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THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF LICENTIATE IN PHILOSOPHY

DYNAMIC TEXTILE PATTERNS DESIGNING WITH SMART TEXTILES LINDA WORBIN

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Gﾃ傍EBORG, SWEDEN 2006

DYNAMIC TEXTILE PATTERNS DESIGNING WITH SMART TEXTILES LINDA WORBIN © LINDA WORBIN, 2006.

TECHNICAL REPORT NO 18L ISSN 1652-876X DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SE-412 96 GÖTEBORG SWEDEN TELEPHONE + 46 (0)31-772 1000 THE SWEDISH SCHOOL OF TEXTILES UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BORÅS SE-501 90 BORÅS SWEDEN TELEPHONE + 46 (0)33-435 40 00 PRINT CHALMERS REPROSERVICE, GÖTEBORG, SWEDEN 2006 COVER PICTURE FROM THE APPENDED PAPER; TEXTILE DISOBEDIENCE, WHEN TEXTILE PATTERNS START TO INTERACT PHOTOGRAPHS PICTURES IN PAPERS AND EXHIBITIONS BY THE AUTHORS AND PARTICIPANTS IN THE PROJECTS ILLUSTRATIONS TIC-TAC-TEXTILES BY JOHAN THORESSON

DYNAMIC TEXTILE PATTERNS DESIGNING WITH SMART TEXTILES LINDA WORBIN DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Abstract Technological development creates new arenas where textiles communicate, sense and react to environmental stimuli, send signals and can thus be called both smart and intelligent. For example there are conductive yarns, shape memory metals and chromic yarns and treatments that can adapt to environmental stimuli with a colour change. Dynamic textile patterns are textile patterns that contain several designs and expressions; all in one textile pattern with the ability to change over time. Dynamic textile patterns are designed to change both with and without the influence of computational technology. One example of a dynamic textile pattern developed in this thesis is a white and grey striped textile that can turn into checks and back into stripes. The design of dynamic textile patterns encourages a new understanding of textile and computational technology as well of the traditional inherent qualities of textile and interaction design.

In this thesis the potential to create dynamic textile patterns out of Smart Textiles is investigated.

The aim is to increase the understanding for both the design process and the making and use of dynamic textile patterns. The method is practice-based design research in the area of Smart Textiles, where investigation is done through experimental design. It is a systematic investigation, showing different kinds of dynamic textile patterns where aesthetics, materiality, time and context are emphasized. The main textile materials used in this work are thermo-chromic ink, and conductive and electroluminescent materials in combination with more traditional textile materials like wool, cotton and various effect yarns.

New smart textile materials have been investigated and show that today’s textile patterns can be designed to offer more than traditional textile patterns do. The prototypes of dynamic textile patterns designed in this thesis are brought about in a new design process that takes smart textiles materials into consideration.

These prototypes also exemplify new user scenarios for textile and interaction design. As they have the ability to form textile patterns with a range of expressions inherent in one textile pattern, the proposed dynamic textile patterns show that textile patterns can be used for collecting and sharing information.

Keywords: Textile design, interaction design, smart textile, experimental design, practice-based design research, thermo-chromic, electroluminescent, dynamic textile pattern

Preface As an experimental and a non-commercial textile designer I started to wonder why textiles designed today were so much about commercial trend-sensitive decorative surfaces on fabrics. I wanted to investigate if it was possible to produce decorations with extended purposes. That is how my interest in dynamic textile patterns started. I gained professional experience as a textile designer/researcher at The Interactive Institute between 2000 and 2004 in the research projects E-people and Textiles and Computational Technology. There I had the opportunity to start my investigation on how to create dynamic textile patterns. Some of the papers presented in this dissertation are published in my maiden name; Linda Melin.

Existing routines and traditions concerning the making, the design and the use of textile patterns have been taken into consideration in this thesis. This may seem like a broad field to address and it is.

There are many appended papers, but it has been necessarily to keep a broad approach in this multidisciplinary work, covering two fields, textile- and interaction design.

The papers presented in this thesis are written for specific conferences and journals and cover more than the making of dynamic textile patterns, which is the main focus in this thesis. Textile materials and the creation of dynamic textile patterns have been my main areas of focus, perspectives and contributions in the different projects.

Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Lars Hallnäs for support, freedom and inspiration.

Thanks to my co-supervisors Marion Ellwanger and Johan Redström for reflections and discussions.

All co-authors - Daniel Eriksson, Anders Ernevi, Lars Hallnäs, Margot Jacobs, Henrik Jernström, Hanna Landin, Peter Ljungstrand, Ulrica Löfgren, Ramia Mazé, Johan Redström and Johan Thoresson - thanks for inspiration, fun and hard work. Also a special thanks to all former colleagues at The Interactive Institute, PLAY Studio.

I am grateful to Marcus Bergman for help with grammar, editing and proof reading and to Louise M. Jeppesen for advice and ideas concerning the layout and to Tomas Nilsson, NILSSON CRWTH for layout and original.

Thanks to friends and colleagues at the Swedish School of Textiles (University College of Borås). A special thanks to the technicians in the weaving department – Roger Högberg, Fredrik Wennersten and Pär Knubbe – and Christer Damberg in the printing department. Thanks to my former teachers Ulla Bodin and Barbro Peterson for encouragement and enthusiasm during my education in textile design.

For support, collaboration and sponsorship – thanks to IFP Sicomp, Sanden Textiles, Ludvig Svensson AB, IKEA of Sweden and The Interactive Institute.

The research has got financial support from; IASPIS (International Artist’s Studio Program in Sweden) 2005, Wilhelm and Martina Lundgrens Vetenskapsfond 1, 2005, Tekoutbildningarnas Stipendiefonder 2005, Wilhelm and Martina Lundgrens Understödsfond, 2005 and Forskningsstipendium 2005 till kvinnliga forskare vid Högskolan i Borås (Researchers scholarship) and the award Pagrotskyrummets Designstipendium 2005 from Svensk Form.

Last but not least, thanks to my family – Mathias and Vera – for supporting me.

BORÅS, APRIL 2006 LINDA WORBIN

Contents 01 _A textile renaissance 03 _Aim 04 _Background

SMART TEXTILE MATERIALS

Related research, projects and products

Textile and interaction design

12 _Appended papers 15 _Appended exhibitions 16 _Papers and exhibitions 18 _Method 20 _Result

The design process

The projects

REFLECTIONS

New values

33 _Conclusion

The design process is changing

The use of dynamic textile patters for sharing information

34 _Future work 35 _Reference Papers

TEXTILE DISPLAYS; USING TEXTILES TO INVESTIGATE COMPUTATIONAL TECHNOLOGY AS DESIGN MATERIAL

Interactive Party Textiles

Fabrication by Creating Dynamic Textile Patterns

Tic-Tac-Textiles

Reach: Dynamic textile Patterns for Social Communication and Social Expressions

Textile Disobedience, when textile patterns start to interact

The Fabrication Bag- An Accessory to a Mobile Phone

Exhibitions

Abstract Information Deliverer Appliances

The Interactive Pillows

Colour Changing Table Cloth and Growing Pattern

TEXTILE DISOBEDIENCE

LampCurtain

INTERNET

Illustration Tic-Tac-Textiles

A textile renaissance The rapid introduction of new textile materials during the last decades makes it impossible not to re-think the former use of textiles. Most new material development stems from military and space R&D (Research and Development) departments. Technological development has brought about textile materials that can sense and react to environmental stimuli. They can thus be called both smart and intelligent.

Seen in combination with the gadgets of the information age, that are invading every inch of our life, this means that technology is increasingly moving from some objects into other objects. For example, the mobile phone is moving from your hand and pocket into the fabric that your jacket is made out of.

A combination of computational technology and textiles has begun to emerge. This combination opens up for new kinds of objects and services and is also adding new qualities to traditional objects.

Several new applications are to be found here; and these are suggesting new products and services.

Most investigations into this field are made by research groups, institutions and companies, but the amount of research papers and experimental prototypes is still greater than the amount of products to be found on the market.

Smart textiles are materials that adapt or react to environmental stimuli. They can be electrically conductive (to shield or send signals), change colour (due to light or temperature) or be thermally sensitive.

These materials are not actually smart but have properties that traditional textile materials do not have.

Textile materials with transformative qualities are something relatively new in the field of textile design.

These new materials need an exploration of their inherent material potentials, asking questions of what possible applications that may be designed but also questions on how this design should be carried out.

How will a textile pattern, that can change appearance, be designed and used? In this thesis, examples of dynamic textile patterns will be visualized. These are made to investigate the potential of impressive textile materials.

All projects presented in this dissertation can be seen as kinds of textile displays. In terms of textile design this opens up for new questions and opportunities. Textile design is no longer about designing a textile pattern that is meant to look and behave the same throughout its lifetime. The pattern can now change over time. When smart textile materials are introduced, habitual design methods for creating textile patterns are no longer valid.

In interaction design, dynamic textile patterns may rival traditional interfaces concerning the sharing and dealing with computational information. Textiles are thus adding and are added new qualities, depending on one’s perspective.

Textile design and textile patterns have formerly been used mainly for applying decorative qualities to textiles. Materials with a predetermined change of expression bring about change in terms of the role of the surface in textile design; from surface decoration to a surface for sharing information.

Information, computation and wearable technology are emerging phenomena that are penetrating the world of textiles through the introduction of smart textiles. Thus, there is a need to fill the gap in existing knowledge of how to design with smart textile materials with the ability to change into a range of different textile patterns.

The method used in this case is practice-based design research. Investigation is done by experimental design.

The working prototypes of dynamic textile patterns in this thesis constitute basic research and show different possible visions for users and designers in the area of textile- and interaction design. Dynamic textile patterns have been designed in a systematic way, in order to visualize how both the design process and the making of textile patterns are about to change.

The textile materials used in this thesis are mainly thermo-chromic, conductive and electroluminescent materials in combination with more traditional textile materials like wool, cotton and various effect-yarns.

