YOU ARE NOT ALONE

Experience Design

Experience Design

In these times of “contactless” living, where we miss of the many things we cannot continue from our pre pandemic lives, being able to connect with people on a personal basis without a physical touch is probably the most difficult. In these trying times when we are facing such an adversity, one of the most powerful tools that humans possess are touch. A hug that connects two people to such a natural level that it almost immediately feels compassion, kindness and humanity towards the people they are hugging. To be able to bring this feeling to people for each other in these times would be the challenge of this design. Physical affection reduces stress by calming our sympathetic nervous system. Not only do we miss hugs, we need them.
“Humans have brain pathways that are specifically dedicated to detecting an affectionate touch”, says Johannes Eichstaedt, a computational scientist and psychology professor at Stanford University. Affectionate touch is how our system communicate to each other are tells them that were are safe, loved and most importantly we are not alone.
To be able to create a connection between people especially in these times will greatly help society tackle this monster of a problem together. Through all the history of mankind, people have come together to survive the toughest of the times with love, compassion and kindness. In the modern era of 2020, the similar feeling of standing together can be designed through experiences. With such abundant resources on our hand and outstanding technology, making connections between humans on human level should be the goal really.
Experience design – “You are not alone”
This is an idea of an experience designed for people to be able to experience something they have been missing since the pandemic set foot. The idea is to bring two participants in a room divided with partitions so that they are unaware of each other. They both are given a headset and the lights are dimmed. The projector screen lights up and the audio visual starts playing. The AV is video of all the impactful moments in the year since the pandemic, bad and the good. After the video reached its end the partition between the participants is removed revealing both of them to each other. They are asked a question through the speaker which is, “How do you feel?”. They are given a few moments to talk and familiarise with each other while answering the question. While the participants finish answering the question a pandemic safe “Hugging glove” appears. A hugging glove is a product made with plastic screens with holes cut in them, the holes are then attached with long sleeve gloves which enable two people to put their hands through the screens and hug each other safely while being able to feel those emotions more impactfully. After a few minutes the final question is asked “Would you like to hug each other”?. If the participants choose to say yes they can hug each other and feel most missed experience in pandemic society, the feeling of not being alone.
This can be created in just a room with few equipment’s, but the joy of being able to hug someone would be the driving force which would probably strike the emotion of humanity, kindness and being there for each other. The very basics that we need to thrive as a humankind.

In these times of “contactless” living, where we miss of the many things we cannot continue from our pre pandemic lives, being able to connect with people on a personal basis without a physical touch is probably the most difficult. In these trying times when we are facing such an adversity, one of the most powerful tools that humans possess are touch. A hug that connects two people to such a natural level that it almost immediately feels compassion, kindness and humanity towards the people they are hugging. To be able to bring this feeling to people for each other in these times would be the challenge of this design. Physical affection reduces stress by calming our sympathetic nervous system. Not only do we miss hugs, we need them.
“Humans have brain pathways that are specifically dedicated to detecting an affectionate touch”, says Johannes Eichstaedt, a computational scientist and psychology professor at Stanford University. Affectionate touch is how our system communicate to each other are tells them that were are safe, loved and most importantly we are not alone.
To be able to create a connection between people especially in these times will greatly help society tackle this monster of a problem together. Through all the history of mankind, people have come together to survive the toughest of the times with love, compassion and kindness. In the modern era of 2020, the similar feeling of standing together can be designed through experiences. With such abundant resources on our hand and outstanding technology, making connections between humans on human level should be the goal really.
Experience design – “You are not alone”
This is an idea of an experience designed for people to be able to experience something they have been missing since the pandemic set foot. The idea is to bring two participants in a room divided with partitions so that they are unaware of each other. They both are given a headset and the lights are dimmed. The projector screen lights up and the audio visual starts playing. The AV is video of all the impactful moments in the year since the pandemic, bad and the good. After the video reached its end the partition between the participants is removed revealing both of them to each other. They are asked a question through the speaker which is, “How do you feel?”. They are given a few moments to talk and familiarise with each other while answering the question. While the participants finish answering the question a pandemic safe “Hugging glove” appears. A hugging glove is a product made with plastic screens with holes cut in them, the holes are then attached with long sleeve gloves which enable two people to put their hands through the screens and hug each other safely while being able to feel those emotions more impactfully. After a few minutes the final question is asked “Would you like to hug each other”?. If the participants choose to say yes they can hug each other and feel most missed experience in pandemic society, the feeling of not being alone.
This can be created in just a room with few equipment’s, but the joy of being able to hug someone would be the driving force which would probably strike the emotion of humanity, kindness and being there for each other. The very basics that we need to thrive as a humankind.

The concept is digitally designed and can be scaled according to need.

The concept is digitally designed and can be scaled according to need.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMy14uBpRjc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMy14uBpRjc

My name is Ayeshna Vinayak and I am a masters student at Edinburgh Napier University. I am studying MFA in Interactive arts and experience. My interest lies in exploring experiences and its impact of people. I believe experiences can change perspectives which has a great power to help change world for the good.

Ayeshna Vinayak

United Kingdom