dysfunctional
things
A Thesis project on Home, Health and Product Design
Does the products around us affect our health? Do
we have dysfunctional products just like we have dysfunctional
families? If we suppose that the world around us is a reflection of
our selves, is it even possible for us to have "healthy"
artifacts?
Background
Design and aesthetics has rendered an increasing attention within
HMI the last decade or so. Design is seen as a way of creating
better and user-friendlier technical products. But the role of
aesthetics and design is still seen as from a technical perspective
rather then a design perspective. This thesis attempts to look at
and create a basis for understanding of design as both a process
and an aesthetic practice within the HCI context.
Methods
The focus of my empirical work is on general unhealth issues and the
use of information technology in domestic environments. Since I'm
interested in the relation between the personal and the public, I'm
looking into common diseases and how they reflect the current state
of the society. I'm also looking at the Smart home area, particularly
some initiatives in Home health care. My methods are multiples ranging
from surveys, interviews and user studies to design concepts, developing
products and finally to evaluate them.
My research questions are:
- What is the relation between design and health?
- What are the aesthetical issues in the design of products for Home
health care?
- What is "healthy" and "unhealthy" in the home?
The "Virus" project focuses on general health problems
and how artifacts in a "smart" home can prevent them. The
project points out two related areas for unhealth: Mental overload
and Physical under load. Those two syndromes together create the most
common unhealth problems today like stress, insomnia, back problems,
heart problems and depression. Stress is considered one of the largest
reasons for sick leaves today and costs for social insurances are
peaking. The Virus project makes design suggestion in three related
areas: Room for movement, Sleep and relaxation and Communication. One
of these suggestions The Photo answerer is now being developed into
four functioning prototypes that will be tested by four different families.
Another case study is done on Brainball, a game where you compete in
relaxation by measuring the player's brain activity with EEG. Brainball
also relates to stress, competiveness and self-control and is developed
in the border zone of art, design and research. It is in itself a
statement about the state of our society and does the opposite of
what IT usually does, by provoking you to empty your brain of sensations.
Theory
I use several different theories from sociology, feminism, cultural
studies, psychology and map them on design and aesthetics. For example
I use the feministic theory of the double invisibility to criticise
the concept of the invisible computer. Semiotics has provided me
with a tool for criticising and reflecting about seemingly 'natural'
ways of designing and made me aware of reality as a construction and
of the roles played by us constructing or designing it.
I am also influenced by the health sociologist Antonovsky and his
work to understand what makes us cope with the strains of life. His
methods can be used on the material world to understand how this
affects us mentally and what we could do to improve it. Here I am
beginning to look at the concept of meaning and how important it
is to experience the world as meaningful. Meaning, sense and
understanding are concepts that are closely related to aesthetics,
in the Greek meaning "what meets the senses", the total
experience of a product. I am starting to think of aesthetics as a
kind of tacit knowledge that make the world meaningful.
Another focus is on the relation between the internal world, with
its subjective experiences and personal relations and the public world
of objective facts and technical systems. I believe that design holds a
key role in the externalisation of values and actions into an objective
reality, a reality that subsequently is internalised back to the
individual through the socialization process. These ideas are mainly
informed by theories from sociology and Berger & Luckmann, but also
relate to pattern theory by Christoffer Alexander. In the design process
our physical and cultural values are materialized and given a tangible
form. With terms borrowed from Habermas this could also be seen as the
interplay between the "life world" and the "system".
The design and development of artefacts usually takes place in the system
world in rather tight economic and commercial frames. Therefore, the
results of design-processes are products of the system rather then the
individual notions of the life world and materialization's of those values.
Studying the design process itself become part of my reflection on the
cases. Particularly in the multidisciplinary setting that constitutes the
interactive Institute. Donald Schöns ideas are important, as well as
other that have contributed to the discussion about design knowledge and
aesthetical practises.
I want to thank my advisor Yngve Sundblad at CID, KTH, which is my academic
home and that also cofinances this research. I also want to thank my
other advisors Bo Dahlbom, SITI and Ingvar Sjöberg, II
©
2003 Smart Studio