A Design Research Program for Textiles and Computational Technology

Textiles and computational technology share a common background in the early days of automation and industrial production. Today, we see a new opportunity for these two, by now, rather disparate areas to be joined in the search for new design spaces for everyday things. It is the ambition of this paper to outline this new design space and to sketch a design and research program for investigating it. We propose a research program motivated by the need for an aeshetics of, and design methods for, the use of new textiles and computational technology in design for everyday life. The three themes of the program all call for an integration of textile and computational materials, but from different perspectives. They aim at deepening our understanding of i) computational technology as design material, ii) textile as design material and of iii) the more general question of the interplay between spatial and temporal form elements in design. Towards Computational Technology as a Design Material The continuous miniaturisation and decreasing cost of electronic components have made it possible to develop computational things quite different from the devices we usually term “computers”, i.e., the machines that reside at our desktops with their keyboards, mice, displays, etc. In fact, also “computers” were once machines the size of small buildings. However, computers have not only become smaller, faster and less expensive – this technology is also used to realise a plethora of new kinds of devices such as digital cameras, mobile phones, musical instruments and video games. 1 Address: Interactive Institute, PLAY studio Borås, Fabriksgatan 12, SE 503 38 Borås, Sweden {lars.hallnas,linda.melin,johan.redstrom}@interactiveinstitute.se http://www.interactiveinstitute.se/ Two basic implications can be drawn from this development. The first one is that computational technology opens up a design space for everyday things that is hard, if not impossible, to grasp at this moment as the line of ever-new electronic devices never seem to stop. The second implication is that the use of computational technology is no longer restricted to certain areas of professional activity, be it office work or industrial automation. Instead, we see computational technology migrating and soon to inhabit almost any conceivable area of human conduct. We might say that we move from using computers, to living with computational things. Mark Weiser, former chief scientist of Xerox PARC, once termed this scenario “ubiquitous computing” and set up a research agenda for investigating it (Weiser 1991). The ubiquitous computing research project initially focused on how to make computational resources available wherever and whenever people desired them, and so they developed several new kinds of devices and displays including predecessors to present PDA’s (Personal Digital Assistants), tablet PCs and large wall mounted displays. Over time, Weiser and others realised that perhaps the initial questions were slightly misguiding; of course, how to make information available is important but perhaps even more so is the question of how we are going to live with all this technology (Weiser 1996). In our research partly building on the ideas of Weiser et al., we have approached this basic question by means of thinking about computational technology as a design material, a material that, just like any other material, can be used to realise certain kinds of things (Redström 2001, cf. Dunne 1999). Instead of working with the distinction between form and function, we have based our framework on the distinction between form and material. Form is the way in which material builds the appearance of a thing. Material is what builds things. According to this basic distinction, computational technology is a material as we form it to build computational things. Computational technology as material in this sense is not only matter of computer hardware, but about all the things that make something “computational” in appearance, i.e., programs, hardware to execute them, interactive surfaces to control them, etc. To build a computational thing, we have to combine this computational material with some other material(s) that can manifest this in space. We can compare this with music: in order to produce a perceivable result, the score has to be performed and manifested in space (in the case of musical instruments as air-pressure waves). In the case of computers, this is typically done using CRT (Cathode-Ray Tube) or LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screens, printers, keyboards, and similar devices that we have come to associate with computers. However, all of this could be different since what is central here is what makes something computational, i.e. that which depends on the execution of programs. This is where computational technology meets textile materials. What we need in order to manifest the temporal gestalts that arise as we execute programs, is a material with strong spatial form elements and with properties that can be changed and controlled over time. Certain textile materials seem highly suitable for this purpose; just think about the precise dynamics of clothes made to move in certain ways as we move our bodies. Such textile artefacts obviously have strong spatial as well as temporal form elements. Further, we can use textile materials with dynamic properties, such as the ability to change colour, texture, shape, etc., to create new kinds of “displays” (see the design examples below for illustrations of how this can be done). Thus, if we can use the dynamics of textile materials to manifest computational processes in space by means of controlling them using computational technology, we can create new and very expressive “materials” that we can use in the design of everyday things. New Applications for Textiles There is a long history of using textiles as a way of presenting information. Not long ago, textile artefacts such as tapestries were used to convey information and tell stories. The different qualities of a given textile artefacts will also tell us about the culture that produced it. Depending on what, and how, different materials, techniques, forms, etc. are used, we can form an idea about the context of the thing. In case we experience it when in actual use, its role and placement in, e.g., someone’s home will tell us something about the person(s) living there. In the case of clothes, textile artefacts are very efficient means for making a personal statement. Today, textile materials is an area subject to rapid technological development. New materials with properties hitherto not associated with textiles at all, hit the market each day. Some new materials have the ability to change colour, shape, texture, or even to glow; still others are stronger than steel or might be able to conduct electrical currents. Many of these materials have their origin in highly technical areas, but they clearly also afford new expressions and applications in the design of everyday things. One