Touch4Light
The Touch4Light toolkit brings the dynamic and performative qualities of thin and flexible luminescent composites into the spotlight. From movement possibilities of thin and flexible polymer sheets to expressions of dynamic and responsive light, different components of the toolkit allow the designers to experience the smart composites before they are fully developed.
In a PhD research, I looked at the strategies and tools designers adopted to conceptualize product applications with an underdeveloped smart material, Light-Touch-Matters. Light-Touch-Matters or in short the LTM materials are underdeveloped composites of luminescent and pressure sensing materials. In response to the limitations of the adopted strategies and tools in exploring and exploiting the aesthetic possibilities of thin and flexible luminescent composites, I have developed a support toolkit, Touch4 Light. Touch4Light is composed of three components: (1) functional demonstrators made out of actual electroluminescent materials; (2) deformable structural probes, made out of thin and flexible sheet materials; and (3) a real-time simulator to digitally augment the physical objects using the Chroma-key technique. The Touch4Light toolkit brings the dynamic and performative qualities of these underdeveloped materials into the spotlight and allows the designers to experience them. Considering the multidisciplinary complexion of the LTM materials’ development team, the toolkit can facilitate the discussions between the material scientists and the designers, concerning the (material-related) design variables and the boundaries (both are critical in understanding the design space).
EXAMPLE PROJECTS/ OTHER VENUES
Bahar’s grad students?
Exhibitions?
RESEARCHER
DOWNLOADS
(paper links)