Dance of Design: How movement inspires design
Designers like to think quite highly of their perception of the world. And I am no exception. It is definitely awesome to be able to make seemingly ‘unrelated’ connections; something we like to boast about of course. And why not, since one of the many definitions of creativity is creating connections where they’re invisible. Also, non-design related inspiration is essential for sanity purposes.
When I first started dancing as a kid, I didn’t have the faintest idea that words like ‘design’, ‘experiences’ and ‘inspiration’ existed, let alone understand their meanings… dancing seemed just like one of the many hobbies my parents urged me to take up. It’s been a couple of decades since then for my brain to realize (yeah, that’s how long the human brain takes for realizations to dawn sometimes) the hidden connections of the human body to that of design, and its interesting similarities.
A great example of the translation of the physical world to the virtual is Material Design — ‘inspired by the physical world and its textures, including how they reflect light and cast shadows. Material surfaces reimagine the mediums of paper and ink.’
Like ink and paper, the human body is an interface too, its complex functionalities and psychologically-powered responses make a strong case for this fascinating metaphor.
Dancing is more than just the coordination of body movements with music. It is the vibrations, transitions, interactions, and flow of the body or in some cases, bodies, that prove to be the foundations of the practice.
See any similarities?
Read transitions, micro-interactions, touch-vibrations & intuitiveness.
Confused?
Think of the body as an interface. A choreographer creates a sequence of steps that flow into each other seamlessly; they need to make sure the body is able to transition into these, moreover, each step is curated to create shapes in space and tells a story.
The only difference being that instead of 1920 x 1080 px, the whole stage is our artboard, and as many designers would agree, non-flat artboards are not to be taken lightly.
The origins of dancing are not clearly traceable since the only artifact you need to dance is the human body. But it’s safe to say that dance may have been the medium for social connection that helped humans form large groups and keep communities tightly knit.
There is speculation that the ability to dance might have played some role in the survival of our prehistoric ancestors. They indeed used dance as a platform to strengthen their bonding and communicate during difficult times.
The need for interfaces was an offspring of that thought; the need for human connection. This natural instinct has played a significant role in the evolution of humans and the Cognitive revolution. Humans love using movement to interact with each other, be it physically or a virtual-replication of the same experience through screens.
When a dancer is in movement, intuitiveness in the flow of the performance is the second most important hook that keeps the audience engaged, the first one being the story of course. The story is everywhere. It is the pillar of any interface, be it the human body or a flat-screen monitor, what you feel is what keeps you engaged, or not.
Therefore, however captivating a performance turns out to be, if it’s not story-driven, emotion-inducing, and seamless, your audiences would likely make an exit by the end of your opening piece.
In dance, the audience is usually ‘on-boarded’ with an engaging sneak-peek — once they’ve got a taste, they simply can’t get enough. This is when the core content kicks in. The audience thinks they’re choosing to look at this beautiful piece, but as we all know, that is far from the truth. The dancer is, in fact, persistently in control of where the eyes move to and how the audience feels, at any time.
Makes more sense now, yes?
When we create interfaces, we are essentially choreographing a piece, with the goal to keep our audiences engaged, feeling what we intend them to, and of course, to offer them the story they have come for, and then some.
The body is a quintessential interface and the most fundamental way we interact with the world, with other humans, and even with screens. The study of the organic nature of these interactions could pave the way to the future of Human-Computer interaction, and who knows, maybe the next ‘Material Design’.
The article has been curated by Shravani Joshi, UX Designer at Monsoonfish with edits by Arun George, Digital Presence Manager.
All GIFs/images on the article are designed by Shravani, who runs a comics page called plucomics.
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