The Hybrid Dimension of Material Design: Two Case Studies of a Do-It-Yourself Approach for the Development of Interactive, Connected, and Smart Materials

The paper proposes a definition of Material design as a hybrid practice and describes the intersection area between two emerging phenomenon regarding materials for design namely, ICS Materials and DIY-Materials – by depicting the theoretical background supported by relevant examples and related works and providing the case studies developed by the authors and their students: L-ink, i.e. an experiment on DIY conductive Ink in order to augment paper as a substrate material for interactive, iterative, and flexible material interfaces; and Sound Textile, i.e. a sound installation using the material properties of metal threads in a textile fabric. Finally, the paper discusses further development, considering the ability of the case study to combine the properties of two materials pushing the imagination to new horizons: making wearable mobile phones that can be bent or open-ended and ephemeral interfaces that could be customized and transformed at any stage of the product lifecycle.