“I am feeling blue… and red”: Exploring alternative ways of feeling colours through a wearable haptic artefact

Abstract

Wearable haptic artefacts are more and more present in our everyday life. They increasingly mediate our perception, transforming the ways in which we interact with ourselves, the environment and others. Wearable haptic artefacts can sense the body and its surroundings, impacting our subjectivity by shaping perceptions, actions, and behaviours. Such ability to influence our senses is helpful in creating engaging multisensory experiences. In my work, I explore the technological mediation between the human body and its surroundings by facilitating new relationships among the senses. This article presents a wearable haptic artefact in the shape of a glove called “I am feeling blue… and red”, which was designed to enable users to experience colour through touch. The goal is to suggest a mode of colour experience and break preconceptions one might have towards the relationship there is between touch and colours. Through an autoethnographic account, the article reflects on the artefact’s design process and user interaction. It proposes strategies for developing unique multisensory experiences using wearable haptic artefacts. These strategies can assist artists and designers who want to create captivating interactions by connecting the senses of sight and touch.