Designing an Extimate Wearable

This project explores the concept of “extimacy” in wearable technology, focusing on the externalization of internal emotions. The research involved a review of current literature on emotional communication and extimacy, followed by the development and evaluation of a prototype using the Creative Technology design process. The target demographic of this product being those with issues identifying and expressing their emotions. Ethical considerations and user research were leading in making informed design decisions. The result is a concept, and rudimentary prototype, of a necklace capable of showcasing emotions through colour, coloured patterns, and images. To enhance user agency, emotions are based on manual input instead of relying on biometric data. Despite some limitations, the findings demonstrate the potential of wearable technologies to enhance emotional communication and embody extimacy. Future work should strive to overcome the limitations and further refine the design to better align with user needs.