Shape-Changing Displays

Summer semester 2019

Shape Changing Interfaces are user interfaces that display information and enable interaction by changing their shape. Shape change can be done by changing the form, orientation, volume, texture, viscosity and spatiality. Shape Changing Interfaces was identified at CHI 2018 as an important field of research in which design will play a central role. The questions to design are among others:

How can we communicate by shape change?
What can be communicated by changing shape?
How do we interact through shape change?

Shape change can take place through so-called smart materials, i.e. materials that change under certain conditions. Shape change can also be caused by pneumatics, magnetism, motors, kinetic principles, but also by environmental conditions such as wind and humidity and much more.

In the semester a group of students experimented on both, the type of change of shape and its contents. The project was accompanied by workshops and visits of designers in this field.