The importance of time as a design parameter is something that is inherent in some of the materials, for example thermo-chromic materials. When more advanced technology is integrated in the textile, time becomes central as it may be controlled in a more elaborate way, making the programming an active part in the designing of dynamic textile patterns.

In many of the new materials developed for war or space-journeys, material qualities are influenced by these contexts. There is a gap in knowledge concerning what potential these impressive textile materials will have when used in other contexts.

The examples of dynamic textile patterns made in this thesis focus on private and public contexts. Some papers in this thesis are about an existing home or a public environment. Most of the dynamic textile patterns in the presented projects aim at sharing information in-between humans, using objects with dynamic textile patterns. It is for example done through communication; gaming through a pair of interactive table cloths; through emotions and movements visualized by the dynamic textile patterns on a pair of pillows; and through a bag where phone calls make the bag colourful.

Some other projects are investigations of how to design a range of different textile patterns within one textile. Some projects consist of textile patterns that are simply turned on or off, but the dynamic textile pattern can also be more of a multifunctional tool, as in the LampCurtain project, which is a textile product with integrated light that can be turned on or off. The challenge here is advancing into making a more complex variety of possible patterns, but the intention is not to make a traditional display flexible, it is rather showing that different kinds of information can be interwoven into textile structures or textile patterns.

Designing textile patterns using thermo-chromic materials can be done in a more traditional manner, but in order to extend the potential of these materials more experimental design research needs to be done. This thesis gives examples of how a textile pattern can be hidden in another textile pattern by combining thermo-chromic and traditional textile silk screen printing. Other findings are that external objects can be used to create a pattern on a textile surface. This opens up for designing for designing, in which the user is invited to take a more active part in the creation of a temporal textile pattern. The findings are visualized in working prototypes that give examples of how to create and use dynamic textile patterns. The creation of working prototypes is documented by exhibitions and papers. The findings are analysed in the sense that the prototypes are showing new directions of using and designing dynamic textile patterns. Thus, the result of this thesis will be important for the industry, society and to end consumers. Especially, I hope that this thesis will give information and inspiration to designers and researchers in the field of textile- and interaction design.

This thesis’ results exemplify activities in-between humans through the use of dynamic textile patterns.

The results create a platform for upcoming research in the area of dynamic textile patterns concerning both the way we teach and develop textile designs. A new understanding for textile patterns is needed.

Aim Aim

The aim is to investigate smart textile material’s potential and influences on textile- and interaction design.

- How to design and construct textile patterns in smart textiles?

- What new functions are added to a textile pattern when it is made in smart textile materials?

The goal is to develop a range of prototypes of dynamic textile patterns to increase the understanding for the design process, the making and use of textile patterns made out of smart textile materials. limitation

The aim is not to make prototypes for commercial products or for traditional user studies. Rather, the aim with the prototypes is to visualize ideas of what can be done using dynamic textile patterns with respect to both textile- and interaction design. Next step could – after these first experimental prototypes – be prototypes for a specific use.

Depending on what a textile is made for, different criteria apply. If a textile is made into consumer products, specific criteria need to be fulfilled, for example washing instructions, price, bleaching, sustainability to heat and sunlight, flame retardence and strength in accordance with Martindale tests.

The aim here is therefore not to solve problems such as how to create washable electronics. Often, the design of commercial textile patterns also take existing trends concerning colours and shapes into consideration. As this thesis is not aiming at making prototypes for commercial products, the prototypes are experimental designs made to visualize what textile- and interaction design may fulfil in the future.

Background SMART TEXTILE MATERIALS

Today, there are several different terms for describing impressive textile materials. Various definitions of new kinds of textiles and fibres have – in the latest decades – been, for example; Smart Textiles, Smart Materials, Electronic Textiles, Intelligent Textiles, Chameleon Fibres, Smart Fibres, E-textiles, Smart Fabrics and Interactive Textiles. The different terms are describing textile materials that behave in a non-traditional way. This jungle of different terms indicates an ongoing revolution in the development of new textile fibres.

In the book Smart fibres, fabrics and clothing, developments from American, European and Asian research groups, institutions and companies are presented. The author Xiaoming Tao made a statement on smart textiles in 2001: Smart materials and structures can be defined as the materials and structures that sense and react to environmental conditions and stimuli, such as those from mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic or other sources. According to the manner of reaction, they can be divided into passive smart, active smart and very smart materials. Passive smart materials can only sense environmental conditions or stimuli; active smart materials will sense and react to the conditions or stimuli; very smart materials can sense, react and adapt themselves accordingly. (Tao, 2001) Sensors are materials that may detect signals within the material, and actuators act upon detected signals; directly or from a central control unit. An even higher level of intelligence, in materials and structure development, can be achieved and activated by programming, or manually, in the future. Not only are the material qualities affecting the outcome of a smart textile, the construction of a fabric is also important. Common textile constructions are woven, knitted or non-woven structures, but embroidery technology can also be noted for its ability to apply threads in almost any direction on a ready-made fabric. Embroidery is of importance due to its flexibility.

FABRICATING SENSORS AND ACTUATORS

Photo-sensitive materials like thermo-chromic ink and photo-chromic ink are different materials that can be used to create colour changes in textiles. Photo-chromic material is reacting with a colour change depending on UV-light and thermo-chromic ink reacts to temperature changes. Thermochromic garments were first produced in the 1980s. They feature reversible colour changes at temperature differences between -40 C to + 80 C. Light in textiles can be created by using either optical fibres or electroluminescent material. Optical fibres need an external light source to light up the fibres and electroluminescent material needs electrical current to emit light. Other ways to integrate light in textile can be by applications or integrating Light Emmiting Diodes (LEDs) in textile structures. Thermally sensitive materials, like Phase Changing Materials (PCMs), feature the ability to change from one phase to another depending on temperature. These are used for cooling or/and heating. PCMs store and release heat or cold during a phase conversion. Applications for heat-storing and thermo-regulating textiles can for example be; professional (fire-fighters uniforms, etc.) and casual clothing (underwear, sportswear, etc.) and interior decoration (curtains, bed-linens, etc.).

Shape memory materials, like Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) and electro-active polymers have the ability to change phase (size and shape) depending on changes in electrical current. There are examples of textiles with SMAs integrated to change the textile structure from one to another; one example is by the designer Mariêlle Leenders (Design Academy), who has made the Moving Textiles that react to differences in temperature by shrinking and thus changing structure.

Today, conductive materials are used for a range of different purposes; electromagnetic shielding, for transmitting and picking up data, supporting power supply and to emit heat. In a textile context, conductive materials are used both as sensors, to give input, and as actuators, to faciliate output. To create conductive yarn, metals can be wrapped around a non-conductive yarn, using metal foil. Conductive yarns and/or fibres can also be spun with non-conductive fibres to create conductivity. Examples of metal fibres are nickel, stainless steel, titanium, aluminium, copper, silver and gold. Besides metal, other methods and materials to achieve conductivity in textile fibres and yarn are available: such as carbon fibres and conductive polymers. Conductive fibres can also be produced by coating fibres with metal salt.

In the book Material World, Innovative Structures and Finishes for Interiors (Van Onna, 2003) the author is of the opinion that it is hard to find suitable uses for all the new so-called Smart Materials. This a testimony to the need for further experimental design research in new smart materials. On the other hand, there are already research activities suggesting applications and improvements for smart textiles worldwide.

Related research, projects and products

Musical Ball, Musical Jacket, Firefly Dress and Electronic Tablecloth (Post et al. 2000) are all projects made at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). These projects are some of the first applications exploring the integration of electronic structures in textile and textile objects. The Musical Jacket is also one of the first research projects on wearable electronics that has turned into a commercial product. The Musical Jacket was made into the PDA Jacket in co-operation with Philips and Levis Strauss (in collaboration with MIT), first showed in 1995. The electronics were then more or less added to an existing garment. Conductive yarn was used to make a remote control on the surface of the jacket connected to the PDA placed in a pocket. Further on the same group started the project ICD+ that was inspired by a “nomadic” lifestyle with electronic devices integrated in your clothes. The first commercial collection was released in 2000

by Industrial Clothing Design Plus, co-produced by Philips, Levis Strauss and the designer Massimo Osti. The collection consists of garments with hardware integrated in both the construction and the textile.

Philips has also made the project New Nomads, where the integration of technology into clothing was investigated. For example, the researchers have investigated how to integrate electronic infrastructures into clothing. This was done using conductive materials that were both added and integrated into textiles.

Prototypes of different types of workwear to achieve safety, mobility and efficiency amongst different workers, for example hospital staff and flight attendants, were produced. Also Streetwear that provided sound as well as displayed frequencies was presented. Other areas are Kidswear that support safety and gaming as well as Sportswear for monitoring pulse, blood pressure, body temperature and other bodily expressions (Aarts & Marzano, 2003).

In wearable technology, both input and output in textile-based interfaces are highly attractive and examples of that which is given in the previous examples. To describe underlying factors in wearable technology we need to identify and obtain information, for example by sensors. Then the information needs to be processed. Further on, the information will be transacted from the device to the wearer and sometimes also spread to others. In the book Wearable Electronics and Photonics (Tao, 2005), some general factors for wearable electronics are highlighted and investigated; interface, communication, energy supply,

data management and integrated circuits. The input interface is where and how the wearer gives input to a device, for example how to control specific sensors. The most common input interfaces are buttons and keyboards. These kinds of interfaces are also becoming as textile-based. Keyboards and buttons that are made out of textiles can be constructed as woven circuits or multilayered sensors. Other examples of textile sensors that are conductive are used for motion detection or to create textile antennas. There are some commercial companies developing and selling flexible textile keyboards interwoven into clothing or other objects. Some of the companies developing this area are Eleksen, Nokia and France Telecom.

