Conference Agenda

Proximity Ruff explores embodied interaction and social care through a wearable device that translates human proximity into light. Designed within The Spark Design Research Studio (Naples, Italy), it reinterprets the historical ruff as a postdigital interface that re-educates the body to closeness after the pandemic. Generated through evolutionary algorithms and 3D-printed in bioplastic PLA, the piece embeds 72 LEDs and proximity sensors that visualize interpersonal distance. Beyond quantification, the luminous feedback materializes affective data, transforming social gestures into somatic awareness. Grounded in somaesthetic design and critical materiality, the project investigates how sensing systems and computational materials can mediate care, empathy, and bodily diversity. By merging digital fabrication and responsive matter, Proximity Ruff proposes an alternative notion of wearable technology, one that restores intimacy and reconfigures the postdigital body as a porous, relational, and emotionally intelligent system.

Digital jewellery is an emerging field of research and practice that combines jewellery practices with microelectronics and employs methodologies from art, craft, design and Human-Computer-Interaction (HCI). This interdisciplinary approach offers exciting possibilities for designing innovative digital devices on the body. However, the field of digital jewellery remains loosely defined and underdeveloped. It is timely to give voice to jewellers and to lead them to shape the many ways in which digital technology can be meaningful to the wearer. This paper synthesises insights from the past five years of digital jewellery research conducted in two jewellery education programs in the UK and Denmark. In doing so, it amplifies the voices of the new generation of jewellers, analysing their practices and highlighting their potential to shape the future of wearable devices. By emphasising longevity, emotional resonance, embodiment and self-reflection, the new generation of digital jewellers offers a compelling alternative to tech-driven wearables.

The novel nature of tangible communication technologies and users’ lack of prior experience pose a significant challenge for engaging stakeholders in participative activities for non-verbal, tangible remote-communication devices. To address this gap, we developed a research toolkit consisting of wirelessly connected textile cubes capable of transmitting haptic signals such as motion, warmth, shape change, heartbeat, vibration and visual cues. This paper examines the potential of the toolkit as a methodological tool for identifying suitable input-output modalities and capturing user perceptions in the early stages of device development. Applied within a recent research project, the toolkit enabled participants to engage with unfamiliar interaction modalities and supported designers in evaluating preferences and patterns across various communication scenarios. Our work contributes a case study on user study design in the field of tangible remote communication and offers insights into the participatory development of multimodal, non-verbal remote communication devices with implications for future research.

This study explores how thermal interaction can support emotional expression and regulation in socially anxious contexts. Using participatory and body-mapping methods, participants recalled and visualized temperature-related experiences of comfort, which were translated into six emotionally resonant thermal patterns. These insights informed the design of TempReso, a sleeve-type wearable that delivers dynamic thermal cues on the forearm. A series of design experiments examined how warmth and coolness evoke affective memories, redirect attention, and foster emotional comfort during public speaking. The study highlights temperature as an expressive and emotional material, revealing how embodied experiences can inform the design of affective haptic interfaces and contribute to understanding emotional resonance in interaction design. Reflections on the process discuss how bodily experience, material behaviour, and technology intertwine in shaping emotionally meaningful interactions.

In safety-critical industrial contexts, visual alerts often fail under high cognitive load. This paper introduces Preparatory Haptics, framing haptic timing as a relational medium that reshapes bodily anticipation. We developed a wearable haptic prototype synchronized with auditory cues to investigate how temporal coordination and vibration modes influence attention and readiness. A driving-simulation study showed that advance-timing haptic cues foster proactive anticipation, whereas sustained vibrations are perceived as bodily resonance rather than interference, particularly under complex task conditions. These findings ground the Preparatory Haptics Framework, which treats temporal materiality as a generative element of embodied interaction and offers theoretical and practical guidance for anticipatory alert design in safety-critical systems.

Exoskeletons exemplify intimate body-technology entanglements, where user experience is inherently corporeal. Despite their increasing presence in industrial and emerging consumer markets, current development methods often neglect the embodied dimensions of these devices. This paper explores what it means to design for the working body in the context of occupational exoskeletons. Drawing from our design practice and qualitative interviews in automotive and logistics, we identify tensions across three areas: (1) user and context research, inclusive and (2) body-sensitive development processes, and (3) the semiotics and social meaning of exoskeletons. We highlight challenges such as normalized risk and harm, limited attention to anthropometric diversity, constraints on safe prototyping, and risks of stigma and dehumanization. Simultaneously, we identify opportunities to position exoskeletons as cues for body awareness, health-related self-efficacy, and reflective work practices. Finally, we propose actionable recommendations to advance exoskeleton design, emphasizing embodied, situated experience.