How can we create safer, inclusive and accessible BDSM gear?
5/9
Today, I did the interactive experience at PinkyPromise, which was not quite how I expected it to go, but I guess all observations and feedback is good right, but when I say not good its in terms of what was expected numerically, and the literal engagement rate, so for the Sensual BINGO, I had 160 cards printed out to err on the side of caution as opposed to 100, and I think only upto 30-40 were given, since there was pink lighting(which I had not anticipated) and there was pink text, it wasn’t legible much, and I wasn’t stocking pens/pencils(for the mere reason that I might not find the people and get it back) which made it hard for people to actually do it, but this was a choice I had made prior to the game, so I am not too mad about it, and as for the pleasure hunt had a fairly decent response as opposed to the rest and, it’s funny how most people referred themselves to the qualities of Intuition, imagination, empathy, idealism, spirituality, and their synonyms and tangents, but as the evening progressed and the main event had started people weren’t as interested in engaging or rather it was harder to engage people with so many others to talk to, which is why most people are here, and people had recommended the games to some of their friends who had joined later, but when the main event started the workshops also started so it was definitely a bit harder to hold attention to the games I was offering and this is something I should work on and maybe a club setting requires adjusting the experience in a different aspect and so on, or it could be an event in itself happening? I do not know how many people interacted with different parts of the pleasure hunt separately and how it enable them to think more about things/relationships. On the other hand, there was a Shibari workshop which I thought was really fun and I tried it out with a person who was sitting next to me, and the experience was good since it was about intimacy and having a connection with your partner, but I personally thought it would have been better if it was with someone I already know it would’ve been easier to connect and trust but the other person was definitely careful and kept checking in to see if I was okay and doing well, and at around 1:30am, I was unable to engage people since it did not make any sense and talked to people and met some friends I knew and bumped into and it was definitely a good experience, but I wouldn’t say I was as into it as the other events since I told my parents about the event I was doing and they don’t really approve of my pursuing a topic in sexual wellness, esp. something which is considered “abnormal” and as a conservative Indian mindset would look at it, they were worried for my safety even though it is definitely safer than most regular clubs/parties I have been to, and I guess unconsciously their opinions got to me, even though I didn’t want it to, and it was probably a deterrent into why I was unable to engage harder, possibly because I had some emotional turmoil from “coming out” in a sense which isn’t acceptable to them and having unsupportive words said from your closest people maybe impacted this, and well I hope to do better at the next workshop I host on 29/10 at the campus, yay to timetabling, Zuleika and Richard for helping me out in booking a space on-campus but now I have limited time and have to prioritise what activities will be done at the workshop and how it’s adds to my project as well as the future, and I do have two avenues going on and multiple thoughts and I do have to streamline and connect them to form a meaningful workshop which benefits the participants as well as my project and research, but where to start and how to proceed? Co-creation of products to understand consumer wants and needs? Understanding the exploratory framework from the design process and using it to create products, which is the same idea I had proposed to Eunice for a collaboration. I would have to figure out what I wanna do by the mid of next week, in order to send out mails and engage people and collect participants, and if I am doing products, source the required material and so on, and where to find them etc., but on a overall through my interventions I see a pattern of games being developed with various frameworks and settings to help aid in exploration and understanding of various aspects of one’s preferences, but do I see a future in designing games, idk? Do I see a future in designing products? Yes!, so maybe I have to figure out what I want to do versus what’s happening and streamline accordingly, but if I do go the product route I could use the workshop as a means of design research to create various products which would help a particular group of people!
10/10
This shows all the thought processes and uncertainties that revolve right now in terms of whether my question is viable enough and the different methodologies to be used/can be used in the context for the development of products.
14/9
Today, as I was talking to my tutor about all my challenges and uncertainty as I am someone who works back from a deadline, I was quite keen on getting feedback around how to proceed and what other aspects my project involves, I realised a few more aspects which are important which is the aesthetics of it, as well as it’s appeal to daily wear and fashion, as well as how this intervention or the rest of my course informs my overall career, and I want to be able to maximise this workshop to be able to resonate with my overall process and methodology to be followed right now, and I think human-centered design is a good framework, since it gives the users power over the products and what they want and require and what they need, but I also have to keep in mind to structure the workshop around it to be able to understand and encapsulate the human experience, and also make the participants think about it and their experience with the product and having to provoke that thought in them is important, and also thinking about to what extent are they going to be interested in giving me their prototypes for a finished product and if they’d want to see a clean finished version of this product, because this product helps both the consumer and me as a researcher in a initial design stage to analyse, evaluate and understand consumer wants and needs, and another important thing which was pointed out to me was that making sure that I target audience who require special needs and have access requirements for BDSM gear, and this requires careful crafting of the message to be put up on FetLife, and also on whatsapp groups, instagram and so on, but overall I think following the methodology in “people centered design” but also research into other case studies of HCD in different sectors and the methodologies which have worked for them!