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Ylva Fernaeus

Profile picture of Ylva Fernaeus

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

Details

Address
LINDSTEDTSVÄGEN 3, PLAN 6

Researcher

Researcher ID

About me

Associate professor in interaction design at KTH since 2010, and guest researcher at Umeå Institute of Design, since 2021. Works within the fields of tangible and embodied interaction, with focus on design philosophy, in particular around hybrid crafting as a careful, playful and critical practice, always at interplay with the fragility and limitations of the material world and the living.

This research orientation is addressed through three main themes:

- Longevity of interactive systems, exploring design strategies with a focus on care, repair and craft, as a counter-reaction to the innovation-frenzy that has dominated our field during the last decades. Examples include a study of a 150 year old jacquard loom still in use, and articulations of wabi-sabi as a design philosophy within HCI.

- Material understandings of interaction design practice, including ways of understanding computer programming as materially- and socially grounded. Examples include conceptions around bricolage within interaction design, new tools and resources for programming, and explorations of hybrid crafting using electronics in combination with materials such as wood, leather, silver and textiles.

- Electricity as the "vis viva" of interaction, exploring possibilities of working with e.g. manually-powered devices, and interactive systems optimised for efficient and scarse energy usage, and experiential qualties of such designs. This includes conceptual design work as well as development of new tools and resources.


Courses

Degree Project in Computer Science and Engineering, specialising in ICT Innovation, Second Cycle (DA256X), examiner, teacher | Course web

Degree Project in Computer Science and Engineering, specialising in ICT Innovation, Second Cycle (DA258X), examiner | Course web

Degree Project in Computer Science and Engineering, specializing in Industrial Management, Second Cycle (DA235X), examiner | Course web

Degree Project in Computer Science and Engineering, specializing in Interactive Media Technology, Second Cycle (DA232X), examiner | Course web

Degree Project in Media Technology, First Cycle (DM128X), teacher | Course web

Haptics, Tactile and Tangible Interaction (DH2670), assistant, teacher | Course web

Human Perception for Information Technology (DM2350), teacher | Course web

Physical Interaction Design and Realization (DH2400), examiner, course responsible, teacher | Course web

Program Integrating Course in Media Technology (DM1578), teacher | Course web