PROJECT
EXPLORING SENSORY EXPERIENCES
- Timeline - 1 Week
- Team Members - Alex Newson, Zhaolu Song, Cat Achieng, Max Hain
- Location- 51°30’47.1”N 0°05’37.4”W
- Key Deliverables - An Embodied Experience / Prototype
My first project assignment at UAL was the UX of Human Senses.The main goal for this project was to design an experience that explores the human senses. The task was to discover different means in how personal contact could be maintained amongst us (group members) whilst exploring a large area within the given location coordinates in London.
The MA:UX class was divided into groups of 3 or 4 members and each of the groups were provided with GPS coordinates for the meeting locations.
The Human Senses by Basti Steinhauer (Noun Project)
MEETING AT THE LOCATION
Our group met on a Friday (October 23rd 2020) at 10am at our allocated meetup location: 73 Watling St, London EC4M 9BJ. We immediately started to discuss different human senses we could explore.
Meeting Location: 73 Watling Street , London, EC4M 9BJ
EXPLORATION
EXPLORING THE 5 HUMAN SENSES
We began by brainstorming different objects and exploring Watling Street in order to complete our first task. We started by exploring the five human senses:
- Sight – Inspired by the ‘broken telephone’ game, we all scattered far away from each other forming a long line along the street. Each one of us could only see one other team member and the rest were out of visibility. The first person would make hand gestures that were then coordinated by the next person in line and so on.
- Sound – We discovered that there were metal clanking and loud drilling noises coming from a construction site. Each of us then scattered to different spots around the construction site and we realized that we could all hear the noises even though we were not visible to each other.
- Smell – As we were walking up and down the street we noted smells from the different shops. We were able to smell freshly brewed Coffee, a hint of asphalt from the construction site and baked pastries from the bakery. We also experimented with other scents from perfumes.
- Taste – Upon smelling the freshly baked pastries, we caved in and treated ourselves by indulging in brownies from the bakery that is located on Watling Street.
- Touch – We knotted the arms of our jackets/coats together and used it as rope to coordinate different movements such as tugging, shaking, pulling etc.
5 Human Senses – Exploration Exercises
EXPLORING PROPRIOCEPTIVE SENSES
In the second half of the day we began our next task which was to spread over a larger area from our meeting, whilst maintaining contact with each other. The main goal was to ensure that we increased the feelings of togetherness using cunning and surprising ways of staying in contact with each other.
We explored the following proprioceptive sensory experiences:
Stepping Off
Two group members (Alex and Max) with their eyes closed, walked along the pavement and stepped off it. This created a surprise element because they didn’t know where the pavement ends.
Dancing
We all danced to the ‘Baby Shark’ song. Alex was the choreographer and the rest of us imitated his dance movements.
Spinning
We spun around for ten seconds then walked away whilst trying to maintain an upright walking balance. This was a fun exercise and we were able to warm up our bodies as a result.
Reflections
At a nearby mall, we found a section that had many mirrors. We experimented with various ways of maintaining visibility whilst being away from each other.
Exploring Proprioceptive Senses.
Once we explored the location in London, our next task was to replicate and communicate the richness of the sensory connections that we explored and bring it back to the UX studio for others to experience.
Sensing Togetherness. Video Credit: Zhaolu S.
REFERENCES
- Centre For Autism, (n.d.), Proprioceptive. [online] Available at: https://sensory-processing.middletownautism.com/sensory-strategies/strategies-according-to-sense/proprioceptive/ [Accessed 24 October 2020]