At the TechTextil (at Avantex in Frankfurt 2006) many examples of jackets with keyboard-like buttons integrated in the sleeves were showed. They function mainly as shortcuts to music or for supporting mobile communication. The output interface is where the information is presented; the most common ways are to present digital information on different visual displays, but voice synthesis or tactile displays may also be used.

Visual displays, for example Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), are flat-screen displays or head-mounted displays. The LCD displays are not flexible and have poor angle visibility. The latter is something that is further developed at SmartLab, where researchers have made a display that features improved angle visibility, built of light emitting diodes (LEDs). Vission is another company doing research on flexible textile-based displays making woven textiles out of conductive yarn treated with electroluminescent material.

Other flexible displays use materials like polymeric fiber optics and electronic ink (E-ink).

Light integrated in textiles is a feature in several research projects and is already to be found as products on the market. Luminex is one commercial company that sells fabric with lighting qualities. Their fabric is made out of fiber-optics. These kinds of fabrics, with light integrated are often made for specific applications, where light is needed or when the fabric is used as a display. Other projects with fiber-optics integrated are the Energy Curtain (Redström, M, Redström, J & Maze, 2005), a curtain that collects energy during daytime to re-use during night to light up the fiber-optics.

There are also other projects that are about textiles and light. Rachel Wingfield at Loop is using electroluminescent wire in a blanket that lights up in the mornings to wake you up. The Interactive Pillows (Redström, M, Redström, J & Maze, 2005) is another research project where light is interwoven within textiles. The Interactive Pillows are investigating both the emotional communication aspect and the creation of dynamic textile patterns. Compared with sending a text message on a mobile phone, The Interactive Pillows are using a dynamic textile pattern to raise awareness of interaction design, concerning the sending and receiving of data. Other lightning pillows are the Interactive PhotonicTtextiles made at Philips Research.

In the project Inside/Outside, information about environmental factors are displayed on a personal bag using thermo-chromic pigment. (Moriwaki, Doyle & O´Mahoney, 2003 )

E-ink consists of millions of white and black microcapsules, positively and negatively charged. The e-ink can be screen printed on surfaces like paper, textile, plastic or glass. Then the different positive and negative particles can be individually controlled to create a kind of display.

The Interactive Pillows is a project made at The Interactive Institute in Sweden. The pillows are also showed in this thesis as an exhibited project.

At Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, researchers and designers investigate smart textiles using experimental design. They have made projects on the use and design of smart textiles in conceptual clothing. They focus on the sending and receiving of expressive messages through clothing where the sending is done by gestures and body language. The receiving of a message takes place in the recipient’s clothing, expressed both by actuators (squeezing) and displays (colour change) integrated in the clothing.

(Baurley, 2004)) They have also made concept scenarios of interactive clothing and interior environments.

At Royal College of Art (RCA) there is also a research project dealing with the future of information and computational technology. The ongoing research project called the Equator project is a six-year interdisciplinary research collaboration between RCA, University of Lancaster, University College London, University of Nottingham, University of Glasgow and Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Their main goal is to investigate the interweaving of the physical and the digital worlds by developing innovative systems. The Interaction Design Research Studio at RCA is looking at the home as the area where the new technology could be used. Halfway through the project they had come up with prototypes under the title “Electronic Future for the Curious Home”. These are three prototypes: Drift Table, Key Table and History Tablecloth. Drift Table is a table that shows the English landscape from above.

What you see depends of the weight of things placed on the table. On a small display you can read the location. Key Table gets a sense of people’s emotions by the way things are put on the surface of the table.

To inform other people of a person’s mood, a framed picture is hanging over the table. Emotions cause the frame to swing. History Tablecloth is a table cloth that lights up when objects are placed on it.

The lightning pattern tells you that objects have been placed on the table in the past.

Textile materials constantly provide new qualities for products and concepts. By placing different qualities in different contexts and uses, new tasks and needs can be fulfilled within different areas. One example is a textile that shields electromagnetic waves. There are examples of projects that aim to raise awareness of electro-magnetic fields to find in the book Design Noir (Dunne & Raby, 2001). They present one project called Personal Protection Device; underwear that protects from electro-pollution, made out of a textile with electro-magnetic shielding qualities. The fabric is silver plated nylon that shields from electric fields, microwaves, and protects from radar beams by reflection of the pulse. The same material can be used for a range of different products and purposes, depending on what context the material will be placed in. At Saab Barracuda, a company producing various kinds of camouflage, electro-magnetic shields used for the protection of military equipment are manufactured.

Conductive textile materials used for electromagnetic shielding can also be used to send electrical impulses through a fabric, or to pick up signals, as in the SmartShirt by Sensatex. This shirt collects information about the wearer and transmits it to a computer display. This is done by integrating electronic devices directly into the textile of an item. Then the measuring and monitoring of individual data is done by using an item that is shaped as an ordinary item. They are making a textile keyboard and a soft mobile phone using different layers of conductive weaves for both picking up signals (through pressure) and for sending a signals.

Equator is an ongoing research project between Royal College of Art, University of Lancaster, University College London, University of Nottinghill, University of Glasgow and Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. W. Gaver (personal communication, November 14, 2003) The textile is produced by LessEMF. They are selling Personal EMF (electro magnetic field) Shielding Devices.

They are producing socks, aprons, gloves, bed linen. Their fabric can be put in many different applications.

IFM, International Fashion Machines, has made a project called Electric Plaid. It is a woven fabric where the textile pattern can change from one to another. They have created textile patterns that change colour and look. The fabrics are described as normal fabrics, where technology is integrated into traditional textile materials. They have made the colour changing work by sending electrical impulses into a textile printed with thermo-chromic ink. IFM is a spin-off project from the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Conductive textile materials are also widely used by car producers as heating elements in car seats.

The US Military have recently provided MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) with a research centre; the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN), where researchers will pursue ideas about uniforms in the future. New textiles will be important in order to better protect soldiers from ballistic, chemical, biological and nuclear threats. Other functions that are desirable in textiles in the military are body monitoring networked communication capabilities, as well as responsiveness to both the physical environment (camouflage) and to the intimate body environment.

New weapons require new ways of protection. Traditional camouflage has become fashion with a political hint (Blechman), but there are also other ways to create camouflage; Masahiko Inami, Naoki Kawakami and Susumu Tachi have created an optical camouflage using retro-reflective projections in 2003. By recording an area and then making a real time projection on peoples’ clothes, in front of the area recorded, a more immaterial type of camouflage is achieved.

A plethora of new textile applications is exemplifying the feasible in smart textiles. No large-scale product development has started yet, but the creativity amongst applications shows that we are in the beginning of a textile renaissance.

Textile- and Interaction design Textile design

The textile industry can be divided into two larger areas; the traditional textile industry and the technical textile industry. The traditional textile industry is further divided into different segments like; fashion, sports, workwear (but also for extreme professions like the military and for astronauts), soft decorations (curtains, table cloths, bed linen, cushions) soft furnishings for both homes and public environments.

Technical textiles can be divided into specialities like; filters (for example used in the paper industry), green house weaves, energy weaves, weaves for shielding, geo-textiles (used for example as stabilization under roads), architecture (for example outdoor roofs), medical textiles (implants and microencapsulating treatments on fabrics that work against for example bacteria) to mention some.

Scandinavian design is known for being simple, straight-forward, and functional. We use textiles in home interior environments for our windows, on tables, as carpets, bed linen, cushions and soft furnishings.

In Sweden, curtains are often used both for blocking out light as well as for decorative purposes, and many people change their curtains according to what time of the year it is. Curtains with Christmas trees during winter and daffodils in springtime constitute a kind of visual indoor calendar made by changing curtains. A curtain is therefore a kind of surface that conveys cultural and temporal belongings in our homes. A curtain with a textile pattern that is a decorative and aesthetical object can thus be used in many different ways and with different purposes. The inner qualities in textiles can also vary a lot depending on context, material and construction. To mention some other qualities, textile materials and objects can be shielding and protecting to both people and our objects. That may bee from sun, rain and

radiation; we dress up and go to sleep in textiles, carrying both our children and material belongings in textiles. That we are living with textiles close to our personal environment is a fact.

Saldo is a temporary Swedish textile company with a specific philosophy behind their textile patterns.

They create textile patterns from different sources of information. For example they have made a textile pattern called Blind. It is a screen printed textile pattern using white swell paint to create small white dots onto a plain yellow textile. The dots are actually language, in Braille alphabet. The text describes the colour yellow. This is an example where interaction design is affiliated with textile design.

Designing for textile patterns today is a way of planning for how a specific textile is to be created. Textiles are constructed and produced in different ways, the most common being woven, knitted, nonwoven and felted. In woven textiles, for example using jacquard techniques, the construction can not be separated from the fabric itself. It is the construction, the order of the threads, that creates the textile pattern at the same time as the fabric is made. Comparing a jacquard weave with a printed textile pattern, the printed textile pattern is more about adding a decoration to an existing textile.

Both woven and printed textile patterns are mainly designed in another media than in the actual material.

Textile patterns have traditionally been designed using watercolour on paper and this technique is still widely used (Forty, 1986), but nowadays it is becoming more and more common to use tools like computers to visualise a textile pattern; the textile pattern can then be printed on paper or directly onto fabric as a digital print. Different textile patterns and aesthetic expressions can be showed to customers before starting a production. As the production is rather costly in the first preparation steps, when making a new textile pattern or quality, this is an important development.

Even though textiles are made and constructed in different techniques, the blend of materials also affects the quality. What each material is best suited for depends on what the fabric will be made of and used for. One material quality can be reduced or enriched depending on how the fabric will be constructed and used. The final outcome of a fabric depends on a combination of material, technique and after-treatments. Today it is most common to make textile patterns and structures that are expected to stay in the same way as they were designed to. A traditional textile pattern should have the same look and properties during its whole life time, so to say; a static textile pattern (Landin & Worbin, 2004).

Medieval wall hangings were a textile medium to tell and remind people of stories, both religious and cultural. Textiles have also, formerly and presently, been used to show status and cultural belongings.

