The vibe
The project
Feel the Vibe is a whole-body interface that leverages vibroacoustic resonance as a communication medium. Visitors climb into a vibrating web, while other visitors pull on cables transmitting physical vibrations and Solfreggio sacred music. Designed in collaboration with Vibe Research Labs, this installation explores the future of sound healing, an ancient practice that remains popular in integrative medicine and yoga. Our work links sound healing to contemporary neuroscience, which is actively exploring the role of 40hz oscillations in the treatment of psychiatric disorders.
Project details
Year: 2019
Client: TU Delft, Vibe Research Labs
Nature: Group project
My tasks: Exhibition design, prototyping
Assignment
The project was made during an interactive prototyping course. The goal of the project was to redesign the practice of sound healing. Weekly prototypes were made to gain practice with user testing an experience. Interviews and observations were conducted to collect information.
Dutch Design Week 2019
2 projects were selected from the course to be presented at the DDW. We got the opportunity to improve our prototype with the help of the Vibe Research Labs to be presented to the masses. The challenge was to maintain the experience of the concept when scaling the project for an exhibition.
The interaction between 2 people and the prototype changed to 1 individual and the prototype. The participant would experience a fixed pattern of vibrations and solfeggio frequencies.
Things I learned during this project
1- Low-fi prototypes are a great discussion tool to gain feedback about an abstract experience.
2- Experience does not start when interacting with the prototype. The experience starts the first moment you hear about it. The build-up to being able to enter the experience influence the experience a lot.
3- We went to a sound healing session for inspiration. Experiencing something yourself is a better method than just reading about something.
