6 Training Somaesthetic Skills

In chapter 5, I offered some building blocks for a theory of soma design. I suggested four criteria that characterize soma designs: (1) sociodigital material, (2) interactivity, (3) a perpetual state of being designed (because these designs are changed by their interactions with users), and (4) the production of somaesthetic experiences. I suggested that soma designers will draw on strong concepts, including biofeedback loops, somaesthetic touch, and kinaesthetic mimicry, to produce characteristic somaesthetic experiences or feelings, particularly a sense of suppleness, evocative balance, or a certain machine aesthetics. In short, chapter 5 gave us the beginnings of a vocabulary that will be useful to designers trying to capture, discuss, or develop their soma designs.