SensAE – A Tool to Explore Material-Touch-Emotions

Abstract Humans have always explored and interacted with their environment through touching surfaces. The sense of touch is an important part of human interaction and communication. It supports emotional development and wellbeing. But despite the relevance of touch in tactile experience, the touch of (textile) materials and its relationship to emotion has to date not received much attention. There is no tool or process to support textile designers evaluates emotional responses to the touch of textile materials. Designing with materials for overall wellbeing necessitates an understanding of the sensory modalities as well as consideration of the affective stage of what impacts material choices. This article provides a review of key background literature in understanding the complexity of the material-touch-emotion relationship, and the physical and psychological aspects of touching a material. Reflecting on workshops conducted, the Sensation-Appraisal-Emotion (SensAE) tool is presented to better understand the connection between the active touch of material surfaces and the emotional responses to that material touch. The article outlines the methodology for how the SensAE tool was developed, describing the tool, and benefits of using it. The SensAE tool explains the three stages in the material-touch-emotion elicitation process as sensation, appraisal and emotions. It encourages designers and users to consider first the sensation of actively touching the material- how “it” feels; to consider their appraisal of the sensation; and finally, their emotional response to the material- how “they” feel. The SensAE tool supports a user-centered design approach to be used as a guide enabling emotional connections to the touch of textile materials, thereby understanding psychological considerations surrounding sustainable material choices. The SensAE tool provides a way for designers to better assist their material choices consequently supporting a more empathic design process, to enable design for wellbeing.