Touchstones is a design research study which explores how design methods for haptic devices might expand non-verbal, tactile communication amongst friends and loved ones. While many current forms of digital interaction rely on video calls, messaging, or large-scale social media platforms, this project investigates how vibrotactile feedback within intimate, platonic networks might offer alternative forms of connection and communication.

Iterative prototyping and an exploratory workshop series inform the design and development of “Touchstones”: stone-like, handheld, wireless, and networked devices equipped with vibration motors. Each iteration refines the Touchstone ecosystem, including physical devices, haptic interactions, and a graphical user interface through which users create, send, and receive tactile communications. Insights from the workshops are applied to the final iteration, shaping how the Touchstones form a bespoke communication system within group social contexts.

Touchstones are designed for group-based haptic communication, building upon commonly seen one-to-one explorations. Using a Research Through Design methodology, Touchstones draws on and contributes to areas of study including embodied interaction, mediated social touch, and nonverbal communication devices. The prototypes and insights generated through the workshops and iterative making process offer design knowledge for how tactile communication can augment social connections and function as a meaningful shared communication system within social groups.

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