Exploring and creating a design framework for haptic, touch-based interactions

Students: Nicole Alvarez, Kellie Dunn, Anirudh Ganesh, Cindy Feng

Using an experimental and discursive approach, our project broadens the understanding of touch-based interactions in computing to include sensory stimuli such as temperature, vibration, weight, texture, and form factor. Over the course of our project, we developed a design language and framework for haptic, tactile design. The prototypes we built are an exploration of these guiding principles and insights, with different textures, vibration patterns, temperatures, input, and output sensors to create touch-based experiences. Through exploring our design framework and our prototypes as an example of application, we hope to inspire others to incorporate touch-based interaction in their design approach and reimagine this new haptic computing experience.