Kinetic Materials Experience

Shape memory alloys and polymers respond to changes in temperature, light or other environmental stimuli by changing their shape. This paper shows new kinetic experiences with objects and surfaces that apply memory shape materials, describing some case histories based on design experimentations that open up new frontiers in design. This article investigates how the shape memory effect can add useful features to everyday objects, create unusual user experiences, and how this new potential has been tapped by designers so far. The authors present considerations on design methods, describing the convergence of product design, interaction design and experience design in the new scenario of smart materials. They discuss models from literature to understand and describe the emotional aspects of interaction design with shape-changing materials. Such models could be useful reference points for designers of interactive products that offer kinetic experiences.