Power of touch: Designer creates haptic experience

In her residency work, Surface Matters, Jo handles non-traditional materials to create new experiences when interacting with technology. One iteration is a continuation of her graduation project, a hi-fi speaker system with a fabric-controlled interface. The other is a wall-embedded light that replaces buttons and switches with a fabric surface. A user merely has to touch the surface for the light to turn on.

‘Fabric brings in this emotional value between the users and the product,’ says Jo. ‘It gives you this tactile and soft feedback, which is different from using conventional materials.’

Surface Matters exposes designers’ interest in creating new tactile experiences, more of which can be seen in our Haptic Illusion design direction.