Prototyping bodies: a post-phenomenology of wearable simulations

This article explores wearable simulations, which are analogue and low-tech tools that designers deploy to gain first-hand insight into the experiences of different users, including elderly and disabled people. Ranging from gloves and goggles to elaborate whole-body suits, wearable simulations are said to facilitate an inclusive and empathic design process by encouraging practitioners to seek affective and sensory connection with others. The article builds on post-phenomenological thinking to propose an alternative understanding, where wearable simulations are seen as prototypical compositions that generate unexpected bodily variations, which have the potential to sensitise designers to the limits of knowing bodies and invite experimentation with experience.