The power of embodiment for design and vice versa

Since the computer has entered our daily and social life, it is no longer just a means to perform our work, but it helps us to pursue our lives. This development has connected the worlds of industrial design (ID) and human computer interaction (HCI), leading to the introduction of fields like social computing, tangible interaction and embodied interaction. In this paper we, ID people, explain why we are not merely focusing on tangible interaction, but have expanded towards embodied interaction. Embodied interaction is a term originally coined by Paul Dourish (2001a) which refers to products, objects, conversations, actions etc. that unfold in the world and are meaningful in the social and physical world. We perceive the world in terms of what we can do with it, in terms of our skills, especially our perceptual-motor and social skills. This meaning emanates directly from our physical interaction with the world and people around us. Example projects are shown from teaching activities that discuss and evaluate the importance of design for embodied interaction.