The Soft Touch: Design vs. Disruption

Loneliness is a growing endemic social condition that can be deeply harmful to health and wellbeing, particularly for ageing populations, who, consequently, may be at greater risk of developing depression, Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease (Campaign to End Loneliness, 2016). Contributing to a PhD study that employs a soft design approach towards connectedness – the antithesis of loneliness – twelve older adults were invited to experience an interactive etextile prototype, the ‘Dundee Conversation Quilt’. Designed by individuals with experience of loneliness to prompt dialogue and interaction, the quilt reflects some core values project participants have consistently identified as being key to social connectedness: identity, heritage and storytelling. Despite careful design and a soft touch approach, in this paper we will describe a situation where disruption, distraction and – at times – discomfort prevailed during a workshop where the Dundee Conversation Quilt was tested. Hosted by a local charitable organisation and up against adverse environmental factors including an unexpectedly hot climate and last minute changes to the workspace and facilitation team, this workshop presented challenges outwith the researchers’ control, and to the potential detriment of participant wellbeing. We unpack this demanding workshop journey, reporting on the workshop design - its’ successes in providing opportunity for connectedness, its’ derailments - and the implications of these disruptions.