Traces and Choices

Date

04 OCT 2024 10 OCT 2024

Week

Week 1

Unit

UX Studio Practice

Team

Dahoon Lee, Aslı Ateş, Uday Goel, Wuyou Xiang, Yulanxi Jiang (Lancy)

Brief

Design an embodied experience of dirt.

In short

Dirt is a contextual trace that shifts between discomfort and value.
Urban graffiti reveals this ambiguity through perspective and place.
A door-based experiment explores choices to erase, leave, or add traces.

What Is Dirt?

Dirt can be many things. As Mary Douglas once wrote, it can simply be “matter out of place.” When we consider the diverse contexts of society, dirt appears in countless forms and fulfils various roles.

But what is the kind of dirt we’ve embodied in our own lives? The first that came to my mind was the mud in tidal flats. It’s sticky, messy, and leaves marks everywhere—often unpleasant. But studies show that its fine particles are soft to the touch and even beneficial for skincare. This reminded me that our first ideas of dirt tend to be negative, but that dirt also has its redeeming qualities.

Letters to Dirt

Love Letter

Dear Dirt,

I remember you that we met a long time ago. Playing with friends until sunset, I used to go home with you. Even if I was good at dusting off my running and rolling traces, you would leave sparkly little bits on my arms and legs. Even if my mom didn’t like it, I loved that sparkle. Now, a long time later, I still miss the time when I was running around all day, just as pure as you were.

Breakup Letter
Dear Dirt,

I shook you off like that not to follow me, but you chased me all the way home and you’re bothering me. I wanted to leave it in the playground and go home neatly because I had fun all day, but it feels bad to leave your mark on my house as well. Will you stop disappearing from my body now?

Reflecting on my experience with dirt, I wrote a love letter and a breakup letter to the soil from my childhood playground. Even within the same memory, the good and bad sides of dirt were clearly present—bringing both delight and discomfort.

Graffiti as Urban Dirt

Mind map on the concept of dirt. Image Credit: Author

Our group discussed what kind of dirt to focus on. Among various ideas, we chose urban dirt, particularly graffiti. In urban settings, graffiti exists in an in-between space: in some contexts, it’s celebrated as art; in others, it’s treated as a nuisance or crime.

AEIOU framework related to graffiti. Image Credit: Group

We noted that its acceptability depends on perspective. In public places like tunnels or underpasses, graffiti is often tacitly tolerated. However, on private buildings, it’s generally unwelcome. What’s art to one person can be urban pollution to another.

Erase, Leave, or Add?

Door structure made with cardboard boxes. Photo Credit: Author

Hinged structure in progress. Photo Credit: Author

We designed a situational experiment, using a door as the central object, symbolising choice and boundaries.

The setup: You move into a new flat. On your front door is unfamiliar graffiti, left by a stranger. How do you respond? We imagined three typical reactions: erase it, leave it, or add your own graffiti.

Prototype of the constructed door. Photo Credit: Author

Testing Reactions

In our interim presentation, most participants chose to add graffiti. However, we questioned whether they were truly immersed in the scenario. The provided door was already doodled on, and lacked the contextual realism of an actual home environment.

Next week, we plan to improve the setting and make the scenario more immersive, allowing participants to feel the tension of choice more vividly.

Reference