William Morris (1834-1896) is one designer that has influenced textile patterns for centuries. His textile patterns are still appreciated on wallpapers and printed on cotton fabric. He proposes that he got inspiration to his textile patterns from the medieval period. In the 19th century Morris built a medievally inspired house in England. When starting to decorate the house he found it hard to find objects that he wanted to use, that fitted the rest of the system of the home. He ended up starting a firm together with some friends

and the firm was producing decorative articles. Many of the designs where used for surface decoration on wallpapers and textiles (Naylor, 2000).

In beginning of the industrial era in the western countries

Rosetti, Madox Brown, Burne-Jones and Webb, were the architects of his medievaly inspired house.

Depending on if a textile pattern is designed to fit into a cultural or aesthetic system, like Morris’ designs propose, or by integrating extended values as in textiles made by Saldo, textile patterns communicate amongst people. In what way will dynamic textile patterns influence the human society in the future?

New textile materials introduce and suggest new qualities in the field of textiles. These materials are also proposing new uses and values in both textiles and computational technology, with their ability to interact with the surroundings, both with and without the influence of computational technology.

Interaction design

Interaction design is how we plan for an upcoming action in-between humans, through objects. There is interaction design both with and without computational technology, but most often interaction design is closely connected to questions of how to handle and deal with computational technology. This can for example be in what way we turn on or off a mobile phone, how to start a washing machine or how to transfer digital images to a paper. Dourish writes about interaction design and interactive systems in this way: Interactive systems have increasingly come to understand that interaction is intimately connected with the settings in witch it occurs. The environment in witch the work takes place; the task/work/activity is embodied within interaction design settings (Dourish, 2001).

An object’s usability or service can not be investigated only by the context or the usability, Buchanan describes it as regarding a more individual level: Investigations of the usability of products clearly takes us to human and cultural factors. In essence, it is not enough that a product works; it must also fit the hand and mind of the person who uses it. (Buchanan, 2001) People like to surround themselves with beautiful things, but what is beautiful to me is not necessarily beautiful to you. Also, different materials affect us differently; most likely today is connecting technology with a specific kind of look, language and material. Look for example at laptops and mobile phones with a plastic look and specific symbols. In lieu of this range of expressions, a dynamic aesthetic expression could be used to share information. In the project Informative Art (Redström, Skog & Hallnäs, 2000) artistic icons are used and manipulated to express information.

Different kinds of information may need specific looks and media to be delivered through. Slow technology (Hallnäs & Redström, 2001) proposes a philosophy based on reflecting on how we use technology.

They create an arena where we can investigate the materiality in different technologies, for example textiles and computational technology. This is done by producing examples that ask questions about how we want to live with, and act upon, technology (Redström, 2001) (Hallnäs & Redström, 2002).

How to live with information and computational technology in the future is not only about sharing information, it is about how we decide to live with technology.

Textile- and Interaction design

The combination of textile- and interaction design encourages a new understanding for both textiles and computational technology. To understand what this combination can become in the future we need to look at where the rest of society is heading as well as looking into the potential of the two.

Textiles have a much longer tradition than computational technology and the two have different qualities and pre-understandings, with respect both to the designer’s and the user’s situation. Also, other professions, activities, and phenomena need to be taken into consideration when trying to understand the 10

combination of textiles and computational technology; information technology, electronics, and chemicals development, environmental concerns, art, architecture, and economy, to mention some.

Digital gadgets are coming closer to the boundaries of our bodies. We are carrying digital cameras around, and mobile phones and connected technology are in our pockets or integrated in our clothes.

Farren and Hutchison propose that the actual use of technologies, fashion and garments requires designers to re-think the way many people think about garments (Farren & Hutchison, 2004). The field of textile and fashion design is not only changing in accord with the introduction of new textile materials; the use of textiles is also spread into new fields. For example in Human Computer Interaction (HCI), ubiquitous computing and wearables (wearable computing), where textiles start to appear as an important material.

Before starting a production of objects with technology embedded and integrated in different kinds of everyday objects like armchairs, pillows, clothing it could be wise to discover what people actually want from the new technology to avoid falling into the trap of technology for technologies sake (Lee, 2003). This indicates a need for product development as well as for experimental design. This also concerns a combination of new materials and product development. At the same time, basic research needs to be developed further, for we can not know in advance what the combinations of smart textiles and computational technology may offer.

In the book IT + Textiles (Redstrรถm, M, Redstrรถm, J & Maze, 2005) a research project investigating the combination of information technology and textiles is presented. The project involves experimental design work combining textiles- and interaction design as well as computational technology. Some projects within the research field are showing more conceptual prototypes of how computational technology could be integrated in existing homes and public environments, whereas other projects are in the form of basic research concerning the development of Smart Textiles.

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Appended papers The making, investigation and design of the dynamic textile pattern have been my main interests and contributions. Thus, I have not always been solely responsible for the written part of the projects. This goes for the papers Tic-Tac-Textiles, Reach: Dynamic Textile Patterns for Communication and Social Expressions and Textile Displays; Using Textiles to Investigate Computational Technology as Design Material.

In the papers Fabrication by creating dynamic patterns and The Fabrication Bag- an Accessory to a Mobile Phone the written part is equally shared between the two writers.

In the paper Interactive Party Textiles, I am the main writer and in the paper Textile Disobedience, when textile patterns start to interact I am the sole writer.

Linda Melin was my maiden name and therefore this name appears on some papers.

Reprints of following published articles included in this thesis:

Hallnäs, L., Melin, L. and Redström, J. (2002). Textile Displays; Using Textiles to Investigate Computational Technology as Design Material. Proceedings of NORDICH Melin, L., Jernström, H., (2003). Interactive Party Textiles.

Proceedings of Human-Computer Interaction INTERACT ´03 Landin, H., Worbin, L. (2004). Fabrication by creating dynamic patterns. Proceedings of PixelRaiders2 Ernevi, A., Eriksson, D., Jacobs, M., Löfgren, U., Mazé, R., Redström, J., Thoresson, J. and Worbin, L. (2005). Tic Tac Textiles. Proceedings of CUMULUS Jacobs, M. Worbin, L (2005). Reach: Dynamic Textile Patterns for Communication and Social Expressions. Proceedings of Extended Abstracts of the conference on CHI 2005 Worbin, L. (2005). Textile Disobedience, when textile patterns start to interact. Revised version of: Worbin, L. (2005). Textile Disobedience, when textile patterns start to interact. Nordic Textile Journal vol. 1 Landin, H. Worbin,L (2005). The Fabrication Bag- An Accessory To a Mobile Phone. Proceedings of Ambience 05

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Here follows a short presentation of the appended papers: Textile Displays; Using Textiles to Investigate Computational Technology as Design Material In this paper, that was also an installation (see Abstract Information Appliances, under exhibitions in this thesis) computational technology was investigated as a design material. By using conceptual textile artefacts that re-interpret elementary acts of using information technology an installation was built. This installation questions the idea of today’s information deliverers, and concerns most qualities of these. For example size, exactly delivered information, and the aesthetics and decoding compared for example with today’s mobile phones.

Interactive Party Textiles In this paper we investigate how a system of textile objects (with ability to change pattern) could work in an ad hoc setup, in this case a party. We worked on a concept for how different types of decorative textile objects may communicate with each other to guide people in an unknown environment and how to calm people down or cheer them up. We made one prototype with textile patterns that changed colour due to sound levels.

Another picked up movements in one fabric and used that information to activate for example a changing colour on another textile object, thus investigating both input and output in different textile objects.

Fabrication by creating dynamic patterns In this paper we investigated different ways of creating a wider range of dynamic textile patterns for communicative aspects. We were learning about smart textile materials and the difference between static (pre-designed) textile patterns that are designed to stay the same during their life time compared with how to design for unpredictable textile patterns.

Tic Tac Textiles This is a project concerning communicative textile surfaces on furniture. The dynamic textile pattern can, in this example, be used to play a game over distance, for decoration or for communication.

Reach: Dynamic Textile Patterns for Communication and Social Expressions Wearable sketches of everyday items with textile patterns that react to and reflect upon the environment resulted in the following prototypes: Reach Out: Hats, environmental pattern, human to human interaction Reach In: Torch bag, reflecting environmental sound Reach Around: A scarf that is changing pattern and temperature due to environmental conditions Textile Disobedience, when textile patterns start to interact Textile Disobedience shows textile patterns that do not behave as we are used to. The project looks at the decoration and aesthetics of textile design, in order to highlight formal rules for how textile patterns in the context of table cloths are used. The aim was to widen the understanding for what a textile pattern actually does and might do.

The Fabrication Bag – An Accessory to a Mobile Phone In this project we were investigating aesthetical and decorative aspects to communicate through. We changed the output of a mobile phone when placed in a bag. Instead of vibration and sound, the textile pattern of the bag is changing when there is a call on the mobile.

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Appended exhibitions In the exhibition part of this thesis, prototypes that have been exhibited as objects for investigation are presented.

Pictures are both from exhibitions and from the making, to illustrate both the process and a ready prototype or textile pattern. The focus is on showing the dynamics of the textile patterns.

The following thesis contains pictures and information about following exhibited projects:

Abstract Information Appliances, exhibited at Borås Museum of Art, Sweden, 2001 The Interactive Pillows, were first exhibited at Formargruppen, Malmö, Sweden in 2002. Since then they have been exhibited both in Europe and in USA. In Sweden the pillows have toured with the travelling exhibition Textile Evolution that has been around Sweden during 2004 and 2005. The exhibition was at the Textile Museum in Borås, Sweden, in October and November, 2004 and has also made one trip to Textilforum, Herning Museum, Denmark during April 16 to June 12, 2005. The second prototypes of The Interactive Pillows were a part of an exhibition at Avantex, Frankfurt, Germany, June 7-9, 2005.

