Soft Interface

Tactile design in physical interface

What it is :
This project started from a simple question "Why our switch is hard? What if the switch was soft?". I investigated on the "feel" aspect of the interface "look&feel" transposed in the physical interface design. There are materials that we feel inherently attracted to touch and interact with such as the bubble wrap, gel, transparent materials, silly putty etc. The appeal of these materials come from its playfulness that can be comparable to our skin.When the materials are soft, the switch is no more about the discreet values on/off but a range of variation in the object you are trying to control through the interface. I explored different switch systems through form prototypes using various materials found in the regular super market and created working dimmer prototypes using silly putty.

The work in progress project was presented at Salone del Mobile in Milan, at Triennale, as part of the exhibit "This is today. L'invasione degli ultracorp interattivi".

See anGELic, the continuation of this investigation into a concrete product design solution.

The model was produced with the help of Edoardo Brambilla.