The document outlines the 2014 Wearable Ecologies project, a collaborative inquiry by the Media Design Practices Lab at the Art Center College of Design, in partnership with Intel. It highlights various intensive projects exploring the potential of wearables within cultural, technological, and ethical contexts, culminating in a symposium featuring panels and student project demonstrations. Key discussions included the socio-cultural implications of wearables, transactional narratives, and the aesthetics of wearable design.

1. Wearable
Ecologies
Spring 2014 Intel-Partnered Lab Inquiry Project
Phil van Allen, Ben Hooker & Wendy March
Media Design Practices, Art Center College of Design
Intel Design School Network

3. Lab 2015
Inquiries
Detourism
Ciphertexts &
Cryptoblobs
Bacterial Cultures
Wearable Ecologies
Sensored Stories
Each year the Media Design Practices Lab track runs a set
of five inquiries – 2-5 week intensive projects built around a
theme emerging from culture, technology or science.
Inquiries begin with a question or phenomenon and ask:
what if?

4. Wearable
Ecologies
The studio focused on the possibilities generated by
networks of multiple, heterogeneous devices. Projects
explored the potential ecologies of wearables and the
transactions, contextual adaptability, and aesthetics
of behavior possible through their use.

5. Wearable
Ecologies
Course dates: Feb 7, 2014 - March 6, 2014
Week 1 Useless Wearables Project, Intel Guest Presentations, Current Technology Review
Week 2 Connected Bodies Symposium, Final Project Proposals
Week 3 Studio Development on Working Prototypes, Desk Critiques
Week 4 Final Project Demonstrations & Critiques (Project Brief)

6. Connected
Bodies
Imagining New Wearables Symposium

7. Introduction
Anne Burdick (Art Center), Phil van Allen (Art Center)
& John Somoza (Higher Education Program Manager, Intel)
!
Panel One
Reflections on Today’s Wearable Landscape
Jennifer Darmour (Artefact), Eric Olson (Karten Design),
Steve Holmes (VP Smart Device Innovation, New Devices Group, Intel),
Lama Nachman (User Experience Research, Intel Labs); Moderator: Syuzi
Pakhchyan, Art Center's Intel Technologist-in-Residence
(fashioningtech.com)
!
Make It Wearable: Demo by Makers
Meg Grant (designer), Julia Koerner (designer),
Jay Melican (Maker Czar, New Devices Group, Intel)
!
Panel Two
Connected Bodies: A Look Into the Future Socio-Cultural,
Expressive, & Aesthetic Possibilities of Wearables
Joanna Berzowska (Concordia) , Hans Moritz (VP Industrial Design, New
Devices Group, Intel), Doris Kim Sung (USC); Moderator: Wendy March (UX
Design Manager, New Devices Group, Intel)
!
Breakout Sessions: New Questions/Challenges
Group work sessions led by panelists,
followed by presentations from each group
!
Conclusion: Summary & Next Steps
Syuzi Pakhchyan & Phil van Allen

8. Connected
Bodies
• What will wearables reveal that we don’t see now?
• How can designers deal with learning curves - both human and device?
• Can 3D printed artifacts be a luxury item?
• What is an interesting kind of smart for wearables?
• Do all wearables have to be “functional”?
• Can wearables be used to subvert power structures?

9. Wearable
Ecologies
Student Projects

10. • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Wearable receptacles for digital currency — exploring
the aesthetics and durations of data exchange
SAND
Jasmin Blasco

11. Disposable sensors in the daily routine — a language around public
• • • • • • • • • • • • •
and private wearables for and their use in social occasions
Body Stok
David Gabriele

12. • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Clothing to quantify and display fleeting social gestures
— to instigate behavior changes or new relationships
Luster
Gerardo Guerrero & Zoe Padgett

13. • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Ritualistic or iconographic wearables as
rule keepers for regulating social interactions
Expanded Discourse
Gerardo Guerrero & Zoe Padgett

14. • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Baby onesie for quantifying and analyzing intimate
relationships — a critical look at the practice of life logging
Human Tomagatchi
Marcus Guttenplan & Tim Kim

15. • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Choreographed data pickpocketing as a means to
exploit a contextually “smart” device ecosystem
MALWAReABLES
Marcus Guttenplan & Tim Kim

16. • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Making the metaphorical literal — a data vapor cloud
to serve as a warning to potential data thieves
Data Vaporizer
Ji Won Jun

17. • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Detachable, degradable wearables as a means to
mark or enforce the territories of our digital presence
Terri Torri
Mengxiao Genny Li

