) Interesting

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Remarkable (+3) (+2) (+1)x (0) (+1) (+2) (+3) Unobtrusive

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Annoying (+3) (+2) (+1) (0) (+1) (+2)x (+3) Pleasant

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Soft (+3) (+2)x (+1) (0) (+1) (+2) (+3) Hard

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Rough (+3) (+2) (+1) (0) (+1) (+2)x (+3) Smooth

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Appendix B

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