Abstract
Throughout this research, I question how a design practitioner can add value to paper through printed electronics with the aim of prototyping tangible, organic and intriguing user interfaces. This enquiry is practice-led and uses research prototypes to explore, challenge and define the emerging field of paper circuitry. I have used this nascent technology to develop the concept of the ‘craft technologist’, discussing how such a practitioner would use craft process values (such as reflection and an understanding of materiality) while navigating emergent technologies. One outcome of exploring printed electronics through a craft technologist’s lens was a nuanced understanding of paper circuitry: an affordable and accessible take on printed electronics that is informed by craft process and aims to close the gap between humans and technology.While practice-led, my research is heavily influenced by theory, and benefits from drawing on sources across multidisciplinary fields and from both academia and industry. I have located my practice through a contextual review, discussing the history of paper, paper’s relationship with electronics, current relevant technology in the field of paper circuitry and the research methodology of reflective practice.
I chose reflective practice as the most appropriate methodology to adopt and adapt. As paper circuitry is an embryonic field, it was crucial to track and bolster my research in a way that allowed for trial and error, emotional response and the productive addressing of errors or unintended outcomes. My research explores personal experiences through reflective practice before building into a discussion of overall process, and ways designers or practitioners can prototype and design for emerging technology, specifically in the field of paper circuitry. I have been particularly interested in discovering and articulating the specific properties of craft processes that allow for technological breakthrough.
Craft processes are explored not only as a framework for prototyping with emergent technologies, but also as a frame of mind; an attitude that is deeply material and inherently reflective, in both personal and public spheres and concerning not only the act of prototyping, but also research practice and knowledge generation and exchange.
Through making I have explored the possibility of giving paper and its contents digital interactivity, which not only challenges and potentially changes the way digital products are used, but also questions what will constitute a digital product in the future, both on a material and philosophical level. Paper circuitry has the potential to take the concept of value away from the ‘expensive gadget’ stereotype and towards the type of value assigned to art, craft or memorabilia. Paper circuitry enables and encourages users to open their minds to the possibility of interacting with a 2D interface. As such, the aim of my research has not been to push paper circuitry technically further, but to open up opportunities for people to play, design and craft with paper circuitry.
The contributions to new knowledge are presented thematically across technological, craft and design, and social. This includes a new approach to the classification of paper circuits, the identification of a need for a new language to describing paper circuit design, and a call for a socially led approach towards how applications of paper circuitry are developed. I then bring these three themes together in a single proposition for a new type of practitioner that I have called the Craft Technologist.
| Date of Award | 2016 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Sponsors | Novalia & Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council |
| Supervisor | Jon Rogers (Supervisor) & Sarah Wallace (Supervisor) |