06 Nov WHAT ABOUT A BIT OF MODERN-SENSE?

Another succesful edition of the Dutch Design Week has passed by this year. Our Trainee Mallory was our eyes and ears on the floor this year and went to spot the latest new directions of change in design land and beyond. Especially for you guys, she wrote about it. So grab a warm cup of any liquid you like, sit back and enjoyed a piece of Future insights. In the last week of October, I have attended Dutch Design Week. One of the biggest events of design in the Netherlands. I went to different locations to spot various indicators of change. As future researchers, that is what we call cool hunting or weak signal spotting. There were many different products and services. However, there are also trends. At first, just go looking for the products/services that attract you the most, then start realising that some have the same purpose which makes them a direction of change. I found different “Directions of change” at the Dutch Design Week. But there is one that I want to talk about; Modern-sense. Traditionally, humans have five recognised senses which are sight, taste, touch, smell and sound. However, today’s technology is granting us to live beyond those senses by reinventing new senses and enhancing senses. Technology is improving so much that it gives us a deeper understanding of how our senses work and change our perception of the world. They give us the ability to hack our senses by expanding our sensory input, allowing us to see, hear, taste, touch and smell things we could not experience. Additionally, some of these technologies are making us rethink our identity. The question it is raising is, if it is redefining our identity? Are our senses part of our personality? Because if you think about it; when you cannot see, you are a blind person. But what if through technology you can see, what does it do to your identity? Modern-sense is a direction of movement that is leading to experience in a different way. A few products underline this new direction of change at the Dutch Design week that suits to modern sense are; SinTact, FULU and Cosmic Sleep.

• The SinTact is a tool that complements and extends the tactile sense of a human body which is developed by design students Svetlana Tarasova and Anton Kogge of the University of Berlin. It is like kind of making the skin hear sound.[embed]https://vimeo.com/338526210[/embed]
• Fulu is a fingernail-mounted haptic add on for Augmented Reality in our daily lives. The device creates a virtual feeling of touch on the top side of your nail. Being able to touch in another way through technology. 
• Cosmic Sleep is a multi-sensory experience that engages touch, smell and sound. It has the possibility for storytelling are examined from a non-human perspective. That we can affect the body and tell new sensory stories and strengthen our senses.

The real exciting question is how our senses will developed in the future. Are we going to gain different senses? Will this expantion of senses provide more equality in this World because now even with disabilities, you can manage to have any sense with the help of technology. We are moving towards a World where expanding and enhancing our senses and body is becoming the new normal. Would you like to know more about redefining humanity and the future of personality? We have a brand new keynote ready to go. Feel free to reach out to learn and book a keynote about the future of personality now.