Colour Changing Table Cloth and Growing Pattern, were exhibited at Universeum (Natural Science Discovery Center), Gothenburg, Sweden during March and April 2003 Textile Disobedience, part of the project exhibited at ICSAB Art Club (IKEA Cataloge Service AB), Älmhult, Sweden, September 2003 and at EXIT 2004, Gallery Virrki, Helsinki, Suomi, November 2004 LampCurtain, was exhibited at Advanced Fabric Exhibition at IFAI, San Antonio, Texas, USA, 2005 and was invited to “Designstafetten” and was exhibited at Kulturdepartementet in Stockholm during December 2005 - January 2006.

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PAPERS AND EXHIBITIONS

TEXTILE DISPLAYS/ ABSTRACT INFO. APPLIANCES

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THE INTERACTIVE PILLOWS

COLOUR CHANGING TABLE CLOTH AND GROWING PATTERN

PARTY TEXTILES

FABRICATION

EXHIBITIONs

TIC-TAC-TEXTILES

REACH

TEXTILE DISOBEDIENCE

LAMPCURTAIN

PAPERS

FABRICATION BAG

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Method A new research paradigm

The combination of textile and interaction design has not yet found its community; no tradition is settled in the field because there are not yet any new agreements. Buchanan formulates the complex situation like this: Despite a growing body of research and published result, there is uncertainty about the value of design research, the institutional framework within witch such research should be supported and evaluated, and who should conduct it (Buchanan, 2001).

He also proposes the following: It is a great irony that what was once the new learning is now the old learning, and what was the old learning is now the new learning. For I believe that is what has happened to design; it has become the new learning of our time, opening a pathway to the neoteric disciplines that we need if we are to connected and integrated knowledge from many specializations into productive result for individual and social life (Buchanan, 2001).

Experimental design and practice-based methods have been used, exploring how electronic development could enrich people’s everyday lives. This is described and exemplified in the book Hertzian tales, Electronic Products, Aesthetic Experience and Critical Design (Dunne, 1999). The examples are not art or prototypes for eventual industrially produced objects. The prototypes and conceptual projects exemplify what is technologically possible today; and the method for investigation is experimental design.

In the paper Interaction Relabelling and Extreme Characters: Methods for Exploring Aesthetics Interaction (Djajadiningrat, Gaver & Frens, 2000) prototype building is used to investigate new interaction models.

In this case the prototypes have been given imaginative values and qualities. The prototypes and extreme characters are used to explore new aesthetic values for communication and information sharing.

Thesis method

The method in this thesis is practice-based design research, by experimental design. Practice-based design research is knowledge about things. By experimental design, objects that ask questions are produced. It can further be described as an investigation through the making of an artefact, that can also be seen as the outcome of the research itself. By building prototypes one can visualize an eventual new use of a specific material in specific contexts and design combinations. Practice-based design research can also be described as a method that is searching a for balance between theory and practice.

This thesis investigates new textile materials and their properties, in the field of textile and interaction design. The investigation is basic research. Not aiming to solve any specific or existing problems, but to investigate more unpredictable solutions and results. This thesis combines textile- and interaction design, but a range of other disciplines have also had impact on it, such as; interaction-design, wearable computers, electronics and engineering.

I have carried out investigation in a similar way to the paper Interaction Relabelling and Extreme Characters: Methods for Exploring Aesthetics Interaction (Djajadiningrat, Gaver & Frens, 2000), but instead of focusing on the use and interaction situation, the work at hand focuses on material qualities and the making of dynamic textile patterns. This is then used only as a starting point, a platform for further investigations. The focus is on new situations and values that can emerge when using smart textiles together with computational technology.

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When making experimental design research, the prototype is not a prototype for consumption.

Instead it aims at generating knowledge; knowledge of how to combine new materials and technologies.

By making a prototype one learns more than just working theoretically.

A prototype can be of great importance for understanding and directing new possible scenarios and uses, both for developing the project further and to describe the project for others. Building a prototype is actually a way of describing a new use of (in this case) unfamiliar materials. The combination of materials is in this context textile and computational technology. By making a selection of dynamic textile patterns in different contexts and ranges of material, different design possibilities have been investigated. The textile materials that have been used to investigate the creation of dynamic textile patterns in this thesis are the following materials: thermo-chromic, photo-chromic, conductive and electroluminescent materials.

These are the materials that are used to create the dynamic part of the textile pattern, but also more traditional and well known materials have been used, such as wool, cotton and various effect-yarns. The treatments that have been made using screen print techniques have been applied by hand. The woven textiles that have been made are done by hand or are results of small-scale industrial production.

Practice-based research should not be judged as traditional research result, but as examples of how we may use materials and construct and design artifacts in the future.

In one of the papers presented in this thesis the prototypes have also been designed using a method of anti-examples. Here, the intended use of an artifact is done to make the intended use impossible. This aimed to raise questions in order to achieve a broader understanding for the actual need or use, amongst existing artifact.

This thesis does not communicate in ready-made forms. Like other practice-based research projects, this thesis states the need for a new platform. We are in the beginning of a new research paradigm.

Textile Disobedience, when Textile Patterns start to Interact 19

Result This chapter, concerning the result of creating Dynamic Textile Patterns, is divided in three; The design process, The Projects and New Values.

The design process presents basic experiments with Smart Textiles to create dynamic textile patterns, described in a systematic way. Further on, different kinds of dynamic textile patterns presented in this thesis are described in more detail and placed in a larger context in The Projects. New Values announce the main findings from the different proposed dynamic textile patterns.

The design process Designing a dynamic textile pattern

The making of dynamic textile patterns started in a studio equipped for screen printing textiles. The experiments with new textile materials aimed to explore transformative textile material’s inner qualities.

The material used in most of the project was thermo-chromic ink. But also other materials like photochromic and electroluminescent materials have been used to create dynamic textile patterns. It is the experimental design with thermo-chromic ink that will be exemplified when describing the results of the design process in this chapter.

Sketches with thermo-chromic ink started very intuitively; directly onto textile material, with my existing experience of how to screen print with traditional textile material. Thermo-chromic ink was printed over old textile prints, as a way of warming up. By taking advantage of unexpected outcomes, new approaches and uses appeared. This is something that you can not know or find out in advance; new qualities and approaches will appear when working with them. After an experimental and intuitive period a more systematic work took place, starting with a thermo-chromic screen print on single coloured textile to end up trying to mix this with other pigment colours as well as applying it on different types of fabrics.

The thermo-chromic ink used in the experiment presented in this thesis is reacting with a colour change from 35ºC. The colour is water based pigment and the colour range is blue, orange, green, magenta and grey. The thermo-chromic ink (TCI) is highly concentrated and needs to be mixed with emulsion and then blended individually to extend the colour range and shade.

Thermo-chromic screen print ink on a single coloured textile To begin with, the concentrated thermo-chromic ink (TCI) was mixed with different amounts of emulsion and applied on a single coloured white textile in order to get different shades. When the TCI is not mixed with ordinary textile pigment, the colour seems to disappear when heated. Depending on the amount of TCI, more or less shades will be seen. The colour is thus not totally disappearing. But the less TCI that is used, the harder it is to notice the shade.

Thermo-chromic screen print ink on a coloured/patterned textile The next step was to make a TCI print on a single coloured textile. A black textile was used, and the colour then changed from coloured into grey shades when heated. To be able to make a coloured print on a black fabric, the amount of TCI needs to be higher than when printing on a white fabric (similar to traditional printing).

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Another alternative is to use the colour in the fabric and the one on the print to create a third colour.

For example, if mixing a transparent blue and printing this on a yellow fabric, the print will look green.

In traditional screen printing this is also used and is a way of overlapping colours to create a new one, but it is hard to adjust and control an overlapping.

Thermo- chromic screen print ink mixed with textile pigment onto a single coloured textile When TCI is mixed with traditional pigment colour, two different ways have been tried out, both by mixing the colours before screen printing and by screen printing in separate layers.

When mixing TCI and pigment colour, the colour no longer seems to disappear when heated, instead it changes colour. When mixing pigment in the TCI even the TCI is affected in its unheated state. For example if blue TCI is mixed with yellow pigment there will be a green colour to print with. When the colour is heated up, the blue colour disappears and the yellow is left.

Blue TCI + yellow pigment = green, when not heated Blue TCI + yellow pigment = yellow, when heated This is just like using traditional rules for mixing colours with eachother. Why the thermo-chromic ink can change from one to another colour is because of its transparency (and that is adjusted by the amount of emulsion.)

Thermo-chromic screen print ink mixed with textile pigment onto a coloured/patterned textile In this mixture, further colours and design parameters appear. Colours are enriched, by being blended with each other, to create new colours and as a way of “hiding” a pattern within a pattern. For example, a red colour was mixed out of thermo-chromic ink and orange pigment colour. When printed on a red and white pattern and then heated up the white part of the woven textile turns into orange.

Different printing styles, like direct printing or overprinting get new properties when using thermo-chromic ink instead of traditional pigment.

Activation of a thermo-chromic print

To investigate different activator’s abilities to achieve a colour change on a thermo-chromically screen printed textile, different ways to heat up and achieve a dynamic textile pattern have been tried out.

Activated from the surface has been tried out by using the heat from the body, hot objects like cups with hot liquid and by ironing, hot air steam (from radiators and fans) and heat from the sun. The thermo-chromic reaction is activated by direct contact with a hot object or by hot air flow.

Activated from underneath has been tried out using heat from heat pads like electrical blankets and in car seats and hot air (from radiators and fans). Different conductive materials have been bonded (placed in-between layers of textiles). The different materials are carbon fibre and Kanthal threads.

Specially designed heat elements have also been designed and manufactured by Calesco Foil. The thermo-chromic reaction is activated by direct contact with a hot object, by hot air flow or by turning the electrical circuits on and off.

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Activated by heat element integrated into the textile has been tried out by making a textile that partly consists of heat elements in itself. The thermo-chromic reaction is activated by direct contact with a hot object, by hot air flow or by turning the electric circuits on and off.

