Kinaesthesia in synaesthesia: the expressive power of gestures in design

Spatial bodily movements are extremely suitable as a design technique, because our body conveys emotions and expression, as well as geometry and (inter)actions. Moreover, these movements can stimulate the creative process. The computer could play an interesting and powerful role to amplify this technique. By coupling a designer’s expressive movements to computational power, the computer can actively assist designers to explore the aesthetics of interaction and the richness of all senses. If a computer wants to make sense of a designer expressing his ideas with expressive movements, it desperately needs guidelines to interpret and capture the essence of these movements. As a first step to formulate these guidelines, we tested the suitability, subtlety and expressiveness of spatial bodily movements to capture expressive design ideas. Moreover, the premise is tested that outsiders, more specifically designers, are able to pick up the expression of bodily movements. Our findings support the potential of a gestural design tool. Results show that there is no significant difference between sketching and gesturing. Moreover, an interpreter was able to capture the expression when looking at the gestures.