Anne Cochrane, K., Mah, K., Ståhl, A., Núñez-Pacheco, C., Balaam, M., Ahmadpour, N., & Loke, L. (2022, February). Body Maps: A Generative Tool for Soma-based Design. In Sixteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (pp. 1-14). https://doi.org/10.1145/3490149.3502262
ABSTRACT
Body maps are visual documents, where somatic experiences can be drawn onto a graphical representation of an outline of the human body. They hold the ability to capture complex and non-explicit emotions and somatic felt sensations, elaborating narratives that cannot be simply spoken. We present an illustrative example of “how-to” complete a body map, together with four case studies that provide examples of using body maps in design research. We identify five uses of body maps as generative tools for soma-based design, ranging from sampling bodily experience, heightening bodily self-awareness, understanding changing bodily experience over time, identifying patterns of bodily experience, and transferring somatic experiential qualities into physical designs. The different requirements for scaffolding the use of body maps in user-centred design versus first-person autobiographical design research are discussed. We provide this Pictorial as a resource for designers and researchers who wish to integrate body maps into their practice.
For this paper, my study was one of four case studies that were presented to make a case for the body mapping method. Karen Cochrane from Carleton University was the lead author and all authors collaborated equally on the conceptual ideas and writing. I was responsible for the visual design of the pictorial format.
