Lecture 1
Lecture 1
Embodied Interaction
User Experience
Material Morality - Aesthetics of Interaction
1Ma PO
2025 - 2026
2
In advance
Four lectures:
1. Design for Interaction - Embodied Interaction
2. Different themes within Embodied Interaction
3. User Experience - UX versus Embodiment
4. Material Morality - Aesthetics of Interaction
Reader on BlackBoard:
publications / dissertations: for consultation, not obligatory
2 books: not available on BlackBoard. Possible to buy for those who are interested.
Experience Design (Marc Hassenzahl)
Where the action is (Paul Dourish)
Lecture 1
[Link]
[Link] for Interaction
[Link] Interaction - Embodiment
[Link] Interaction
[Link] Interaction
[Link]: a linear continuum
[Link]
[Link] versus traditional interaction
Some examples
[Link]
10. References
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1. Introduction
1.1 Form follows function
• Louis Sullivan (1896): “Form follows function”. This later gives rise to modernism.
• The form of a product is seen as something that “naturally” follows its function. Func-
tion comes first, and form follows it. In other words, function determines form, and
form is subordinate to function.
• Echoes in Braun and Apple.
• Timelessness <-> planned obsolescence Function
Form
Function Form
PeP+
Eva Deckers
Fonckel One
Philip Ross
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2.5 The time dimension
• One of the main characteristics of design for interaction is the time dimension.
Interaction supposes physical movement, and physical movement takes place in
time. One could say that traditional industrial design is also concerned with action
routines and contexts of use. However, the difference lies in the fact that, in design
for interaction, the time dimension is dominantly present, and is considered a design
driver.
• Specific interaction design courses educate students in time-related disciplines:
dance, music, film, animation, choreography.
Mustick
TU Eindhoven
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2.6 Design for interaction at Product Development (UA)
• The term Interaction Design (IxD) is often used to indicate the design process
in which designers translate rough pieces of software into usable applications.
Therefore, interaction design is usually associated with the context of app design,
web design, UI design. Bill Buxton speaks of “design behind the glass”.
• In Product Development, we have the module “Designing Interactions”, which you
can choose as a major or minor. The essence of Product Development is made up
by product and product service system design. Our approach is holistic: we do not
design interfaces with digital phenomena, we design products and product service
systems, which have a meaning in the life of the end user. The interface with the
digital is merely one part of this bigger whole, and should be regarded as such. At
Product Development, we speak about interaction-driven industrial design. This
perspective includes and embraces “design in front of the glass”.
Word Catcher
Sarah Serneels
Sara Van Moeseke
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3. Embodied Interaction - Embodiment
3.1 Introduction
• Embodied interaction or embodiment is a perspective on our interaction with
interactive products and systems. It is at the heart of much of today’s technological
development in this field, and is expected to grow in importance in the future.
• There are other perspectives, and they are equally important. In the context of these
lectures, embodied interaction is juxtaposed with traditional interaction, which
refers to the current way of interaction with digital products. Embodied interaction
is not better. It is different, and designers should be familiar with it. As a designer it is
important to be able to make a well-considered choice between different interaction
styles.
• A large part of the graduation projects in Product Development contains digital
technology. Embodied interaction is not always employed, but hopefully always
considered.
• Embodied interaction has roots in philosophy (phenomenology) and cognitive
psychology (embodied cognition).
• The designer needs to understand embodied interaction, but above all she needs to
feel it and make it her own. A theoretical explanation is only a starting point.
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• There are multiple ways to look at people and the world they live in. In this
context we consider two perspectives: the Cartesian perspective, and the
phenomenological perspective.
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3.2 The Cartesian perspective
• René Descartes (1596 -1650): Cogito ergo sum. Emphasis on cognition.
• Our mind is positioned opposite our body and the world.
• The mind is the realm of immaterial, intangible ideas, mental constructions and pro-
cesses.
• The body and the world form the realm of the physical, material, tangible.
• Both entities are disconnected/detached. The mind operates isolated and completely
independent from the body and the world. One speaks of Dichotomy and Mind-body
split. Our mind “lives” in our body, namely in our brain.
• The mind is superior, and rules the body and the world. The mind is the master, and the
body is the executor. Roots in the Judeo-Christian tradition. First reflection, then action.
• The body perceives the world. This perception is stored in the mind. Based on this per-
ception, the mind performs calculations on inner representations of the world, and
then commands the body to execute the result of these calculations in the world (ac-
tion).
• Perception and action are two separate concepts.
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3.3 The phenomenological perspective
• Phenomenology: Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), Martin Heidegger (1889-1976),
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961).
