Wearable Devices: A Design Approach Through Biodesign and Ergonomics

Abstract

Nowadays there is a great inclination to modify well-being concept and health care by changing the technology in “wearable”. For this reason the relation between human body and new technologies are changing deeply and continually. The design necessarily should drive these changes. It is fundamental to understand if design is able to filling the gap in wearables project, caused by the absence of a user-oriented approach. The design development of the wearable device needs to accomplish the requirements of comfort and adaptableness connected to the anatomy of human body. From this point of view, the wearable is not an overlapping structure but “a second skin”. These aspects require a study about the ergonomics and “wear-ability”. Users often reject objects felt unfamiliar to own body, even if they can improve daily life. This happens because sometimes the designer overlooks the relationship between body and wearables, which involve both physical and psychological side. The study in wearable area is directed toward a new phase, where the attention is on the user desire. This paper presents the result of the research developed by Biodesign Lab of Politecnico di Milano: a methodological approach, which is based on a combination between the Lines of Non Extension, a theory made by Iberall and the unobtrusive areas set by the Institute of Complex Engineered System. The research has developed an instrument able to support and guide the design process.

Keywords: Wearable Technology, Fashionable Wearable, Biodesign, Guidelines

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1001242