Sensography

On the 4th of October, I had a lecture on Sensography, which is the study of the human senses,  this included looking at Philosophies on sight and different cultures who rely on the other four senses and pieces of artwork created by famous artists.

I was also given a few exercises on senses, most notably one where I had to make use of my other senses by smelling, squeezing and hearing what was inside a cup without looking. I also had to examine an item – a stone, by describing its look, weight, and feel. In doing this it made me think about my GCSE art project where I explored the design of shells. This is because these multi-sensory experiences are linked to our memories, feelings, beliefs and other experiences.

Unlike the rest of the presentation, this part allowed us to see more about how people have explored and expressed the human senses through literature, scientific research, and historical philosophies

I learned that there is more to life than just seeing and how the evolution of the world and society around us changed our senses and perception of the world of how we have adapted to rely on our phones and social media rather than face to face communication, which drove us to social distance, social loneliness.

This presentation has helped me as a designer as I will now think about how a user will see a product and what senses they will use to explore it; sight, smell, touch. This will give the user a better understanding of the processes taken to create the product and to understand how it was created. As a designer, it has influenced how I will design products considering the users’ product experience and interaction. It will influence my designing, in future I will consider ‘what do people want?’