Other parameters that have been investigated to initiate a colour change are textile structures. The structure and thus the distance from the heat source are affecting the visual outcome of the textile pattern.

Experiments have been made with pleated and more irregular structures achieved by shrinking. Then the colour change is depending on the time it takes for the heat to rise in the fabric. This is investigated and described in the paper “Textile Disobedience”, in the shape of a brown pleated textile that changes into orange.

The Projects

After designing dynamic textile patterns in an experimental and systematic way, the knowledge was applied in different projects. In the projects, the potential of how to design and use different types of dynamic textile patterns in different contexts is visualised. Here the textile and interaction design view of the projects will be in focus, trying to highlight my contribution and interest in the making and use of dynamic textile patterns. The thesis’ projects (papers and exhibitions) will be presented in chronological order, although some of the projects overlap more or less in time and ideas.

Textile Displays; Using Textiles to Investigate Computational Technology as Design Material

This paper was also a part of an installation; Abstract Information Appliances.

The installation, the room and the fabric were all white, and to be able to find any “information” visitors had to use a special instrument. That tool was an ultraviolet lamp that made the information on the textile fragment readable. This information tool focused more on beauty than on sending precise data.

The textile in this project was a part of the display for the information. The dynamic textile pattern in this project is changing from one to another pre-designed pattern.

The Abstract Information Appliance was a big, poetic, and aesthetic installation. We built a podium with the size of 3,5x 6 metres, 40 cm high. From that, ten transparent plastic tubes rose from holes in the podium. Under the podium, electric fans were placed. The fans were controlled by micro-controllers and the airflow delivered fragments of fabric.

Each tube had its own collection of news. Words were collected from old and new events during the 20th century, such as the first man on the moon, the nuclear accident in Chernobyl. A computer program recorded and played back real-time radio news; this started the fans and delivered fragmented words from old news. Each day 50 pieces of fabric were delivered out to the podium from each tube.

The room and the installation were growing in size and aesthetic.

The collection of the installation’s ten themes was done using cotton and polyester fabric with some different after-treatments like optical whitener and silicone. To be able to design a textile pattern that could come and go, and to hide a text message the following treatments were used; optical whitener, photo-chromic ink and white blocking-paste. The treatments were applied by handmade silk screen.

One principle for making the textile fragment collection dynamic was that white fabric, treated with optical whitener was printed with white silk screen paste. This principle was also used the other way 22

around; a print in with optical whitener was made onto a different white fabric that was not treated with optical whitener. Other fragments from the collection were made using a photo-chromic silk screen paste on a white fabric. The photo-chromic materials change colour due to light conditions, in this case colour changes from white to purple or yellow. The colour change depends on light intensity and time of exposure. If exposed briefly with a ultraviolet-lamp (UV), the material stays coloured for around 15-30 seconds and then goes back to the original plain white.

All textile fragments were also given a specific design and way of delivering the message. For example; in the collection from “the first man on the moon” materials were shaped and treated to land like a Moon Lander on the podium.

There were two different approaches in how the dynamic textile pattern appeared in the collection. In one case the message was visible only when exposed to UV-light and the other was developed by UV-light.

The Interactive Pillows

In this project, the textile pattern was designed to communicate emotions over distance. The Interactive Pillows consists of two pillows; each with an individual expression. The pillows are programmed to change textile pattern when an activity takes place around one of the pillows. The textile construction involves electroluminescent wire and by turning the electrical current on or off the pattern changes. One pillow features a futuristic and modern design and does not change so much in its expression, it is more a pattern that starts to light up. The other pillow has more of a traditional design in colour, shapes and materials. This pillow gives a bigger surprise when activated, as it changes into a modern pattern.

This is done by hiding the technology in the construction of the weave. The construction of this pillow also gives a textile that is softer and nicer to have close to your skin, compared to the more modern pillow.

The dynamic textile pattern in this project is changing from one to another pre-designed pattern.

The changing is depending on an input to turn electrical current on or off; in this case the input comes from a pressure sensors activated by for example a hug. The light element is integrated in the textile and the sensors are hidden in the object.

Colour Changing Table Cloth and Growing Pattern

This textile pattern is pre-designed to have a specific look when exposed to ultraviolet light and another when not. An added value is integrated by combining materials that can and can not change colour.

By making an object that is to be placed in a window (as a curtain) the context of a home environment becomes important in order to achieve the temporal textile pattern. The changes can also be developed using a UV-lamp as in the Abstract Information Appliances. On the textile Colour Changing Table Cloth, that is a single coloured textile, the pattern was made by exposing some parts of the textile to UV-light. For this plain fabric some experiments were made with “drawing” with UV-light over specific areas of the textile surface (Holmquist, L.E. and Melin, L.). This kind of textile material is a bit similar to work with as to developing a photo. But compared to developing a photo, the main changes are that the changes in the textiles are temporal.

The dynamic textile pattern in this project changes from one to another pre-designed pattern. The changing is dependent on context, the light conditions and/or external lightning tools.

The patterns Colour Changing Table Cloth and Growing Pattern were made as a small scale industrially produced textiles. These were produced at Ludvig Svensson AB. They were made without the influence 23

from daylight, so we could not view the actual pattern if we were not not using a UV-lamp. At this point a new tool was added into the weaving department, a UV-lamp. Â Interactive Party Textiles

In this project, a system of textile objects is used both for input and output using textile patterns and external sensors. In one example we made a textile pattern (table cloth) that changed textile pattern depending on sound. Aiming to be of help when starting a conversation, it would also work the other way around, to calm people down in a loud conversation. Other textile objects were used to pick up movements from people moving around in a set up environment.

With regard to these different steps, a dynamic textile pattern was created: - Design and choice of a computational system, activated by environmental stimuli - A system for different textile and computational objects - Designing one dynamic textile pattern with the inherent possibility to change into one or several different textile patterns This project consists of four different textile objects: table cloth, drapery and two wall hangings. The textile pattern on the table cloth can express six different combinations of three interwoven patterns. In the drapery, the textile is used to pick up information/movements by people, in this case by a small sensor embedded in the textile. In the table cloth reacting to sound, a small sensor is attached to the fabric and programmed to turn the textile pattern on and off in different combinations. In this experiment, we also found solutions to send out electricity in the construction of a weave to supply the electroluminescent film placed on different locations on the textile. The textile samples were hand-made out of electroluminescent material (wire and film) mixed with wool and carbon yarn. Textiles were woven in a shaft weave with some parts made as a double weave. In the samples, conductive yarn was hidden on the back of the fabric and small pockets were made on top (where the conductive yarn could supply for example an attached electroluminescent part). In this project we used sensors to send and pick up signals in the environment and to activate the output in the dynamic textile pattern, thus investigating both input and output in different textile objects. The dynamic textile pattern in this project is changing from one to a possible seven other combinations of three pre-designed patterns. The changing is depending on input/output from sensors that turn electricity on or off. Fabrication by Creating Dynamic Patterns

This project had an experimental approach concerning the creation of a dynamic textile patterns and the influence of the programming on these. Thermo-chromic ink and different kinds of heat elements were used. The heat elements were programmed to be turned on and off on different occasions and different levels of pre-designed textile patterns were investigated.

The dynamic textile pattern in this project is built up and investigated in two different ways: 1) Pre-designed textile patterns built up depending on a matrix of heat elements similar to a pixel based display. The changing is activated depending on a computer program that is turning electrical current on or off in the different parts of the matrix.

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2) Non pre-designed textile patterns are made using thermo-chromic ink on one textile, with a separate textile underneath. When and if the two layers are getting in contact with each other, a colour change will appear. The size and shape depend on the temperature and the closeness in-between the objects.

Tic-Tac-Textiles

In this project, the dynamic textile pattern is changing according to hot objects placed on top and depending on the heat elements placed under a thermo-chromically treated table cloth. Hot cups both make a mark/pattern on the table cloth and activate a signal on the other table cloth. That signal then heats the element under the table cloth.

The dynamic textile pattern in this project is constructed in a similar way as proposed in the project Fabrication by Creating Dynamic Patterns. Specially designed heat elements were placed under a thermochromic treated textile. But in this project the heat elements were specially designed to look like a game board for the game tic-tac-toe. Circles and a cross were integrated in one specially designed heat element . The changes in the textile pattern were then activated by a program that turns the individual circuits, in the heat element, on or off.

Reach: Dynamic Textile Patterns for Communication and Social Expressions

The dynamic textile patterns in this project are visualised in three different prototypes; a pair of hats, a scarf and a bag.

The pair of hats feature having individual textile patterns. The textile patterns on the two hats then change and share the individual expression. On one hat there are dots, and on the other there is an organic shape. When the hats are close together, dots appear on the hat with an organic shape. On the hat with dots, an organic shape is appearing and the two different hats combine their individual aesthetic language to create a new textile pattern.

A heat element is, together with the shape of the printed thermo-chromic shapes, building up the shape of a graphic flower.

The scarf and the bag are reacting to environmental stimuli. The scarf reacts to heat, and can both create and change colour according to temperature. The heat element is not only used to create a colour change, it is also used to heat the person wearing the object. The bag is reacting to sound in the environment.

Electroluminescent films are interwoven and placed in-between a diffusing layer of transparent textiles and are lighting up according to and reflecting the sound levels in the surroundings. The dynamic expression is activated by turning the electronic circuits on or off.

Textile Disobedience – when textile patterns start to interact

To learn more about the decoration’s inherent qualities, three table cloths were made. The table cloth project was investigating traditional materials in a disobedient approach, to be able to re-think textile patterns. The disobedient approach was a way of visualizing a question of what a textile pattern is,

Produced by Calesco Foil 25

carried out in the following table cloths; Falling Cloth (a table cloth that falls of the table if placed with the decoration in a symmetrical way on a table), Structure Cloth (a table cloth with a decoration in a very rough swell print that makes it impossible to place small objects on top) and Traditional Cloth, where contrast between tradition and invisible rules is exemplified. These experimental table cloths feature textile patterns that do not behave as expected.

