The brief was to produce a piece of physical computing based on Kenya Hara’s Haptic design philosophy.
Haptic means to awaken the senses, and my project ‘Phos’ (means light in Greek) aims to stimulate the senses through a haptic way and to deliver a very low-tech experience using a combination of low/high-tech methods.
‘Phos’ project is based on personal experience, connected strongly to my cultural background combined with my current experience (as a Greek individual) living in London, and the feeling of light deprivation.
One of the main challenges was to deliver an experience that has no time restrictions (enjoying the sun), under time limitation, in order to enhance the importance of the real experience and to transfer an outdoor activity, into an indoor small space. The desired outcome is to awaken the senses of the user by creating nostalgia and an atmosphere in their minds that would lead them to a customized personal experience. In addition, I wanted to simulate the instinctively gesture of a person that looks up to the sun in order to feel the warmth.
When the user is seated on the deck chair – the warm light and sea sound switch on.
I went for User Research one sunny day in Brighton and observed people’s behaviors towards the sun and sea sounds.
I’ve tried many different sensors for my installation and in the end I’ve used the Pressure Sensor, which I attached on the legs of the deck chair, to trigger the light and sound.
