Non Visuals : Material exploration of non-visual interaction design

Abstract: Design is all about visuals, or that is what I have found out during this thesis, from the process materials to the outcome our main entry point to any problem is how will we solve it visually so it’s understandable for the general user. This aspect is problematic in itself due to the fact that we, as humans, understand the world and the things around using all our senses continuously, even though we can forget as visuals are so overpowering. There is a huge opportunity area in exploring our other senses and bringing them back to technology, and this can be seen in works in the past like Tangible Interactions [1] or Natural User Interfaces [2]. But in this moment in time, where all these new technologies like VR/AR and IoT are about to enter our lives and change them forever, this topic is more important than ever. We have already seen what happens when we turn humans into mere machines with some fingers as interactive inputs, and barely any senses to process all the information given to us. Now that these technologies are still young and malleable, we can direct the future to where we want it instead of being guided by the technology itself. To do this we need to reimagine the design process, not reinvent the wheel, but add experts which we currently leave behind and I argue are key to unlock these technologies, experts not only of the technological side of things but on the human side too, like physiotherapists and dancers. Add also people who we never think about when we think of VR like visually impaired users, which could make these technologies inclusive since early on, instead of as an afterthought like we usually do. Not only people, but we also need to add new materials to understand how we use our senses and explore ways that we can understand and explore them differently; like bodystorming and improv theatre because when things aren’t visual, how do you sketch it? A sketch turns into a video about movement. The end result provides a wide breadth of examples of the types of innovations that can come out of using these new design materials, and to open new frontiers. From a VR game with no visuals whatsoever to an AR location based story game, to a home sized multimodal operating system containing several different apps controlled through physical movement. The examples open up the space instead of closing into a single solution. This is just the tip of the iceberg, a hope that others will be inspired by it and continue with this journey that has just started, to guide the future into one that is more technological and at the same time more human than ever before. What we know is that VR does not equate Visual Reality.