Furthermore, some examples of textile patterns that do not behave as expected were created using smart textiles. In the textile pattern “Rather Boring”, a message is hidden in a textile pattern. By using hot objects on top one can search and reveal a hidden pattern.

This textile pattern is made using both thermo-chromic and ordinary textile print. The textile pattern is pre-designed and will be showing the hidden parts of the pattern, depending on when different parts of the pattern are heated. In this case it was of great importance to mix – exactly – the same colour in two different materials, the thermo-chromic and pigment ink. The hidden pattern needs to be well hidden; otherwise the pattern and the surprise will be ruined. This kind of pattern is hard to make by hand, but will probably be easier to make in an industrial way. Instead of making a table cloth where the pattern was made by the objects placed on top, the hot objects were used to decode a hidden pattern.

Another dynamic textile pattern made in this project is the textile pattern “Being Squared”. In this pattern, heat elements were integrated directly into the weave. No external objects were needed to create a colour change on the thermo-chromic print on top. Compared with the Reach project where the heat element was sandwiched on the back of a ready-made fabric, the “Being Square” was further developed and heat elements were integrated directly into the textile. The work suggests how a textile pattern can be built up in different layers using thermo-chromic material, cotton and carbon fibres to create a dynamic textile pattern. By integrating heat elements, the creation of dynamic textile patterns is coming closer the nature of textiles.

LampCurtain

In this project, a textile object with a dynamic textile pattern was made. The textile could be both a lamp and a more traditional curtain. In Sweden, windows are often decorated with a lamp and a curtain, and so the idea to make a textile object with light integrated started. The project is also strongly influenced by the Interactive Pillows, but the integration of technology is further developed and made in an industrial loom. The dynamic textile pattern in this project consists of an electro-luminescent wire that is integrated in a weave made out of wool and other materials. The changes in the activation depends on whether the electricity is turned on or off manually.

The Fabrication Bag – An Accessory to a Mobile Phone

The Fabrication Bag is a working prototype that can be carried around in everyday life.

This prototype, which is a bag that is also an accessory to a mobile phone, changes its textile pattern on the surface according to the activity in the mobile phone. The dynamic textile pattern changes from grey to colourful when there is a call or a text message is received in the mobile phone.

The project uses the context of a bag and a phone to create a wider understanding of what dynamic textile patterns can be used for. The project includes learning about materials, design, constructions and the final programming. A range of screen printed textile patterns out of thermo-chromic ink has been made, 26

in which the patterns have been made with respect to the design and programming of underlying heat elements. The printed thermo-chromic patterns were made in different grey shades with the ability to change into bright colours like pink, yellow, green and orange. The shape of the pattern is small dots. These change from grey to coloured depending on if and when they are heated from the heat elements underneath.

The construction of the dynamic textile pattern is building on both Fabrication by Creating Dynamic Patterns and Tic Tac Textiles projects. The dynamic textile pattern in this project is made out of thermochromic ink mixed with pigment. The pattern will change into different colours and amounts depending on how the heat element under the textile is programmed to be turned on or off. Reflections

If I would write the first paper Textile Displays; Using Textiles to Investigate Computational Technology as Design Material from my perspective today, I would turn the title around and name it; Computational Displays; Using Computational Technology to Investigate Textiles Design as a Communication Material.

In that project, computational technology was used to investigate how a textile pattern and its decorative aspects can be used to communicate and inform by its ability to change from one to another expression.

From the mentioned paper an installation was also made, the Abstract Information Appliances. In this installation, dynamic textile patterns are used for communication. The information is delivered in an unpredictable way and the users have to decode a message using UV-light.

In the next project, The Interactive Pillows, the textile pattern is in one sense similar to the first example.

The textile patterns have two different expressions. These can be seen as an on or off state; plain or decorated with a message or pattern. In the pillows, the same object is used for both input and output. The pillows are also building a small system in-between two textile objects; each with a dynamic textile pattern that is expressing information.

The dynamic textile patterns in the pillows are integrated into the weave of the textile. Compared with the first project, ready-made fabric was used and given an after-treatment. In the first example an extended tool is needed, which is not needed in the latter project with technology integrated directly in the construction of the textile.

In the textile pattern Colour Changing Table Cloth and Curtain with Growing Pattern, the textile pattern is in changing when exposed to to UV-light. The textile is made as a curtain and table cloth and the textile pattern is changing depending on environmental stimuli, but can also be changed by artificial UV-light. The curtain’s pattern is meant to be an exploration of how a visual pattern can change to another. This is a further development from the earlier textile patterns where a message or decoration is appearing from a single coloured textile surface. By making a visual pattern that is seen from the beginning and then changes into another design, a new value is highlighted. Instead of being plain and changing into a pattern, one shape is changing from one to another. This is a very simple example, but might be base for a new generation of textiles that actually interact with the surroundings in a more or less unpredictable way without electronic needs.

In Interactive Party Textiles, a system of textile objects (with ability to change pattern) in an indoor ad hoc setup was investigated. We worked on a concept of how different types of decorative textile objects may communicate with eachother to guide people in an unknown environment. We also wanted to use information from human movements and sound as input and textile patterns as output. Prototypes of textile patterns that changed pattern in response to different kinds of sound levels and movements were made.

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The input is more ambient than in both the Abstract Information Appliances and The Interactive Pillows and the range of possible outputs is more extensive. In one of the textiles, three pre-designed patterns can appear and depending on programming the combinations of the three can end up in seven different combinations. The aim with a range of dynamic textile patterns was to use the different expressions to communicate silence or to initate a discussion. In the textile samples, the dynamic textile aspects as well as the integration of electronics in textile were investigated.

In the project Fabrication by Creating Dynamic Patterns, less pre-designed textile patterns were explored. A matrix made out of heat elements with the shape of nine squares, that could build up different textile patterns separately was designed and controlled by a program. A larger amount of expressions was then achieved. The pattern is constructed this way and built up in a similar way as if displayed on a display with a small number of pixels. In this project, some examples of how to design for more unpredictable textile patterns were also investigated. For example; by experimenting with one moving textile structure (out of thermo-chromic material), mounted in a flexible way over a heat element.

In the project Tic-Tac-Textiles, the textile is becoming an interactive surface for communication over distance. The dynamic textile pattern in this project is a bit similar to the Interactive Pillows, as well as the idea of communication between textile objects over distance. The dynamic textile pattern is building on the knowledge from the project Fabrication by Creating Dynamic Patterns. The added value in this project is a pair of working prototypes that are using dynamic textile patterns in a game (and communication) context over distance. In this project, the design of a dynamic textile pattern is going from the actual textile to the objects around it. It is the shape of the porcelain and the heat element that are appearing as visual expressions on the fabric.

In Reach: Dynamic Textile Patterns for Communication and Social Expressions, textile patterns are reacting to environmental stimuli with changes in the textile pattern. The dynamic textile patterns are used to communicate closeness to other people, to visualize sound or temperature in personal and wearable garments. This project is building on the project Interactive Party Textiles in the sense that the patterns react to sound and temperature, but here they do so in a wearable solution.

The system is built on either closeness to another specific object or to temperature in the environment or activated by sound level. The design of the dynamic textile pattern is not yet integrated in the textile; surface treatments with heat elements are placed in a layer under the textile, light elements are diffused under a transparent and structured textile.

In the next project, Textile Disobedience, when textile patterns start to interact, the integration of technology into textile material is explored. Textile Disobedience also shows textile patterns that do not behave as we are used to. By an investigation focusing on textile- and interaction design, dynamic textile pattern qualities are highlighted. The work looks at the aesthetics of textile design, and tries to change formal rules for how textile patterns in the context of table cloths are used. One important aspect in this project was to understand what a dynamic textile pattern, compared to an ordinary textile pattern, could fulfil. The work suggests how technology can be integrated in textiles and how a textile pattern can be created with regard to different features: the design of the fabric (for example in the construction of the weave), the design and choice of after-treatment (for example printing), the design of the program that controls the different components/materials in the fabric (for example measure of time), the use of and the context of the dynamic textile pattern (for example closeness to other objects). In this textile pattern, another interesting parameter concerning the design issues is the creation of checks on the patterns; the size is adjusted depending on the voltage in the textile. The higher the voltage to the heat element, a larger size of the pattern is “disappearing�. That is because the higher voltage also creates a hotter part 28

of the textile that will spread to the enclosed materials. In a way one can look at this as designing textile patterns with electricity.

LampCurtain is a project made at the edge of textile disobedience. It is not quite a dynamic textile pattern, it is more of a multifunctional textile; a lamp and a curtain. The LampCurtain is made using similar technique and materials as The Interactive Pillows.

The last project presented in this thesis is The Fabrication Bag – An Accessory to a Mobile Phone.

This is a working prototype of a dynamic textile pattern that can be carried around in everyday life.

The project includes knowledge from many earlier projects, especially with respect to the definition of “levels” first mentioned in the Textile Disobedience, when textile patterns start to interact. By making this kind of prototypes, that relate to an everyday context, a wider understanding for what this kind of dynamic textile patterns can be suited for will be exemplified. Dynamic textile patterns can be used in a more subtle way of communicating – not to replace existing information channels and tools – but to balance the way information is displayed in both private and public environments. In this project, the expressional possibilities of computational technology, in a combination with textile patterns, are investigated through a combination of the two. Textiles and computational technology build on each other. If compared with the pillows that are much about turning on or off a textile pattern, the fabrication bag is more nuanced in the way it is communicating. The Fabrication Bag is not only using on or off modes, it is in a more subtle way using aesthetic decoration for sharing information.

