A percepção sensorial, o uso de ferramentas e a técnica: bases para uma metodologia auxiliar ao design de instrumentos manuais

Abstract

Through hands, human beings establish an important set of interactions with the world. However, the literature on this subject applied to the design still needs a better definition of terms of theoretical approaches and methodologies applicable to the product design. In this sense, this work aims to enrich the design field through a research on perception through the hands, analyzing how this knowledge can be applied to design and, in particular, the design of hand tools. This shall be sought to understand how we perceive and appropriate instruments and tools through the hands, exploring how designer can set their guideline specifications by means of sensory information that make up the user-product ratio. This essay provides a brief discussion of the sensory, cognitive and emotional links involved in this ratio, exploring as theoretical basis the issue of technique, according to the concepts of Pierre Lévy. Through this concept, is discussed the human making and the development of the technique as influential not only in our perception of objects, but also in how we design and improve hand tools. Other authors are brought from different fields to compose the theoretical background, passing by the issue of technique, human tool making, subjective product evaluations and the intrinsic body intelligence of the hands. The theoretical background is enriched by a methodology proposal, based on it, developed aiming to assist the analysis of hand instruments from different perspectives. It is described an experiment conducted with volunteer students at Escola Superior de Desenho Industrial (ESDI/UERJ), in order to improve the methodological approach developed. It is shown the experiment s design, along with its parameters and results, drafting some final considerations in order to make possible the replication by designer as a subsidy to hand tools project. In addition to the methodological approach itself, we discuss the fundamental importance of the instrument the application context, the task of nature with him and performed the various analytical dimensions involved in human perception.