SENSORIAL EXPERIENCE APPLIED TO PRODUCT DESIGN TEACHING

When a product design is considered a communication form between the designer and the user, different perception channels and sensory receptions are involved [1]. For a product to be understood by the user different levels of assimilation are involved on how to read it. Receptor channels, needs to stimulate a sensation when a person receives an external stimulus, so an information can be absorbed by sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Therefore, it may be understood as one of the functions of the designer to interpret its own experiences, or the users' experiences to create. Such experiences can be subjective reactions developed through an objective reality which can be translated to a real product. As a learning and teaching strategy it became clear how relevant it is for the students to develop such ability. On the undergraduate course Design in State University of Maringa (UEM), at Cianorte, Parana, the course disciplines intending to provide such basis are 'Plastica I and Plastica II'. These courses aim to 'offer the student the necessary repertoire to comprehend and develop object visual shapes'. Offered in the first year, so the student develops the skills to use throughout all the programme, like on design process courses. As a way of integrating these principles to students, an introductory class called "Sensorial Dynamics" was developed to stimulate their senses. Nowadays, technology and reality simulations by virtual environment is too intense, which favors sight as the most used and evolved sense among the five. It is believed that the younger generations often have no meaningful experiences related to the other senses, which can result on not enough repertoire to use on the development of product designs. In light of this reality, a class was planned with the student sight inhibited and the other senses were stimulated. By inhibiting the sight, the sensations and stimuli received during the dynamic activity are experienced much more intensely. Considering synesthesia, the most striking sense relation, that is, the stimulus destined to a particular sensor but perceived by another - with which the former apparently has no direct connection -, the neurological variant of the idea of synesthesia [2], if well directed, during a project can be applied on the development of a project, with creative and innovative results. The present paper aims to report the development and structure of the class "Sensorial Dynamics", as well as present the students' feedback of the experience. The lecture occurred on the academic years 2017 and 2018. How this sensorial experience was evoked and reiterated by the teachers and how students used the developed skill by the dynamic during the semester this class was lectured is also presented.