• Mind and body are on the same level. They constitute each other, and form one
whole. Without body there can be no mind. We “are” our body.
• The mind and the body/world are fundamentally interwoven. The mind permanently
participates in the world, and is in continuous interaction with it (“situatedness”).
Heidegger speaks of the tool as an extension of the body (“Ready to hand” versus
“Present at hand”, classic example of the hammer, example of clothes, gloves,
sunglasses).
• Our mind operates immediately on the world itself, not on a representation of it.
• Perception and action are difficult to distinguish from each other, because they are
simultaneous and determine each other.
• Integrated or coupled vision.
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3.4 Everyday examples
• In everyday life we rarely reach the level of detachment that allows us to first reflect, and
then act.
10 minute break
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4. Tangible Interaction
[Link]
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4.1 The Desktop Computing Paradigm
• The PC evolves drastically and rapidly. PCs become faster and more powerful, display
resolution increases, color possibilities increase, wireless connections become more
powerful.
• In addition, there is a continuous broadening of the scope of the PC. In the 80s the
PC was used for word processing and basic programming. Today, the PC is suitable
for a wide range of applications: CAD modeling, graphical applications, multimedia,
internet, ...
• What has changed little or not at all during the last 30 years is the user interface of the
PC. The PC contains a display with Graphical User Interface (GUI), speakers, a mouse
and a keyboard. In other words, the way we interact with the PC has not changed.
• This phenomenon is called the Desktop Computing Paradigm. A paradigm is a certain
set of theories in a knowledge or application area, which is generally considered to be
very good and reliable. Hence, it forms a guideline for future developments within this
knowledge or application area.
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1985 2025
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4.2 Criticism
• In the 90s this desktop computing paradigm is criticized by a number of people
within HCI (engineers and computer scientists). They argue that the PC has led to
a homogenization of human tasks. In the pre-PC era, an accountant worked with
written or printed text on A4 paper, sitting at a desk. A graphic designer stood at a
drawing table and drew and painted on large format. The PC has ensured that both
people nowadays apply a very similar physical interaction style. Both sit in front of a
screen, and control a mouse and a keyboard.
• These HCI scientists state that there is an asymmetry in the PC. The PC offers an
enormously rich output: a high resolution display, a rich color palette and animation
possibilities, speakers with a large range. On the other hand, the input of the PC goes
through a mouse and a cursor on the GUI. The mouse is a singular and sequential
device. It is singular because it can only do one thing: click. It is sequential because, if
you want to perform two actions, you have to do one action first, and only then the
second.
• They say there is a mismatch between the bandwidth of the input and the bandwidth
of the output.
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4.3 The alternative: tangible interaction
• Developed at MIT Media Lab, by HCI scientists and engineers.
• They suggest the following: what would happen if I didn’t have to touch an icon on my
display via a mouse, but could grab it directly and put it in my pocket? If I had to give a
package of information to someone, I wouldn’t have to attach it to an email, and then
send it to that person. I could give him the physical icon directly.
• If I want to store a package of digital information, I could just put this physical icon in
my closet, provided that my closet is part of the digital system. When someone asks for
the information, I don’t have to remember in which subdirectory I left it. It’s just in my
closet, between my t-shirts and my stockings.
• They advocate a more physical interaction with digital information through embodiment
of this digital information by physical objects. They call these physical objects“tangibles”,
and the interface itself is called a TUI (Tangible User Interface).
• Classic examples of tangible interaction: MIT’s MediaBlocks, MIT’s URP.
• [Link]
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4.4 Examples in design research
URP
MIT Media Lab
Tangible Media Group
1998
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7608 14
63
Made of Glass
Corning
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4.6 Social interaction versus man-system dialogue
• The traditional PC celebrates the principle of dialogue:
• it is a setup between two actors, the PC and its user.
• Both actors act in turn. Their actions are always reactions to the actions of the
other actor.
• Tangible interaction integrates digital information with the physical world, and makes
it possible for different people to, at the same time and in each other’s proximity, in-
teract with a digital system and with each other. The tangible digital system does not
detach its user from his immediate physical and social environment. The traditional
PC does.
Microsoft Surface
table
Lego 46
4.7 Commercial applications Action bricks
Apple
iPhone
Microsoft
Surface Studio
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4.8 A criticism of tangible interaction
• Tangible interaction clearly originated from the HCI world, and was created by
computer scientists and engineers.
• Tangible ineraction is very much about the interface between the digital and the
physical. It’s more about interfaces than products.
• Designers want to design a meaningful digital product in the first place, and the
interface with the digital is just a part of that.
• Recent criticism: the impact of tangible interaction seems to decline. The contrast
between the “infinite” digital and the “finite” physical is too big. The mapping is
experienced as very limiting. Tangible interaction is regarded as not very scalable and
cost effective.
