Sonic Interaction Design for Paper Wearables

Abstract

The paper reports a workshop on sonic interaction design conceived and led by the authors in the context of a living lab born from the collaboration between a music conservatory and an IT university department. The main subject was the application of non-verbal sound in the process of product design, focusing on the augmentation of clothes and wearable accessories. The workshop resulted in exercises exploring the interactive role of the sound within three different scenarios: (a) abstract/relational, (b) strictly functional, (c) aesthetic/performative. Each exercise was carried on by a group of four to five participants working as a team. The presentation of the exercises comes along considerations regarding the participatory approach, that matched design techniques and tools with practices and theoretical foundations of electroacoustic music. Results are briefly discussed and improvements and further steps are accounted for.