It takes the mind and the body to understand the meaning of the physical world. A simple formula for creating meaning is perception + interaction. First, one perceives the world visually, (then) through interacting physically, verifies what was perceived. This creates meaning.1 As this process repeats, meanings are layered and connected in relationships. These relationships make up greater meaning and understanding of the world.

Possible Futures: In the future, designers will be skilled in producing Tangible Meaning (the emotive and communicative quality of tangible objects) with smart materials. These designers will have the expertise to compellingly communicate through interactive materials as proficiently as they do now with graphics and pixels. Devices will be used to communicate nuances and emotions through dynamically tangible things. From a linguistics standpoint, Saussure uses Sign, Signifier, and Signified. “In general, the signifier and the signified are the components of the sign, itself formed by the associative link between the signifier and signified. Even with these two components, however, signs can exist only in opposition to other signs. That is, signs are created by their value relationships with other signs.” Therefore, meaning can only be produced in relationship to other meanings.2

The question, then, is how are these relationships understood and how do people draw these connections between multiple meanings to then form new ones. Cognitive scientists have studied how the body and mind connected form our tool for understanding the world we live in. Writing on this, Sandra Blakeslee and Matthew Blakeslee explain, “Meaning is rooted in agency (the ability to act and choose)...Nothing truly intelligent is going to develop in a bodiless mainframe. In real life there is no such thing as a disembodied consciousness.” From this, one can then explain the process for producing meaning in a broad but simple formula: The formula can be understood in this way: First, we perceive the signifier and then, through physical interaction, find that it is congruent or similar to the signified. A sign, or a meaning is then understood, especially as it relates to other meanings/signs gathered from a life of perceiving and interacting with the world. This formula served as the basis for my research with tangible prototypes.