“I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it” said Mae West.
While we can only speculate about the glamorous and jaunty temptations she was exposed to, we nevertheless know the problem. We all have mundane personal goals to strive for. We plan to use the car less often (“to save the environment”), to eat more fruits (“good for my figure and health”), to read more (“especially professional literature”), and to meet up with friends more often (“there are many, I haven’t seen in a while”). But faced with the actual choices, it is actually not so easy to do the “right” thing. We take the car (“the weather is just too bad)”, we indulge in a Mars bar (“hey, it is my way to cope with a long and stressful working day”), we watch the movie (“I need to relax somehow”), and we stay at home on the sofa (“They don’t show movies in cafes”). We are tempted.
We all know this. And all this situations have a similar structure: there is one option, we consider as good and right in the long run and there is one immediate option, more attainable or even more joyful. Who would seriously argue that a Mars bar is not delicious? These situations put our ability to control ourselves to the test. Do we have enough willpower to overcome temptations?
This is the starting point for a Transformational Object. It aims at facilitating the realization of actions people find worthwhile, but hard to implement. To do so, it comments on your actions the very moment you may fall prey to a temptation. The object creates friction – but in playful, slightly mocking way.
The exhibition
The exhibition shows a number of explorative Transformational Objects, which were created in a design course at Folkwang’s Experience Design supervised by Matthias Laschke and Marc Hassenzahl and built in the Interaction Lab with the help of Marius Tippkämper und Claudius Lazzeroni.
Enjoy the objects – with all their strengths and weaknesses.