New values Changes in the design process

First, smart textile materials were investigated in an experimental way, and then the notion of a change in the design process regarding smart textiles appeared. Both input and output, with and without the influence of computational technology, are collaborating when building a dynamic textile pattern. This is described as different layers, each with more or less complexity in the construction of the dynamic textile pattern. The idea of thinking in layered structures was more or less obviously used when designing and constructing the prototype and scenario for a dynamic textile pattern; the design (construction, material choice, colours and shapes), after-treatments, programming (time) and use (context). These parameters have been more or less investigated in the different projects to come closer to the potential of these new smart textile materials, but there has been a lack of balance in between the layers in the project. The different layers have not yet been integrated with the same respect in all projects. The main focus, from my perspective, has been on the design, construction, material choice, after treatments, colours and shape and how to design with these smart textile materials. When learning about the basics of smart textiles, the other layers have influenced the potentials of the other layers more and more. As a result of making dynamic textile patterns, the tools and the design process for designing for textiles have been changed. Still, one can use more traditional ways of designing textile patterns for smart textiles, but to extend the use and find their potential the design process needs to be reconsidered.

New smart textile materials and treatments have opened up for new ways of designing textile patterns.

By thinking in different “layers” one can identify and take advantage of the different aspects separately, to be able to build a more complex textile pattern. The layers that create the structures in the making of dynamic textile patterns that have been identified in this thesis are the following:

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Layer 1 Design (construction, material choice, colours and shapes and design tools) Layer 2 After-treatments Layer 3 Programming and time Layer 4 Use and context Design process, construction and material Depending on what materials that will be used when making a textile, for example in a woven structure, the construction and the choice of material are of importance for the rest of the decisions that will be taken in the other layers.

After-treatments An after-treatment can for example be a textile print on a textile, but also eventual final electrical connections.

Programming / Time When making dynamic textile patterns, the role of time becomes more visible and important than in more traditional textile design. A dynamic textile pattern has got a range of aesthetic expressions inherent in the textile, changing over time. When and for how long time a specific current will be turned on or off is decided when writing a program. Because some of the dynamic textile pattern is changing only because of electrical current the actual programming is an active part of the visible output on the textiles’ surface.

The time a specific current is on or off is actually an active part of a design of a dynamic textile pattern. Â Use and context The use situation and context, for example closeness to other objects or the influence of other objects can be affecting and even developing a dynamic textile pattern.

All these different layers need to be considered both in separately and in combination with eachother.

To exemplify this further, the textile pattern Being Squared will be used as an example of how the four different layers may affect and build on each other. It is a prototype of a textile pattern that can change from stripes into squares and back into stripes.

Layer 1; a weave that is designed out of cotton and carbon fibre Layer 2; on top of the weave a print in thermo-chromic ink is made Layer 3; the programming, that is deciding when and for how long time the power will be turned on and off in the carbon fibres, is deciding for how long time the striped pattern will appear as checks.

Layer 4; the context, in this case the dynamic textile patterns closeness to a static textile pattern, with grey checks in the same size that the dynamic textile pattern turns into.

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The pattern Being Squared is presented in the paper Textile Disobedience, when Textile Patterns start to Interact.

How to design dynamic textile patterns has been exemplified by the use of thermo-chromic materials and treatments, but the same layer principle can be applied to the design of other textile materials and treatments with abilities to change colour. What activates the change can for example be either electrical current (electroluminescent material) or light (photo-chromic material).

Added values in dyn amic textile patterns

Objects, system and environment A range of different textile patterns are made in this thesis and some patterns are made in close connection to a specific context; The Interactive Pillows, Tic-Tac-Textiles, Reach, Fabrication Bag, LampCurtain and the Curtain with Growing Pattern. The mentioned textile patterns are in some cases also made as specific objects to be able to fulfill the dynamic of a textile pattern. The Tic-Tac-Textile, where the dynamics in the textile pattern are due to the act and system of having hot objects on top of a textile surface, in this case a table cloth, is closely connected to having a hot objects on top of the table cloth. The fabrication bag is closely connected to an ongoing activity in another object, the mobile phone. The dynamic textile pattern in this case does not specifically need to be displayed as, or on a bag. In this case the bag is less important for the creation of the textile pattern. The bag as an object is chosen for its mobility and is thus connected to a more flexible lifestyle. For people located in a specific environment, the “display” can be integrated in other objects, for example curtains, walls or furniture. The project Interactive Party Textiles is integrating an ad hoc system with dynamic textile patterns in an existing environment. The dynamic textile pattern is flexible and can be carried around and reflecting different environment, as in the Reach Bag. The Abstract Information Appliances is an object placed in one area and people/users come to the object; the same goes with the Tic-Tac-Textiles object.

A dynamic textile pattern may appear depending on other objects in the surroundings, environmental conditions or as being a part of a built up system.

More or less obvious to notice A dynamic textile pattern may be more or less easy to notice for the user. In the textile patterns with light integrated it is for example more obvious and easy to notice a change compared to those made with thermo-chromic ink. When the textile lights up it tells that something is happening (it could be interesting to change that program so it is the other way around). Light is integrated in the Interactive Pillows, Interactive Party Textiles, Reach Bag and LampCurtain. The dynamic textile patterns made out of thermo-chromic and photo-chromic material need a more alert user as the changes in the pattern are less obvious compared with electro-luminescent light materials. A thermo-chromic or a photo-chromic pattern needs to be experienced or viewed over a longer period of time. For example, the Curtain with Growing Pattern (that changes in UV-light) has one pattern during daytime (daylight) and another pattern during nights or dull days. If one spends time near the curtain only during nighttime it would be hard to notice a change in the textile pattern. This textile pattern needs to be viewed both before and after, or during the changes. The change takes time to notice in this context. But if the same material would be used for clothing, the changes would appear when moving in- and outdoors.

Textile patterns made out of thermo-chromic ink are similar in the way they are noticed. You either need to be very alert and know what will happen, or view the pattern before, during and after the changing.

This creates an opportunity to create more personal and private ways to communicate through.

Dynamic textile patterns open up for an integration of information capabilities into existing environments and objects.

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Who is the designer?

The making of a textile pattern can be shifting from the designer to the user. One could look at some of the smart textiles as a way of designing for designing, to give a number of possibilities to the user.

The design of the textile may very well be shifting from the structure of the textile to other objects, as in tic-tac-textiles to the porcelain or the heat elements. Smart textile materials can also be used to hide a textile pattern in another. One example is the textile pattern Rather Boring that is a printed pattern hidden in another printed pattern, a surface pattern. The Interactive Pillows and the LampCurtain are also in one way hiding a pattern, this in the construction of the weave. Â Decoration and/or information?

In many of the projects presented in this thesis, the dynamic textile patterns can be seen as textile displays. The decoration is not only a surface decoration; it is delivering information by its possibility to change appearance.

In the projects Abstract Information Appliances, Tic-tac-textiles, The Interactive Pillows, Interactive Party Textiles, Reach and in the Fabrication Bag the textile pattern is thus its ability to change pattern, and is also used for sharing information.

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Conclusion This thesis shows that traditional decorative textile patterns can be used for more than their traditional decorative purpose. This is possible when the textile pattern is designed for smart textiles and designed as a dynamic textile pattern. One potential of a dynamic textile pattern is that it may be used for sharing information. The main findings are thus; the design process is changing when designing for dynamic textile patterns. The use of smart textile materials and prototypes shows that dynamic textile patterns have got an extended use concerning the sharing of information.

The design process is changing

Compared to a traditional textile design process, where the textile pattern is translated from one media to another, Smart Textile materials need to be handled in another way. Smart Textile materials can of course be used in similar ways as traditional textile treatments and materials are used. But, to be able to take advantage of new material’s inner qualities, new aspects concerning the design process need to be taken into consideration. The design process of dynamic textile patterns is thus not the same as in traditional textile design. For those familiar with traditional textile pattern design, the design of a dynamic textile pattern can be seen a bit like colour separating of a textile pattern, where one is making different frames for different shapes and colours. But in the making of dynamic textile patterns each frame can also be used and seen as one single pattern.

The design process in designing a textile pattern in Smart Textiles is affected by the construction of the textile pattern, how the change is activated and what context the textile pattern is placed in. In this thesis, that has lead to thinking about the designing of dynamic patterns in layers. These different layers are cooperating to create a dynamic textile pattern. The identified layers are; design (construction), after-treatments, programming (time) and use (context).

Even the way of teaching textile design must change, if the area of smart textiles should be further developed in that discipline. If not, there is a risk that other professions will take over the role of the former textile designer in this regard. Also, Wiberg is raising the question if there is not a need for a new profession in the book The Textile Designer and the Art of Design, on the formation of a profession in Finland (Wiberg, 1996). The textile designer can not come in and do a kind of styling in the end of the development; the aesthetics is the interface and invite to using a product. Materials are closely connected and interwoven on a much deeper level than on the surface.

The use of dynamic textile patterns for sharing information

A decoration that can change from one pattern to another can be used for more than its decorative purpose.

Thus, a textile pattern that changes from one to another can be used for sharing information.

When information is becoming more and more important, persons with access to information will be the ones with power. The projects in this thesis encourage a combination of aesthetics and information.

Instead of making an “empty” decoration onto objects, the decoration will contain information in a wider sense. Then the decoding of specific information may become more individual due to its possibilities to be more integrated in different objects in our private surroundings. The different dynamic textile patterns in this thesis can be seen as multifunctional textile objects or textile displays.

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Future work Experimental design

A higher abstraction level will be employed to exemplify dynamic textile patterns. These will be further developed and suited both for personal and public needs and integrated in intelligent and ambient environments and systems. Depending on what information that should be transformed and displayed, different output surfaces, materials and objects need to be further developed by experimental design.

The next step is to combine all the layers’ impact in a more balanced way when creating a textile pattern.

From that point the challenge will be to use the layer “thinking” in the design process, to be able to achieve a new system. In this system the layers will be “erased” and instead fully integrated in a new way of thinking; a new way of designing and using textile patterns. In this case the change of aesthetic expression will be designed only by the execution of a new program.

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