Touch to be Touched
An Encounter with the Feeling of Touch
Description
“Touch to be Touched” deals with the facets of touch: active touch as well as emotional touch. Based on an examination of the causes and consequences of an increasing lack of touch, it presents a possible design response: a tangible user interface called “Tangible Beats”, conceived as a 16-step drum computer. Eight different objects of varying material, shape, size and surface are associated with electronic beat samples. The principle of use works by touching and interacting with the individual objects, which can be arranged in a grid. The concept demonstrates how a human-computer interaction can be made more tangible for humans through touch. At the same time, it presents a playful and intuitive approach to music production that requires no prior knowledge and is also accessible to blind people thanks to its design.