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Marieke Van Camp
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5. Rich Interaction
Heating controller
Tom Djajadiningrat
Nintendo
Labo
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5.2 A few concepts ...
• In the rich interaction perspective, a digital product changes its physical shape along
with the movements of the user’s body. Physical shape changes are central to rich
interaction. The different physical shapes of the product say something about the
state in which the processor is at that moment. In this sense, the product’s shape
changes, as well as the physical movements of the user, are meaningful. The digital
product itself is a display.
Numark
Mix deck
Dishwasher
Samsung
Galaxy Z Cooker hood
Flip 6
Car cockpit
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Tesla Model S
Door handle
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6. Embodiment: a linear continuum
• Fishkin (2004) presents a two-dimensional spectrum as a representation of
embodiment. I myself represent embodiment on a linear axis. A digital product is not
either embodied or not. The product contains a certain degree of embodiment.
• On the left side of the axis the interaction feels digital and computeresque. As you
move to the right, the physical world plays a greater role.
• An important transition presents itself when you enter the realm of “real” embodied
interaction: the physical world is used here as a medium, and no longer as a
metaphor.
• Virtual reality does not fit on this axis. Virtual reality is about completely immersing
the physical in the digital. Embodied interaction strives to spread the digital over the
physical. In this sense, both phenomena are each other’s opposite.
Livall
Smart Helmet
Strömer
ST2 S
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Tesla
Model 3
Xiaomi
SU7 64
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Northrop Grumman
Projected work instructions
Photo Projector
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Sem Beerens
Amber chys
Jorn Joosen
Zack Kinnaer
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9. Definitions
• Design for interaction
• Form, function and interaction
• interactive products and systems
• mechanical products versus interactive products
• the time dimension in interactive products
• Cartesian perspective - phenomenological perspective
• embodiment - embodied interaction
• desktop computing paradigm
• tangible interaction - tangibles - TUI
• rich interaction
• temporality
• physical shape changes
• MURPS
• MR APs
• the physical world as metaphor - the physical world as medium
• familiarity
• cognitive overload
• the man-system dialogue
10. References 68
Buxton W (2001) Less is more (more or less). In: Denning P (ed) The invisible future: the seamless integration of technology in
everyday life. McGraw Hill, New York, pp 145–179
Djajadiningrat, J. P., Wensveen, S. A. G., Frens, J. W., & Overbeeke, C. J. (2004). Tangible products: Redressing the balance be-
tween appearance and action. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 8(5), 294-309.
Dourish, P. (2001). Where the action is - The foundations of embodied interaction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (Niet op BlackBoard)
Fishkin, K. P. (2004). A taxonomy for and analysis of tangible interfaces. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 8(5), 347-358.
Frens, J. W. (2006). Designing for rich interaction – Integrating form, interaction and function [Doctoral dissertation]. Eindhoven,
the Netherlands: Eindhoven University of Technology.
Ishii, H., & Ullmer, B. (1997). Tangible bits: Towards seamless interfaces between people, bits and atoms. In Proceedings of the
SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp 234-241). New York: ACM Press.
Van Campenhout, L. D. E., Frens, J. W., Overbeeke, C. J., Standaert, A., & Peremans, H. (2013). Physical interaction in a demateria-
lized world. International Journal of Design, 7(1), 1-18.
Van Campenhout, L. D. E., Frens, J. W., Hummels, C. C. M., Standaert, A., & Peremans, H. (2016). Touching the dematerialized. Per-
sonal and Ubiquitous Computing, 20(1), 147-164.
Van Campenhout, L. V. C., Frens, J. W., Hummels, C. C. M., Standaert, A., & Peremans, H. (2019). The enriching limitations of the
physical world. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 23(1), 81-98.
Van Campenhout, L.; Vancoppenolle,W.; Dewit, I. From Meaning to Expression: A Dual Approach to Coupling. Designs 2023,
7, 69.
Van Dijk, J., van der Lugt, R., & Hummels, C. (2014). Beyond distributed representation: Embodied cognition design supporting
socio-sensorimotor couplings. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Inter-
action (pp. 181-188). New York: ACM Press.
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Please read as a preparation for the next lecture:
Wensveen, S.A.G.; Djajadiningrat, J.P.; Overbeeke, C.J. Interaction Frogger: A Design Framework to Couple Action and Function
through Feedback and Feedforward. In Proceedings of the 2004 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems Processes,
Practices, Methods, and Techniques—DIS’04, Cambridge, MA, USA, 1–4 August 2004; ACM Press: New York, NY, USA, 2004; p.
177.