For the direction I want to head in for the final project I’ve chosen wearables. Specifically I want to get into emotion and how we can communicate emotions, feelings, and sensations through devices that are meant to be worn. Below are several examples from academia, industry, and art that show some of these concepts.

Apple Watch (Industry):

The biggest news out of the commercial wearables market this Fall was Apple’s Watch. There are many cool aspects to the device, but I the ones I find most inspiring are the sharing features (mentioned towards the video). Via the watch you can send drawings or messages to another watch as well as your heartbeat. I think the latter is a really interesting concept since there is such a personal and affection connection to the concept of one’s heartbeat. Additionally the device uses a series of haptic sensors to give the user feedback which I think is critical for a wearable.

InTouch (Academic):

Paper: ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=840362&tag=1

InTouch is a system that uses haptic feedback to give users a physical interaction with digital content. In this application, the system allows users to manipulate 3D surfaces and meshes with haptic feedback to improve the experience of the application. The main concept for this research that I like is the interaction between the digital and the physical where the developers are using haptic to bridge the gap and translate the digital interaction into a more relatable and manipulable physical sensation.

Synaptic Traces (Art):

Finally, in the realm of fashion and wearable technology comes the project called Synaptic Traces. The frock is made of a beautiful galaxy-like print that is curled into stripes and piece together. Inside of the garment are many LEDs that allow the garment to glow. When someone touches the garment, lights activate that represent the touch and hold for longer than a normal sensation would. In essence is holds the fleeting feelings and sensation that we get from another person or object and keeps it a bit longer in a digital representation. Other than the beautiful physical construction, I really liked the concept of preserving the intimate touches and sensations we feel when interacting with another person.