Comfort is a pleasurable feeling we should be feeling when walking and wearing our shoes. In my experiments, I have experimented on how to create a comforting experience when walking in Doctor Martens shoes through the use of editing 3 of our main senses- touch, sound and sight.
The Doc Martens shoes are a pair of shoes made from leather, which is much more different to the standard shoe material. However this causes extreme discomfort when wearing them since they’re so tough to walk in and makes an irritating squeak sound. A series of experiments were peformed, with each aiming to make the experience of walking in Doc Martens much more comfortable with a variety of different approaches to this challenge. These approaches included editing the ground the shoe walks on, adding new scents to the shoes and making enhancing the inside to become more comfortable. Though the article “Global Ergonomics: foot digitalization to enhance shoe comfort” we can see that it is important for us to be able to enjoy walking in shoes. “Poor foot-shoe interaction is a risk factor in terms of discomfort” (Paolo o, Manuela M, Enrica F, Alessandra R. Global Ergonomics: foot digitalization to enhance shoe comfort). The experiments I carried out all have the intention of ensuring that this will not occour when wearing doc martens. Each experiment aims to avoid discomfort and have a profound effect on those who wear the shoes. Although there are many ways I aimed to give these shoes a comforting experience, the main way I have aimed to give more comfort with walking in Doc Marten shoes is through the use of silent sound.
Silent sound is a means of escaping from unwanted noise and acts as a chance to escape. Through Mack Hagood’s article “Quiet Comfort: Noise, Otherness and the mobile production of personal space” we are able to see that silence is something we long to have. “Noise cancelling headphones offer air travellers not only the reduction of noise, but also the production of personal space” (Hagood, M, 2011, Quiet Comfort: Noise, Otherness, and the Mobile Production of Personal Space, 574). Silence sound acts as a means for people to escape from unwanted attention from other people and have nothing but their own thoughts. With so much noise surrounding them, silence is an even more pleasuring sound , because “noise is socially constructed and situated in hierarchies of race, class, age and gender ” (Hagood, M, 2011, Quiet Comfort: Noise, Otherness, and the Mobile Production of Personal Space, 574). This means that with so many factors helping to enhance unwanted noise all around us, it is very difficult to escape it all and this is creating a large desire for the chance to leave sound behind.
In my experiment with sound, the sound of the Doc Martens shoes was something that stood out that needs to change to help give a more pleasant experience. It was an irritating, squeaking noise that affected the emotions felt- it gave a more disturbing sound, rather than a pleasant sound to help create a good mood. “Pleasant emotions pull us to products that are beneficial, whereas unpleasant emotions will push us from those that are detrimental for our well-being” (Pieter D, Paul H. 2007.Framework of Product Experience, Pg 61). The emotions felt when experiencing a product are a vital piece to giving off comfort. If it is unpleasent, then we will feel as if the product is unfriendly. With no sound occouring when walking in doc martens, we would feel better about wearing these shoes and feel a lot more pleasant, as I found in my experiment with silent sounds.
The emotions and feelings towards the Doc Martens shoes at this point in time are far too directed towards them being harsh and solid like, making the experience wearing them rather uncomfortable. A way this can be changed is through the altering of sound being executed when walking in these shoes.
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