Haydn Nixon
Knock Knock
An exploration of embodied expressions of identity and communication methods through design..
“Knock Knock” is a speculative interaction-based design project that explores embodied expressions of identity in digital communication. The project manifests in a home interface system in the form of a table that allows users to communicate by knocking and sending symbols through synchronised tables.
The design leverages our understanding of knocking as a communication tool and symbols etched in wooden surfaces as a representation of location. Each of these actions is an inherent behavioural tendency unbound to age, culture or background, rather than learnt conceptual operations.
The interface operates by knocking a pattern on the table’s surface panels, to indicate the sender's identity. A specific symbol is then drawn in the groves of the table, representing a location to meet at. The information is translated digitally to the intended receivers’ synchronised table.
The design deviates from data-dependent and conceptual connectivity methods that have become the precedent for digital communication systems. The interface balances the advanced capabilities of digital technology with human-centred understanding and interactions.
Digital communication methods and representations of user identity are currently manifested in quantitative, reductive formats. This is shaped by existing interfaces that reduce communication to standardised, quantifiable bites of information. These conceptual-based interfaces are overly specialised, create confusion and lack intuitive operations, resulting in dehumanising and frustrating experiences.
“Knock Knock” explores alternative expressions of identity and communication methods by utilising our embodied understanding of knocking and marking symbols into wood. The outcome is a home communication system that references these behaviours and allows users to contact each other. "Knock Knock" aims to create communication capabilities that are intuitive and afford expressive representations of identity.
A fundamental barrier to the application of digital technology into human lives is that its very nature is based on explicit and conceptual information. This type of information becomes pervasive in the human experience and requires a high level of cognition to interpret. The gap created between digital technology and physical realities is not effectively bridged. The issue becomes amplified as human life becomes increasingly dependent on the use of digital technologies and the points at which we interface with them become more complex and conceptual.
A means of bridging the reality gap created by digital technology is employing embodied representations and controls to interfaces. This helps mediate human understanding of digital information effectively by referencing our understanding of the physical world around us.
By applying embodied expressions of identity and communication methods, we create opportunities for more intuitive interfaces for digital connectivity that resonate with our innate behavioural customs.
