Haptic-Awakening the senses

One of the most inspirational designers working today is Kenya Hara. Although the Haptics exhibition he planned and produced was quite a few years ago, there is still some wonderful thoughts and ideas brands can consider in products and packaging which elevate the user experience.

The Haptics exhibition in 2004 was an exhibition of design capturing how we perceive things with our senses. While dealing with shape, colour, and texture is one of the most important aspects of design, there is one more: it's not the question of how to create, but how to make someone sense something. We might call this creative awakening of the human sensors 'the design of the senses.'

For the exhibition Kenya Hara asked various creators to design an object not based on form or colour, but motivated primarily by "haptic" considerations.

Here are a few examples from the exhibition:

Panasonic Gel Remote Control.

For the exhibition, the electrical applicance manufacturer Panasonic Design company proposed a remote control that when switched off drops as if it were asleep.

But when it's switched on, it becomes animated. First it begin to breathe, as if if asleep it's belly rising and falling. When a hand reaches for it a sensor feels the hand's approach and the whole object begins to glow.