Wednesday 25 September 2013

physical vs mental comfort

I have read quite a lot of readings on comfort and they cover two different concepts of comfort one looks at the physical concept of comfort where they make an object comfortable with the help of space and ergonomics and the other is on the emotional aspect of comfort, making someone feel mentally comfortable in an environment, a lot of nurses use this concept of comfort to make the patients more feel more at home and reassure them that it will be ok. so I when coming to deigning my experience I can go down either paths, to make a physical comfort and make an activity that enhances comfort or I could make the environment more comfortable  so when doing the activity you felt reassured and comforted, make the user feel at home, care for them. another reading I had read it said that we take comfort for grated so for us to appreciate comfort we have to have had discomfort

I felt the next step was to thin about different was to create comfort using these different concepts;

  • I feel that as we take comfort for grated and we only notice it at the beginning I could make an experience that on focused at the begging of the act for initial comfort. I could look at different materials, like the bootie I had made for the last project that was made of fur and ribbon so that you initially feel comfort but over time you no longer feel comfortable, I found that that bootie was only comfortable with kinetic movement once your foot was inside and you had done up the bootie you no longer noticed the bootie
  • another way I could create physical comfort is to make the environment comfortable, such as make a comfortable chair, one that is ergonomically designed to make tying up your shoes easier, such as having it on an angle so that it can be easy to bend down. or have padding around it to create warmth and softness, play soft soothing sounds, pleasant smells. 
  • I could use the reassurance to create a mental comfortable experience using soft soothing voice and positive words, ask them questions that mother them, and talk to them personally so it wasn't as awkward situation. I feel that the problem with this is that it would be hard to pull off well they could find the situation awkward as they might not understand why you are asking them all those questions and find it more irritating rather then comforting, and as it is such a small task you cant create that closeness and personal interaction. 
  • in a reading I had found that to create comfort you need discomfort i find that this would be a strong concept as you do feel comfortable on the last experience, but the problem with this projects is that the whole experience as to be comfortable so if I make some components uncomfortable it then defeats the whole experience of being comfortable. 
changing the act;
I want to make the act of putting on and tying up your shoes different so you notice the comfort elements. so it decided to think of different was to do this;
  • I could pull apart all the different steps of the activity and make each component comfortable in a different way. loosening your lasses, pushing your foot int the shoe and the tension of pulling it on, tightness up the laces, tying the bow. I could take the main ideas of these steps and make them separate and focus on home to make them physically comfortable, such as changing the materials, smell, taste, sight, sound that reflect the steps
  • I could enlarge the act and move it away form the foot, such as use the whole body or take it away from the body and have it as an external act, this way you would look at it differently and experience it in a different way, as it is an act you to subconsciously and don't take any notice of it as you do it on a daily basis 

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