On Disparity

Abstract: We interact with products constantly. It is, in many ways, in- escapable. But what defines those experiences, that dispari- ty, between us and things? By working extensively with text and with various explorative user tests, my ambition was to define that meeting of human and object, and imagine a different way of designing user experience. After writing and testing, I found that disparity was defined by a multitude of things: disparity is frustration, disparity is discovery. It is how objects manipulate what we do and how we do it – trust and time, motion and emotion. This new knowledge then informed a series of objects: A watering can that you turn backward, that challenges perce- ived knowledge and, ultimately, earns your trust; a vinegar dispenser where the liquid comes out from beneath, whose function you explore and discover; and finally, a salt shaker that manipulates the user’s motion and their emotions com- pletely. Disparity became a concept that enabled me to create very different experiences.