SHIVR is a tangible and interactive system that brings back the excitement of dating, but forces users to think twice about who they may be interacting with.
Humanizing the once intimate experience.
With more and more people using online dating platforms, the use of human interaction and the body (e.g. physical flirting and physical touch) is now a missing component in the digital landscape. Coupled with the ongoing pandemic, human touch is much rarer and sought after. With free time allotted from quarantine, it seems like more and more are signing up for these dating apps which have been notoriously associated with hooking up (namely specific platforms). These apps are a door easily opened to new sexual partners and the grander possibility of contracting an STI or even COVID-19. There are a number of problems on these platforms, such as user misrepresentation, harassment, manipulation, and lying. In short, users do not fully know who they are interacting with. SHIVR, this grotesque object, is meant to bring back the tactile sensation and excitement of meeting people, but more importantly forces users to think twice about who they may be meeting with.
Approach
What are the exciting things about dating apps? Scariest things?
Understanding the multiple intentions users have when creating accounts
Types of research conducted:
In-person interviews
Reading through academic papers in regards to digital dating
Thought Process
Phallic objects will pop out when it receives a notification from a dating application. In order to interact with this product the user would squeeze or lick the phallic object to send feedback to the phone.
Concerns
These ideas are extremely obvious and exclusionary to different sexualities and identities.
Users are going to vary, and this product should not solely be about the phallic shape but focus on a more all-encompassing and diverse form for all interests. Because of its obvious and anatomical appearance, the product turns into a kitschy, over sexualized toy.
Iterations
Mimicking frisson, “skin orgasm” this hairball prototype is connected to multiple dating accounts and reacts accordingly to notifications (standing hair and goosebumps). The interactions needed for this object include, petting its hair downwards and squeezing the flesh-like head.
Interaction