i am tom galer and i am presenting this
paper
sensory probes an exploratory design
research method for human food
interaction on behalf of myself and my
co-authors karina sass
and viva kanakite designing interactions
with foods holds potential for rich
multi-sensory experiences
unlocking this potential requires users
to be able to recognize
and articulate the sensory social and
cultural aspects of their own
food experience this paper reports on a
novel method to help unlock this
potential
sensory probes aim to sensitize
participants towards their own
food experiences the iterative design
and development of the probes are
reported
including use as part of two case
studies into personalized flavoured
design
the following research questions guided
this work
firstly we considered how to co-create
these tools to support personalised
flavour designs
secondly we explored what roles and
affordances
sensory probes have finally we asked how
sensory probes could support food-based
and wider multi-sensory design
the sensory probes were developed
through an iterative process
starting with probe design workshops
with eight participants five designers
and three hci researchers
from these workshops the first version
of the sensory probes were designed and
produced
these were used and evaluated in a food
emotion study
an iterated version was used in a
following study on food and memory
we're firstly going to look at these
probe design workshops
the design of probes started with two
workshops with hci
researchers and designers the workshop
started with an introduction to the aim
of sensory probes
then participants discussed their
experiences of taste and flavor
and how they could sensitize people
using the probes towards them
the discussion moved on to food and the
body
and then food in the senses again with
participants reflecting on their own
personal experiences
finally we turned to food emotion and
cognition
and to food and its material
considerations thinking about how food
might be packaged within these probes
the workshop finished with sketching
ideas for probes based on the
discussions across each section
with sharing and collaboration from this
the sketches that were developed
informed the design of the first
iteration of the probes
and that is what i'm going to take you
through now
there are six artifacts a taste who game
board
pairing flavor descriptors with bespoke
evocative images
an eye mask nose clip earplugs and
gloves
for sensory augmentation exploring
multi-sensory
a body map in book clip which was used
to explore
internal bodily experience over time
a camera and sound recorder to support
the capturing of environmental
contextual information
uh letters with prompts for writing
meaningful recipes
exploring meaning in food experiences
and a food emotion diary which explored
emotional food experiences
all of these items were packed in a
white card box
and layered with tissue paper to draw on
cues from gifting and to drive
engagement
with the probes the aim of the taste two
game
board probe is to familiarize and
sensitise participants to
flavor terms prompting them to explore
the matching of foods with their
feelings or memories
participants selected five foods to eat
and then matched each one to the
relevant descriptors on the board
playing with a partner as a game or
playing on their own to simply explore
and reflect on the terms
relevant to the flavor experience
they're having
the aim of the sensory augmentation
probes was to increase awareness to the
role of different sensory systems in the
experience of flavor and particularly
the multi-sensory experience of flavor
included in the probes were gloves eye
mask
nose clip and ear plugs which were used
independently whilst eating an everyday
meal
to observe observe the difference
sensory augmentation had on the
experience of the food
and the flavor the aim of the body
mapping probe was to increase
internal or interreceptive perception
related to the experience of digestion
and metabolization
participants were given a booklet and
instructions to record their feelings at
three moments in time
immediately after eating a meal 30
minutes after
and two hours after at each time
interval
they wrote or drew sensations in
relation to
a different internal space the mouth the
gut
the heart and circulatory system or the
brain and nervous system
observing changes over time across these
four different systems
the aim of the environmental context
probe was to gather insights into
and direct attention towards the
environments where eating takes place
participants were instructed to collect
audio recordings and take photos of
where they made the food
and where they consumed the food showing
the food in each of these contexts
two probes involved the writing of
recipes as letters
they aim to support participants to
label and associate foods
and foodstuffs with different meanings
in relation to specific
memories or emotions in the emotion
study
participants wrote recipes as love
letters to their partner
and then cooked that meal for each other
the second recipe as a
letter probe in the emotional study
involved writing a recipe
for heartbreak participants then made
this recipe
and burnt it acting as a form of
catharsis for them
both embodying these recipes in
different ways in the memory study
participants wrote the recipes
for memories one memory about food and
one general memory that was not about
food
the final probe was used only in the
emotion study for two weeks participants
photographed everything they ate
who made the food who they ate it with
and their mood at the time on a bespoke
web
web form where date and time were
automatically recorded
they used an app on their phone to
create a we use an app on their phone to
create an easy way to capture this data
and then use visualizations to reflect
on it and the connections between foods
and emotions
at later co-design stage
so i now turn to our findings from
deploying these probes within two
studies
one on food and emotion working with
couples
who are in romantic relationships and
one a study on food and
memory working with older adults
exploring their own
significant personal memories
the participants found the probes
overall to be engaging
and enjoyable to complete they reported
how specific probes helped
surface distant aspects of their bodily
and sensory experience of food
they also detailed how the probes
supported them to build skills
in thinking about the meaning of food
and how it could be used in the design
of interactions
more detail on the findings around each
specific probe and the role it played
can be found in the paper the probes
probes in general have previously been
identified as allowing the capture of
fragments of participants experience
these sensory probes afforded for the
capture of
sensory fragments which helped bring
awareness to a participant's sensory
experience
both for themselves and for the designer
that they were
co-designing with these probes also
engaged in terraception
prompting consideration of internal
experiences over time
however tasks that focus on this proved
challenging for users and
future work could further explore how
this might be possible to sensitize
and improve the experience for
participants
through the engaging of a wide set of
sensory pathways
around food experience in the probes we
propose
a move towards flavor design worlds
this concept draws on the idea of taste
worlds which describe
the varied personal experience of the
same taste between different people
flavour design worlds extend this to
think about the personal perceptual
space
of an individual as a space for design
one a space for design that is made
accessible for co-design to both the
participant
and the designer through the use of the
sensory probes
the pros we presented employed various
methods drawing on previous embodied
approaches
to help uncover novel perspectives on
food experiences
firstly the probes augmented bodily
sensation through the
use of masks earplugs gloves and nose
clips
to allow the participant to viscerally
understand the role of each sense in how
they experience flavor
secondly probes brought awareness to
food experience through prompting
enactment of novel actions
and these helped expose the cultural or
social significance embedded in food an
example of this is the recipes as
letters
finally the probes each sought to
recontextualize the participants
experience with food
estranging them just enough to allow
them to see their own experience
in a new way and offer new perspectives
on it
this paper has reported on sensory
probes a novel design
research method which has been designed
and evaluated through a co-design
workshop and two user studies
i would like to thank you for your
attention and would welcome any further
discussion or questions via
email