18. A wearable entourage — the various device hierarchies that emerge
• • • • • • • • • • • • •
within an ecosystem of dozens or hundreds of personal devices
Chuck!
QiYuan Oscar Li

19. • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Dramatically reactive haute couture wearables —
fashionistas as early adopters
Expressive Wearable
Sangli Li

20. • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Wearables at the center of emerging bespoke models of
technology production, services, and distribution
The Future of Wearable Services: A Proposal for a Pop-Up Sensor Nail Salon
Kristina Ortega & Jenny Rodenhouse

21. • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Multiplicity, proximity and intimacy as a means
of rule-making for personal data exchange
Data Locket
Maria Pagan

22. • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Expressive wearables indicate potential for transactions —
intimacy as means to exchange
BreathingBloom
Xiaochen Claire Yang

24. Wearable
Ecologies
Inquiry Threads

25. !
Inquiry Thread 01: Transactions/Economics/Aesthetics
• Wearables that facilitate a range of transactional narratives
• A service model for bespoke wearables
• Gestural Skeuomorphs and vocabularies
Inquiry Thread 02: Aesthetics/Methods/Contexts
• Wearable gestures, physical signifiers, metaphors
• Sketching with working prototypes
• Social sensing & selectively heightened sensing in everyday contexts
• Designing a collection as a method, context, and ecology
Inquiry Thread 03: Transactions/Ethics/Ecologies
• Ethics of inter-wearable communication as branded or certified behavior
• Intimacy and proximity as contextual awareness for data access
• Public vs. private, legible vs. hidden
Inquiry Thread 04: Ecologies/Times Scales/Contexts
• Hierarchies in your device ecosystem — coordinating a conference with your wearables
• Disposable technology vs. super utility — designed degradation and perishable wearables
• Application rituals, use rituals

27. Wearable
Ecologies
Inquiry Thread 01
Transactions/Economics/Aesthetics

28. • • •
Wearables that facilitate a range
of transactional narratives

29. • • •
A service model for
bespoke wearables

30. • • •
Gestural Skeuomorphs
and vocabularies

32. Wearable
Ecologies
Inquiry Thread 02
Aesthetics/Methods/Contexts

33. • • • •
Gesturing wearables,
physical signifiers, metaphors

34. • • • •
Sketching with
working prototypes

35. Designing a collection as a
method, context, and ecology
• • • •

36. • • • •
Branded, social sensing,
for special occasions

38. Wearable
Ecologies
Inquiry Thread 03
Transactions/Ethics/Ecologies

39. • • •
Ethics of inter-wearable communication
as branded or certified behavior

40. Intimacy and proximity as contextual
awareness for data access
• • •

41. Public vs. private,
legible vs. hidden
• • •

43. Wearable
Ecologies
Inquiry Thread 04
Ecologies/Time Scales/Contexts

44. • • •
Hierarchies in your device ecosystem — coordinating a
conference with your wearables, who speaks for whom?

45. • • •
Disposable technology vs. super utility —
designed degradation and perishable wearables

46. • • •
Application rituals,
use rituals

48. !
Inquiry Thread 01: Transactions/Economics/Aesthetics
• Wearables that facilitate a range of transactional narratives
• A service model for bespoke wearables
• Gestural Skeuomorphs and vocabularies
Inquiry Thread 02: Aesthetics/Methods/Contexts
• Wearable gestures, physical signifiers, metaphors
• Sketching with working prototypes
• Social sensing & selectively heightened sensing in everyday contexts
Inquiry Thread 03: Transactions/Ethics/Ecologies
• Ethics of inter-wearable communication as branded or certified behavior
• Intimacy and proximity as contextual awareness for data access
• Public vs. private, legible vs. hidden
Inquiry Thread 04: Ecologies/Times Scales/Contexts
• Hierarchies in your device ecosystem — coordinating a conference with your wearables
• Disposable technology vs. super utility — designed degradation and perishable wearables
• Application rituals, use rituals

49. !Wearable Ecologies
Project Brief Website
!
Student Project Websites
Jasmin Blasco
David Gabriele
Gerardo Guerrero
Marcus Guttenplan
Tim Kim
Ji Won Jun
Mengxiao Genny Li
QiYuan Oscar Li
Sangli Li
Kristina Ortega
Zoe Padgett
Maria Pagan
Jenny Rodenhouse
Xiaochen Claire Yang

50. Wearable
Ecologies
Spring 2014 Intel-Partnered Lab Inquiry Project
Phil van Allen, Ben Hooker & Wendy March
Media Design Practices, Art Center College of Design
Intel Design School Network