The Role of Physicality in the Design Process

Abstract

In this chapter we discuss physicality’s influence in design, an influence that permeates the process at many levels. Before embarking on that however it might be sensible to define physicality. In other writings we have employed a broad definition that encompasses all non-visual senses. However in this context and for the sake of clarity and focus, we define physicality as the mechanical forces at work in designed artefacts in the physical world, be they through our own physical interactions or through natural forces such as gravity. Evolutionarily speaking we are still stone-age humans, physically and mentally evolved to live in a physical world of animals, plants, water, air and earth. We bring the social and cognitive baggage of that history with us when we interact with the modern world and the artificial artefacts within it, some of which appear to break the rules of the physical world understood by our stone aged psyche.