such possibility is to use these new materials in combination with information technology to reinterpret existing and invent new forms of information handling and presentation. A number of examples of how this can be done have been presented. Philips introduced the concept of “New Nomads” as an example of how information technology can be integrated with textiles using for instance “smart” fibres. Examples include how this can applied in ordinary clothes, and how to use conductive textile with sensors embroidered on the fabric. Related experiments with smart fabrics have been done at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (cf. Post et al 2000). At the exhibition “Workspheres” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, issues in how information might be integrated, used and exposed in the future were in focus. The exhibit included several examples of textiles integrated with information technology. IDEO and ElekTex showed a prototype of a textile keyboard and a soft mobile phone, constructed in the same material that Johnson Control used in their concept car “Kion” presented at the Paris Motor show 2000 to make the seat “feel” when the driver was sitting in the car. Another example of how new “smart” fibres and weave constructions can be employed, was presented by Visson Enterprises: unlike a traditional computer screen, Visson’s textile screen is based on a weave of conductive wires with a light-emitting coating. The warp and weft form a two-dimensional matrix of X and Y fibres and at each crossing section, light emission can be controlled using electrical voltage. This technology makes flexible displays that feel like thin cloth and that can be folded possible. 2 http://www.design.philips.com/smartconnections/newnomads/ 3 http://www.moma.org/workspheres 4 http://www.electrotextiles.com/ 5 http://www.visson.net/ Other materials available include embroidery threads that change colour depending on exposure to UV-light, such as the ones used in t-shirts and hats. Indoors the threads are in one colour and when taken outdoors another colour will appear. In case the UV-light can be controlled, the changes in colour can be controlled which opens up new possibilities for presenting dynamic information. Such colour changing threads are given a photocromic treatment. One can also use other treatments such as thermochromic material in which colour can be controlled by heating. Still another material is electroluminescent fibres that emit light when an electrical current is applied. To conclude, new textile materials such as the ones shortly presented above afford a vast range of new possibilities for designers. Especially, we find the new possibilities of using these materials in combination with computational technology interesting and we therefore suggest a research program to investigate this. A Design Research Program for Computational Technology and Textiles When new materials become available, they challenge existing ideas about design as they afford new possibilities and open up new design spaces. Given the present development of computational technology, there is clearly a need for questioning and investigating its role as material for everyday life. One might say that there is a need for exploring “new clothes” for information technology. At the same time, new textile materials make new things and design solutions possible, possibilities that are even further increased as we combine textiles with computational technology to create new materials and combinations of materials. To better understand these new materials from a design perspective and to form a basis for a proper aesthetics, for new design methods, etc., we have to engage in experimental design and research to investigate computational and textile technologies and the new possibilities they afford. The basic motivation for the program proposed here, is the need for an explicit aesthetics and design methods for how to use these materials in design for everyday life. Thus, it is about inventing and investigating new materials and applications for everyday life, as well as about reflecting and speculating about issues pertaining to how we are going to incorporate them into the fabric of our everyday lives. We identify the following three research themes: • Computational technology as a design material • New textile materials • The interplay between spatial and temporal gestalt in the design of everyday things 1. Computational Technology as a Design Material To break away from present conceptions of computational things, we replace the plastics, metal, LCD’s, etc., that characterise computers with other materials and try to explore computational technology as a design material starting from areas such as textile and fashion design. We want to influence and change the attitude towards computational technology from being just the anonymous means for implementing given practical functionality, to being regarded as a design material with certain expressions and aesthetics as such. 2. New Textile Materials To open up new parts of the design space for textile and fashion design, we will experiment with the combination of computational technology and textiles to create new materials for design. We work with experimental fashion and interior design to find new areas and applications for such new textiles in everyday things and environments. 3. The Interplay between Spatial and Temporal Gestalt in the design of Everyday Things We use textiles to provide the spatial structures that manifest the temporal structures generated by the execution of programs. Textile materials open up for new ways of creating the spatial surface of computational things and computational technology open up new ways of creating dynamic surfaces and behaviours in textile and fashion design. Combining these materials in the design of everyday things and environments also makes it possible to develop a deeper understanding of the interplay between temporal and spatial gestalts in design. In conclusion, these three themes aim at deepening our understanding of i) computational technology as design material, ii) textile as design material and of iii) the more general question of the interplay between spatial and temporal form in design. These themes all call for an integration of computational and textile materials, but from three different perspectives: the first theme suggest that we investigate computational technology as a design material from the perspectives of textile and fashion design; the second that we investigate textile materials that are amplified and transformed with computational technology; the third theme suggest that we use this combination of materials to investigate basic design research issues such as the relations between spatial and temporal form elements. We believe that the combination of the historically rich tradition of textile and fashion design, and the more recent area of computer-related design can benefit from each other while at the same time making it possible to investigate more general design issues from a partly new perspective.