Design as Somatic Expertise: The User’s Body and Well-Being in Design Today

Today, designed products – from smart phones to medical devices – track and attempt to transform users’ bodily processes, affective states and habits. Design processes of products – from lighting to toys – concentrate their efforts in capitalizing on their users’ gestures, skills and well-being. This project investigates and establishes that an outstanding characteristic of design in the 21st century is that designers have increasingly posed themselves as “somatic experts;” i.e., as professionals concerned with the bodily well-being of their users. By using the concept of “somatic expertise,” the research documents and theorizes the novel approaches towards users in design within their societal context: the neoliberal drives for marketisation and consumer responsibilisation as well as the technological changes that have facilitated their extensive application. Accordingly, the project will take a critical position towards the ways design makes use of, moralises, commoditises and shapes users’ bodies.

This project is funded by Carlsberg Foundation Young Researcher Fellowship