Process

When I started on this project, I was interested in the idea of designing an object that would allow an individual with chronic pain to allow their family member or friend to experience the pain. So I began by looking at how could I design a wearable device that would allow the individual with chronic pain to relay the frequency of the pain they experience in real-time to the other user. However, following more research that I performed for my other project, I discovered that a lot of people who experience chronic pain, in theory, thought that experiencing the pain would allow others to understand better, but they didn’t actually want to inflict pain on others. So I shifted to looking at the idea of reactions and why people tend to not communicate about their pain with family and friends.

Also, I moved away from a wearable device because I felt there is a strong cognitive connection to health data with wearable devices, which feels very medical. Because I was looking at emotional reactions and perception I wanted to explore designing an object that incorporated the concept of ritual in it, which I feel can hold a very strong mental and emotional connection.