Thesis opportunities

Designing for Physical Expression Forms in Depression¶

Master thesis, Spring 2018, starting in January.¶

Supervisor: Pedro Sanches¶

Description¶

This master thesis project will aim at creating smart objects for enabling embodied communication between people. The application for this project is to aid therapies for people suffering from anxiety or depression, and who may otherwise have difficulties expressing complex feelings or emotions with family members or therapists. The smart objects will allow for communicating with the whole body, complementing other traditional forms of communication (such as speech). A possible angle for this master thesis is to explore different ways of presenting data, focusing on different modalities and types of actuation (heat, vibration, material properties, etc.) in an explorative process.¶

In the master thesis we would like the student to rapidly prototype design artifacts using both sensors and actuators applying a somaesthetic design approach (which is designing for bodily types of interaction, where soma refers to our body and aesthetics to our sensory appreciation). All ideas might not be fully implemented, but some should work to the extent that the idea is carried forward and can be experienced and evaluated by the design team. The result of the project can either be one “final” prototype that is implemented or an array of artefacts putting forth different interaction qualities thriving on the data sources they make use of in the design. The process should be designerly and bring users into the loop.¶

Please include university grades, CV and personal letter in your application.¶

Work will be performed at KTH, in the MID department. Starting January 2018¶

Contact: Pedro Sanches, sanches@kth.se¶

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Smart Implicit Interaction - Designing with and for Data¶

Master thesis, spring 2018¶

Supervisor: Anna Ståhl, RISE SICS¶

RISE SICS¶

RISE SICS is in the midst of the total digitalization of products, services and businesses, boosting the competitive strength of Swedish industry and the quality and efficiency of Sweden’s public sector. We contribute with research and cutting edge technology in close collaboration with Swedish and international industry and academia¶

The Interaction Design Studio at RISE SICS is looking for an interaction design master thesis student in the projects Smart Implicit Interaction and Somaesthetic Design a joint project between RISE SICS, KTH and SU. You will be part of our project team that is both at KTH and RISE SICS consisting of Kristina Höök, Pedro Sanches, Charles Windlin, Pavel Karpashevich and Anna Ståhl. In this master thesis you get the opportunity to explore how to make design thriving on data in a designerly way by rapidly prototype design artifacts using both sensors and actuators.¶

Background¶

With the ongoing digitalization, where many things in our lives and environment are connected and producing data, the end user interaction is also affected. We see how interactions move out in the world and into our lives wherever we are and thereby becoming more bodily. Another thing that happens is that we have other things that are connected, than just the computer and the smart phone, to communicate with. We see this interaction as something that should not be with every single object, but can be aggregated interactions from multiple objects and sensors surrounding us. This is where we think the implicit interaction will happen, but how will it be manifested? The smart implicit interaction might be on-going in the background aiding us as users, but not necessarily call for our attention. One way of designing for these new bodily types of interaction is through a somaesthetic design method, where soma refers to our body and aesthetics to our sensory appreciation. This means using sensors, actuators and interactions that thrive on data produced as well as designing from a first person perspective engaging in bodily practices.¶

Description¶

In this master thesis part of the project we would like you to explore parts of the topic described in a designerly way by rapidly prototype design artifacts using both sensors and actuators applying a somaesthetic approach. All ideas might not be fully implemented, but some should work to the extent that the idea is carried forward and can be experienced and evaluated by the design team. The result of the project can either be one “final” prototype that is implemented or an array of artefacts putting forth different interaction qualities thriving on the data sources they make use of in the design. The process should be designerly and bring in users.¶

Please include university grades, CV and personal letter in your application.¶

Work will be performed at RISE SICS in Kista, starting January 2018 ¶

Contact: Anna Ståhl, anna.stahl@ri.se¶